International Mother Language Day has been celebrated every year since February 2000. This year the theme of the International Mother Language day is “Mother tongue instruction and inclusive education”. UNESCO highlights the importance of mother tongue as part of the right to education and encourages its member states to promote instruction and education in the mother tongue.
Why International Mother Language Day?
Linguistic and cultural diversity represent universal values that strengthen the unity and cohesion of societies. The recognition of the importance of linguistic diversity led to UNESCO’s decision to celebrate International Mother Language Day.
When was it launched?
The 30th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in 1999 decided that the Organization would launch and observe an International Mother Language Day on 21 February every year throughout the world.
What does it celebrate?
International Mother Language Day’s objective is to promote linguistic diversity and multilingual education, and to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.
Who is involved?
UNESCO’s Director-General launches the celebration and gives the orientation, but it is the Member States worldwide who are the key players through their national institutions and associations. As well as widespread media interest, schools, universities and cultural associations play an active part in promoting the goals of International Mother Language Day.
LANGUAGES MATTER!
LANGUAGES, WITH THEIR COMPLEX IMPLICATIONS FOR IDENTITY, COMMUNICATION, SOCIAL INTEGRATION, EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT, are of strategic importance for people and planet. Yet, due to globalization processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether. When languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression – valuable resources for ensuring a better future – are also lost.
More than 50 per cent of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken in the world are likely to die out within a few generations, and 96 per cent of these languages are spoken by a mere 4 per cent of the world’s population. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given pride of place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.
Cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, the promotion of education for all and the development of knowledge societies are central to UNESCO’s work. But they are not possible without broad and international commitment to promoting multilingualism and linguistic diversity, including the preservation of endangered languages.
As part of this commitment, the UN General Assembly has proclaimed 2008 the International Year of Languages, and named UNESCO as the lead agency. This initiative should not only increase awareness of language issues, but also mobilize partners and resources for supporting the implementation of strategies and policies in favour of language diversity and multilingualism in all parts of the world.
Why Language Matters for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of shared aspirations and efforts to make the world a more equitable and sustainable place. At the heart of the goals is the recognition that for this global initiative to be effective, all people need to be included.
Language is the key to inclusion. Language is at the centre of human activity, self-expression and identity. Recognizing the primary importance that people place on their own language fosters the kind of true participation in development that achieves lasting results.
Goal 1: Eradicate Poverty and Hunger
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goals 4 & 5: Reduce Child Mortality and Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Goal 7: Ensure Sustainable Development
Goal 8: Foster Global Partnerships for Development
LANGUAGES: ESSENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT
As the highly interdisciplinary domain of
languages and multilingualism is strategic in
regard to the most essential challenges facing
humankind, it must be taken into account in
the development of strategies to meet the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):
1) Linguistic factors play a strategic role in the
eradication of extreme poverty and hunger
(MDG 1) as the ability to obtain a livelihood,
to participate in social and public life and to
engage in dialogue is dependent, to a great extent,
on language skills. Marginalization vs integration,
exclusion vs empowerment, poverty vs
development are heavily affected by linguistic
policies and practices.
2) As a principal medium of knowledge
transmission, languages are essential to
achieving universal primary education
(MDG 2) and responding to HIV and AIDS,
malaria andother diseases (MDG 6).
To be effective and adapted to the
culture and needs of learners, education
(including health education) and literacy
programmes must be delivered in languages
understood by those learners.
3) In as much as languages enfold and convey
local and indigenous knowledge and know-
how of the natural milieu, sound management
of natural resources is also linked to the
protection and promotion of languages. For
this reason, languages are also strategic for
environmental sustainability (MDG 7).
4) Finally, the actual enjoyment of
fundamental rights (expression, education,
participation in cultural life, benefiting from
scientific progress) is conditioned to a large
extent by linguistic factors. Appropriate
language policies thus provide an essential
medium for exercising those rights.
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