International Mother Language Day

International Mother Language Day is an observance held annually on 21 February worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the international year of languages.

International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh.

Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

The term "mother language" is, itself, a somewhat awkward calque translation of the term used in a number of "Romance languages"—e.g. lengua materna (Spanish), lingua madre (Italian), langue maternelle (French), and so on. A more fluent English translation would perhaps be "mother tongue", though "native language" is the most readily comprehensible term in English. In linguistics, in fact, "mother language" refers to an ancestral or protolanguage of a particular branch of a language family

According to UNESCO, "Education for Global Citizenship aims to enable learners to play an active role in both the local and global levels to address global challenges and, ultimately, contribute proactively in creating a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable world ". 

"Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue."

                      —from the United Nations International Mother Language Day 

"Local languages constitute the majority of languages spoken across our world in the field of science. They are also the most endangered. Excluding languages means excluding those who speak them from their fundamental human right to scientific knowledge. " 

                        —Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General

CREDITS:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/international-mother-language-day/

http://www.un.org/en/events/motherlanguageday/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mother_Language_Day