International Mother Language Day

To promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism, International Mother Language Day is observed annually on February 21 worldwide, as proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This year, the observance focuses on the information and communcation technologies for the safeguarding and promotion of languages and linguistic diversity.

Languages are important tools for identity, communication, social integration, education, and development for humans. But as globalization increases, they are also increasingly under threat. People find it easier to communicate with widely used languages and children are no longer educated in languages spoken by a limited number of people. As fewer people use local languages, they gradually die out. When languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, transactions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression – valuable resources for ensuring a better future – are also lost.

More than 50 percent of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken in the world are likely to die out within a few generations, and 96 percent of these languages are spoken by a mere 4 percent of the world’s population.

Languages play a vital role in development, in ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, in strengthening cooperation and attaining quality education for all, in building inclusive knowledge societies and preserving cultural heritage, and in mobilizing political will for applying the benefits of science and technology to sustainable development.

Languages are the most powerful tools for the preservation and development of tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education. They develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and they inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance, and dialogue.