International Mother LanguageDay
A language is much more than just a way ofcommunicating, Language, and especially our mother language, is an importantpart of our culture. There are about 6, 500 languages in the world, but did youknow that a language disappears and dies every two weeks?
In 1999, a special day to celebrate andprotect all the languages of the world was created: International MotherLanguage Day, It is on 21 February. The idea for this special day came fromBangladesh, a country in South Asia, and 21 February is also the day whenBangladeshis mark the day that the Bangla language was officially (官方) accepted. Bangladeshis celebrate the day by holding competitionsand singing songs.
Every year, UNESCO (联合国教科文组织) chooses a different theme (主题) and holdsdifferent events. For example, in 2005, there was a focus on Braille and signlanguages, and in 2017, a focus on how multilingual (多语言的) education could help the world to have a better future. Manycountries have also set up special projects to mark this day. For example, in2014, the Indian government provided digital (数字的) learningmaterials for schools and colleges in the 22 most widely spoken Indianlanguages. It is said that there are around 750 languages in India, and, sadly,that around 250 more languages have been lost in the last 50 years.
The Director General of UNESCO, AudreyAzouley, pointed out in a recent speech on International Mother Language Daythat mother languages "shape millions of developing young minds". Shebelieves that children learn best in their mother language, and that it isimportant that children should have this opportunity. Around the world, 40% ofthe population can't be able to learn in a language they can understand orspeak.
At least 43% of all languages are at risk,and fewer than 100 of the world's languages are used in the digital world. MostInternet communication is in one of the following languages: English, Chinese,Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Indonesian, Malayan, Japanese, Russian and German.But everyone has the right to use their own mother language, and to keep thememories, traditions and ways of thinking that their language represents. Andthis is what International Mother Language Day is all about.
