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Mother Language Day, promoted in Canada as a celebration of cultural diversity, is slated to have a monument designed in its honour for 2013.
The motion to erect the monument in Confederation Park was approved by members of Scarborough’s community council last month and efforts to raise money for the structure are currently underway.
One of the concerns expressed during the celebrations of this year’s International Mother Tongue Day was that some languages, including Nigerian languages, may go into extinction by 2050, Professor Adedeji Awoniyi, Nigeria’s first Professor of Early Childhood Education, stresses the need to employ local languages for pedagogy, commerce and governance. Taiwo Olanrewaju reports. VENUE was Rome; a professor and his bosom friend, a Roman, were departing after a heart to heart discussion. After wishing him well, the professor, in a show of affection, waved him bye.
A discussion session was held on Sunday (26 February), at the Bangladesh Association and Community Project, to mark International Mother Language Day. Community leaders, children, men and women participated to recount the struggle to secure the right of Bangla as one of the state languages of the then Pakistan and pay respect to the language martyrs. Mr Muhibur Rahman, Chairman of BACP, narrated the history of the language struggle.
Councilmember Daniel Dromm recently worked closely with the Jackson Heights Bangladeshi Business Association (JBBA) and other groups to negotiate the use of the new 37th Road Plaza for a celebration of International Mother Language Day. He was able to bring the JBBA, the Jackson Heights Neighborhood Association and the Youth Congress of Bangladeshi Americans to the table to discuss the competing bids for use of the Plaza. Dromm worked closely with 115th Police Precinct Commanding Officer Deputy Inspector Thomas Kavanagh to help the organizations secure permits for the celebration. Initially, all three organizations had wanted to separately use the Plaza at the same time, on the same day for the celebration.
The Arts and Culture portfolio committee in parliament will meet today to discuss public submissions on the controversial Languages Bill, which if enacted would force government departments and other organisations of national scope to use a minimum of three South African languages. Despite threats of court action to halt the bill, Pan South African Language Board chairman Sihawu Ngubane was confident yesterday that the draft law would be approved next month. He is already questioning the lack of punishments that could be imposed on government departments that contravene the law. "What concerns us is that this bill does not provide punishable measures for those who do not conform to it, but we hope that such provisions would be made," he said at an event to commemorate last week's International Mother-Tongue Day.
CAMEROUN : Camerounais de la diaspora : diminuez la nostalgie du pays natal en écoutant et en téléphonant dans votre langue maternelle et nationale à Radio Tiemeni Siantou (RTS).Le P...
Last week Armenia celebrated the International Mother Language Day, which once again caused heated discussions over the state of the Armenian language. At different press conferences, on online social networks, in conferences Armenian linguists in most of their statements called not only the modern spoken but also the mass media language tortured and corrupted. They warned that jargon, dialect and speech full of grammatical and pronunciation mistakes have penetrated into radio and TV, and the audience believes that it is a norm, that it is correct to speak that way. Linguists are mainly critical about the language used in TV soap operas, in comedies and morning TV programs, meanwhile the authors of such programs claim that their scripts are written in a language which is, in fact, used by people,
Malout, Punjab (February 26, 2012): International Mother Language Day is observed on 21 February every year. As per information posted on website of the Sikh Students Federation (SSF), Guru Teg Bahadur Group of Colleges, Chhapianwali, Malout unit of SSF will be organizing a special lecture of Dr. Sewak Singh on 27 February, 2012 to mark the day which signifies the importance of mother language.
La Journée internationale de la langue maternelle, qui tombe le 21 février, a été une occasion de nous demander ce que nous nous faisons pour cet instrument précieux qu’est notre langue, instrument forgé par nos ancêtres. Si nous examinons de près la qualité du langage en République tchèque, nous constatons plusieurs phénomènes inquiétants qui illustrent un déclin général de notre culture d’expression et notre incapacité à transmettre les habitudes de langage aux nouvelles générations.
Olurode, who teaches at the University of Lagos, said that many mother tongues in Nigeria would go into extinction, if not revived fast. The don spoke to journalists in Lagos as the world celebrates the International Mother Language Day. The United Nations set aside February 21 annually as the International Mother Tongue Day to promote cultural diversity and multilingualism.
BOBONONG: The country's local languages are not among the 6,000 that will disappear by the end of the century. This is according to the Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Shaw Kgathi who said government continues to implement the National Policy on Culture.
Giving a keynote address during the commemoration of the National Languages Day on Tuesday, Kgathi called upon Dikgosi and parents to advise their children to speak their languages because they are the custodians of culture.
Kgathi pointed out that the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has indicated that half of about 6,000 languages spoken the World over will disappear by the end of the century if nothing is done to safeguard and promote them.
Le 21 février est la Journée internationale de la langue maternelle. Origines de cette mise à l'honneur et petit tour d'horizon dans la francophonie et les nouvelles technologies.
Le ministre de la Culture et de la Francophonie, Maurice Kouakou Bandama La deuxième édition de la Journée nationale de la langue maternelle a ouvert ses portes ce mardi 21 février à la bibliothèque nationale d'Abidjan-Plateau. C'était en présence du ministre de la Culture et de la Francophonie, Maurice Kouakou Bandama.
Le ministre, qui intervenait au cours de la cérémonie d'ouverture des la journée internationale de la langues maternelle, a indiqué que les langues se présentent comme un vecteur de richesse culturelle. Le président de l'académie nationale des langues maternelles Adoua Kouassi a renchéri, soutenant que la langue maternelle constitue un véritable véhicule permettant de transmettre les connaissances et les valeurs culturelles. "La langue maternelle permet de créer un climat de paix et de cohésion sociale", a énoncé par ailleurs M. Kouassi, prenant s'appuyant sur les alliances ethniques qui selon lui contribuent à maintenir la solidarité et la coexistence pacifique entre les peuples.
Nelson Mandela once said that “if you talk to a man in a language he understands,
that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”. The
language of our thoughts and our emotions is our most valuable asset.
Multilingualism is our ally in ensuring quality education for all, in promoting inclusion
and in combating discrimination. Building genuine dialogue is premised on respect
for languages. Each representation of a better life, each development goal is
expressed in a language, with specific words to bring it to life and communicate it.
Languages are who we are; by protecting them, we protect ourselves.
UNESCO has celebrated International Mother Language Day for 12 years now and
directs its energies towards protecting linguistic diversity. This thirteenth celebration
is dedicated to multilingualism for inclusive education. The work of researchers and
the impact of multilingualism policies have proven that people perceive intuitively
that linguistic diversity accelerates the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals and Education for All goals in particular. Use of the mother tongue at school
is a powerful remedy against illiteracy. The challenge, however, lies in achieving
this truth in the classroom. Excluded population groups, such as indigenous
peoples, are often those whose mother tongues are ignored by education systems.
Tuesday, February 21st, was the “International Mother Language Day,” although in Chile it is sometimes referred to as “International Day of Indigenous Languages.” International Mother Language Day is a creation of UNESCO and has been celebrated each year since 2000 and, as its name implies, the purpose is to promote native languages around the globe. In Chile, Indigenous peoples took time during the day to promote their own languages and cultures in a variety of ways, including celebrations, marches and public statements. In Santiago, one of the largest organizations dedicated to Indigenous languages—Red por los Derechos Educativos y Lingüísticos de los Pueblos Indígenas de Chile (Red EIB)—released a public statement summarizing the current state of Indigenous languages in the country and calling on the government to take concrete steps to preserve those same languages. Red EIB indicated that Chile originally had eight spoken Indigenous languages, but now that number has dropped to four, and none of those four languages are spoken by more than one-third of their respective populations. The statement went on to say that action was required to reverse this trend.
Langue maternelle: La base de transmission du savoir et de la connaissance...
UNESCO on Tuesday warned that nearly half of the approximately 6,000 languages spoken in the world could die out by the end of the century. In a message titled, "A world without words? - Celebrating International Mother Language Day," UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, said the projection was a frightening one, with 96 percent of these languages spoken by a mere four per cent of the world's population. She urged the peoples of the world to do their best to protect languages from going extinct, noting, " "Languages are who we are. By protecting them, we protect ourselves." She also said UNESCO had recognised multilingualism as a key tool in promoting quality education and inclusion and fighting against discrimination.
