International Mother Language Day – Sunday Feb 21st

Sunday February 21st is International Mother Language Day. Which means that as South Africans we have a lot to celebrate, 11 of them infact!

So Pick one and decide how you are going to be celebrating the day. If it means going and sitting with your grandmother for a few hours and conversing in your mother language, or trying to possibly learn a few words of one of our eleven national languages, then do it!

But stop for a second and think about how incredibly cool it is to have 11 national languages!

Some info on the day:

International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by UNESCO’s General Conference in November 1999. The International Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

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.

On 16 May 2007, by resolution 61/266, the General Assembly proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages, to promote unity in diversity and international understanding, through multilingualism and multiculturalism.

Source: UNSimilar Posts:

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