220 Why the tip of the iceberg?

Why are 7,000 languages the tip of the iceberg?

The International Standards Organization has cataloged seven thousand languages. You can go online and find the names of the languages, the number of speakers, and where they are located.

 

You can even get maps showing the boundaries of these languages.

 

But in addition to those seven thousand languages, we have collected the names of some ten thousand possible dialects.

 

Researchers are still checking and verifying many of these names. Nevertheless, this gives us a possibility of seventeen thousand speech varieties.

 

That is a huge challenge and it complicates our aim to communicate the gospel to everyone.

 

Question: Why should we care about dialects?