Mali recently celebrated the annual International Mother Language Day on February 21 in Bamako.
From next year, four other languages will be introduced as the medium of instruction in schools. Speakers at a seminar on Mother Tongue Instruction and Inclusive Education underscored the need to impart education in the mother tongue on Tuesday.
Participants including native speakers of endangered languages, appreciated the government for establishing the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Language Authority and called for the inclusion of local communities in policy formulation.
The speakers said there was growing awareness about the preservation and documentation of indigenous languages, compared to the past.
Speaking on the occasion, Farzana Mehboob, a representative of the K-P Textbook Board told the meeting that the board introduced Pashto as the medium of instruction across the province.
“From next year, four other languages will be introduced as the medium of instruction in schools.”
The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999, instituted the International Mother Language Day to be marked on 21st February. The Day, seeks to bring to the fore, strategies nations should adopt to preserve the various indigenous languages as well as enhance the promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity. It is also to encourage and even inspire individuals to take up the learning of a new language. In Ghana, the Day has not received the due attention, unlike the other International Days instituted by the United Nations. Since 2008 the celebration in Ghana has been on a very low key. The Ghanaian Languages Department of the University of Education, Winneba, the Bureau of Ghana Languages and the UNESCO office in Accra should be commended for organizing programmes in some of the electronic media in order to promote the Ghanaian languages. It is expected the Bureau of Ghana Languages with the support of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, will continue to spearhead subsequent celebrations of the Day to give it a national character. Languages and their complex implications for identity, communication and social integration, education and development are of strategic importance for the speakers if well harnessed. But due to globalization, languages are completely under threat.
Today is UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day, and as we celebrate language diversity, we have a chance to reflect on the role Microsoft plays in the preservation of language and culture. Our goal for more than 30 years has been to bring technology into the hands of more citizens around the world. However, with 7 billion people in the world speaking countless various languages, bringing technology to all their homes is a challenge, but one that Microsoft’s Local Language Program is working hard to surmount. The Local Language Program focuses on developing and tailoring Microsoft products to grant minority language speakers similar access to technology as someone speaking a mainstream language. Consider Spain, a country with more than 47 million citizens and five languages. Seventy-four percent of the population speaks Castilian Spanish, but 26 percent speak Valencian, Basque, Catalan or Galician. In a modern world ripe with technology, these precious languages – symbols of culture and heritage – could be lost forever.
On February 21 a group of teachers of Armenian Language and Literature of the schools of Yerevan and marzes, leading specialists of the sphere were hosted in the parliament. The RA NA Speaker Samvel Nikoyan signed an order on Mother Language Day and on their awarding for the contribution to the preservation of Armenian language. Samvel Nikoyan solemnly awarded with the RA NA Medal of Honour Doctor, professor, Samvel Muradyan, Head of YSU Armenian Literature Chair and Doctor, professor Vazgen Hambardzumyan, Director of the Institute of Language the RA Academy of Sciences of Armenia (NAS) with the RA NA Diploma the teachers attending the meeting. Congratulating the pedagogues the RA NA Speaker Samvel Nikoyan said: “Dear friends, I welcome all of you in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, and I am glad that the occasion of hosting you is the Mother Language Day. In 1999 the UNESCO proclaimed February 21 International Mother Language Day. From 2005 it had also been included in our state calendar. Those, who teach Mother Language and Literature are the blood vein, through which our language, reaching to us, continues its eternal circulation, guaranteeing and ensuring the Armenian people’s march in the vision of the futur
En lieu et place de Bonjour, Goog morning, où encore le bien nommé Shalom, j’aurai pu dire, Mè yéga bé, Mé labtè, Mbolo et que sais-je encore, tant le Cameroun regorge d’une inépuisable richesse linguistique, et dont on aurait en principe aucune raison d’en faire la fine bouche.
Kolkata, Feb 21 (PTI) Celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity on the occasion of International Mother Language Day, a team of Bangladeshi students today performed in the city to highlight the role of Bengali language and culture.
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