International Mother Language Day
New Delhi:
International Mother Language Day is celebrated globally on 21 February every year to recognize linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
Also read
The theme of this year’s International Mother Language Day celebrations is “to promote multilingualism for education and inclusion in society”. Let me tell you, UNESCO had decided to celebrate the international mother tongue on November 1999, since then it is celebrated every year on 21 February.
Why was the date of February 21 chosen
On 21 February 1952, students and social workers of Dhaka University opposed the linguistic policy of the then Pakistan government. His performance was to maintain the existence of his mother tongue. The protesters demanded to give official status to Bangla language. Pakistan’s police fired at the protesters but the protest did not stop and in the end the government had to give official status to Bangla language.
#MotherLanguageDay
The theme of the International Mother Language Day, “Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society,” recognizes that languages and multilingualism can advance inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goals’ focus on leaving no one behind. pic.twitter.com/wbFYVZwjvN– Shivani Nainwal (@ SNainwal22) February 21, 2021
To pay tribute to the youth martyred in the linguistic movement, UNESCO decided to celebrate International Mother Language Day at the General Conference on November 1999 and the date of 21 February was fixed. After which, International Mother Language Day was celebrated on 21 February every year across the world.
Hindi is the third most spoken language in the world
According to Ethnologues, the 22nd edition of the World Language Database, there are 6 Indian languages among the 20 most spoken languages worldwide, of which Hindi ranks third. 61.5 crore people use the Hindi language worldwide. After Hindi, Bengali ranks 7th among the most spoken languages worldwide.
