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UN International Mother Language Day on 21 Feb Theme, History
United Nations International Mother Language Day on 21 February 2018- Themes, Details, History, Purpose
The International Mother Language Day is marked every year on 21st February across the world to preserve and enhance awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
The International Mother Language Day main objective is to preserve all mother languages and to promote peace and multilingualism around the world
The International Mother Language Day was founded by the UN agency, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in 1999.
According to the report by UNESCO, there are more than 7,000 languages in the world; India alone has about 22 officially recognised languages, 1635 rationalized mother tongues, 234 identifiable mother tongues. At present, in India 40 languages are about to extinct which must be preserved.
The theme for International Mother Language Day-2018 is "Linguistic diversity and multilingualism count for sustainable development".
The International Mother Language Day-2018 was celebrated on the guidelines of UNESCO that 'no discrimination can be made on the basis of language', and celebrates its translation into more than 500 languages.
In Bangladesh, the International Mother Language Day is celebrated as Language Martyrs' Day or Martyrs' Day to honor the Bengali Language Movement of 1952.
The UNESCO advised schools to celebrate International Mother Language Day-2018 in following ways:
School teachers should encourage children to use their mother languages to introduce themselves and talk about their families, culture, read poetry, tell a story or sing a song in their mother tongues etc.
For students, it suggests to observe and survey different mother languages of their classmates and surroundings can speak and then organise cultural activities such as films, plays and music that celebrate different languages.
