February 21st 2011 – International Mother Language Day
The aim of the day is to “promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by the peoples of the world” – in other words, to promote linguistic and cultural diversity. It is widely-held view that developing a better awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world will help achieve solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and communication.
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 killed by police in Dhaka, now the capital of Bangladesh.
A day-long programme of events will take place at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, including talks on bilingual education and new technologies and measuring linguistic diversity on the internet. The day is an ideal opportunity for all types of people and institutes to embrace multiculturalism and multilingualism though…
Please let us know if you have any plans to celebrate International Mother Language Day!
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