Celebrating International Mother Language Day

Shaheed Minar Roeh Monument

It’s said the world is getting smaller and certainly in terms of language, it is. These days everyone is jetting off to study abroad or signing up for a local language course. Meanwhile, the online community is busy crafting its own brands of ubiquitous lingo, or otherwise seeking geeky acceptance in the fictional languages of Elvish or Klingon.

It’s refreshing then to have something like the UNESCO International Mother Language Day. Here is an occasion on which people are invited to remember their roots, to celebrate their language and uniqueness of their own culture. Says the UNESCO website:

“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.”

As with every year, 2012’s International Mother Language Day falls on February 21. It marks Bangladesh’s Language Movement Day, which in turn remembered the 1952 killing of four Bengali students, who were peacefully campaigning to preserve their mother language.

This was a difficult time for Bengalis who had, following the partition of India in 1948, been forced to adapt to the Urdu language, a demand made by the newly-established Pakistan government. It wasn’t until 1956 that Bengali was finally recognized as an official language of Pakistan.

In Bangladesh in particular, International Mother Language Day means a lot; a public holiday is declared (Shohid Dibôsh) and many flock to the martyr’s monument to lay flowers and remember the four students who died. Following this, Bengalis will often host special meals and parties as well as organized literary readings.

International Mother Language Day may not be as well-known outside of Bangladesh, but it is becoming more widely celebrated. To coincide with IMLD, the Linguapax Prize is awarded to someone who has displayed extraordinary efforts and achievements in the field of linguistic diversity. Winning countries in the last decade have included South Africa, Columbia, India and Spain.

The whole event is a unique and interesting one. Although it’s about observing the importance of your native language, it’s also about showing interest in other languages and cultures. 2012’s celebration has another twist too: the theme is Languages and Cultures through the Language of Photography.

Chances are you already speak reasonably good English. So maybe this February 21, you should dust off the digital camera and see what sort of language themes you can capture. That, or fish out your old Spanish exercise books and give yourself a quick refresher course.