Today is International Mother Language Day:

Celebrating linguistic diversity

by Pramod DE SILVA

The UNESCO poster

The ability to speak is generally recognised as one of the most significant traits of 'being human'. That separates us from primates who almost have the same level of intelligence in every other aspect. For millennia, humans have been using unique combinations of words that evolved into what we call languages.

Languages are indeed a prime treasure of humanity. There are more languages on Earth, but only a few hundred are prominent. English is the undisputed king of languages in the world, followed by others such as Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Spanish and Hindi. Each country is generally associated with a language of its own, though some countries have three to four official languages. Sri Lanka has three - Sinhala, Tamil and English.

Everyone has a so-called mother tongue - or native language. It is the language that we pick up early in our childhood and thus it is the language we are most fluent in and comfortable with, even if we learn several languages later. In the case of Sri Lankans, it is either Sinhala or Tamil. A Frenchman's mother tongue would naturally be French, an American's native language would be English or Spanish and so on. We are generally proud of our mother tongue, no matter where in the world we live in.

Did you know that there is an International Mother Language Day just to celebrate this unique bond between us and our prime language? The Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1999. It has been observed yearly since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. This year, it is being celebrated worldwide today (February 21) for the 11th successive year.

It originated as the international recognition of Language Movement Day, which has been commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952. In fact, it was Bangladesh that proposed the very idea of having a Mother Language Day to the UN.

This year's Mother Language Day is being celebrated in the framework of the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures 2010.

Other primates lack the ability to speak, but have almost the same level of intelligence as humans

Preserving our mother tongues has become a major challenge as nearly 90 percent of the languages in use are in danger of being 'lost' by 2100. Some languages are already down to a few thousand speakers and one or two languages have only a handful of speakers. This is even more pronounced in the case of languages that do not have an alphabet (written script).

The loss of a language is a black mark on the collective human conscience. A language represents a particular culture, a way of life and the very soul of a particular community of people. Therefore, all attempts must be made to preserve our languages for posterity. Some countries have braved all odds to revive languages on the verge of extinction.

Multilingualism

In today's world, a language cannot be considered in isolation. We hear Sinhalese and Tamil being spoken all over the world, not just in Sri Lanka. English is spoken everywhere. This applies to most other languages too. Thus the Mother Language Day has increasingly drawn the international community's attention to the foundations of linguistic diversity and multilingualism in this globalised world.

Another factor is that languages are key to the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals. Learning a language and gaining literacy is the prime key to education. Links between multilingual education (involving the mother tongue, national languages and international languages), education for all and the Millennium Development Goals now constitute the pillars of sustainable-development strategies.

International Mother Language Day celebrations at the Language Martyrs’ Memorial in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Mother tongues can also be a foundation for peace and mutual co-existence. If all Sri Lankans knew both Sinhala and Tamil well enough at least to converse (if not write and read), the ethnic problem would not have come this far. Thus it is vital for communities in countries where several languages are spoken, to learn each other's languages.

It is heartening to note that education authorities have taken steps to teach Sinhala and Tamil, along with English, to all schoolchildren. After all, childhood is the best time to learn a new language. The electronic media too can play a major role in this regard by having more programs to teach the native languages.

In a way, this is reflected in the official theme of this year's Mother Language Day: "The importance of multilingualism, foreign languages learning and translation for peace and dialogue within the framework of the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, 2010." Yes, languages can bridge the cultural divide. Learning another person's or community's language opens doors to their soul. Go anywhere in the world and just speak a word or two in the mother tongue of a native - you will instantly know the difference it makes. Languages bring communities - and the world together. In celebrating languages, we are celebrating the very essence of humanity - and life.