International Mother Tongue Day

19.02.09

Saturday 21 February is International Mother Tongue Day. Yes, I know what you’re probably thinking – “How many more ‘days’ are people going to make us acknowledge?” Well this one was important enough for United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to claim 10 years ago. It makes sense that a day be set aside for mother tongues in a world with over 8,000 languages spoken and only a handful of those used as the langua franca. (By the way approximately 2,000 languages are spoken in sub-Saharan Africa).

International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by UNESCO’s General Conference in November 1999 and has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

Furthermore, UNESCO member states are helping to protect and revitalize the world’s rich cultural diversity by promoting languages as a means of communication, interaction and understanding among different peoples.

So in this spirit, on this year’s Mother Tongue Day, why not celebrate it by making a little effort to learn about a culture or language you perhaps didn’t know. In learning a little bit more about someone else, you might learn more about yourself.

Here’s a start with ‘hello’ around Africa: