International Mother Language Day

Mother Language Day Quick Facts - ZA

Hashtags	#MotherLanguageDay, #IMLD2020, #IMLD
Related Hashtags	#IYIL2020, #IYIL
2020 Date	21 February 2020
2021 Date	21 February 2021

2020 Holidays & Dates

International Mother Language Day in 2020

Friday, 21 Feb

Days to go:

International Mother Language Day History

International Mother Language Day seeks to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The day also seeks to support quality education, unity, diversity and international understanding. Language is the most effective way humans have of communicating with one another and acts as a powerful instrument in the preservation and development of cultures and ethnicities. According to UNESCO, as of 2018, about 2,500 languages, and thus their cultures, are currently at risk of extinction within a few generations.

International Mother Language day was proclaimed by UNESCO in November of 1999 and was first observed on February 21, 2000. The chosen date commemorates the date on which a group of university students were killed by the Pakistani Police in Dhaka (now Bangladesh) for using their mother language.

Top Tweets for Mother Language Day -

Today is International #MotherLanguageDay. Unfortunately, in this day and age discriminatory language policies are still very real, e.g. Kiev’s plans to remove Russian language from education curriculum in 2020 despite it being the mother tongue for millions of people in Ukraine https://t.co/68yH7V1IDR
— Russia in RSA 🇷🇺 (@EmbassyofRussia) February 21, 2019

Today is International Mother Language Day- How good are you with your mother tongue- translate this headline: 'Thirty thousand civil servants to be encouraged to take retirement packages' #PlanetHaaibo https://t.co/tPlGte1W2T
— Radio 2000 (@Radio2000ZA) February 21, 2019

Today is International Mother Language Day to celebrate our native languages, I’d love to honor our lovely translators for bridging our fandom across language barriers and borders 💜 thank you so much for what you do! 보라해!! #ArmyTranslatorAppreciationDay #IMLD2019 https://t.co/Va0HtMJIj3
— 지우는 뭐하나? (@whenkookie) February 20, 2019

Mother Language Day Facts & Quotes

In 2019, the theme for International Mother Language Day was "Indigenous languages matter for development, peace building and reconciliation".
As of 2018, the number of known, spoken languages was 7,097. Around a third are endangered and have less that 1,000 speakers.
The most widely spoken languages in the world by native and non-native speakers are: Mandarin, English and Spanish.
The five most difficult languages to learn for an English speaker are Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean.
Mother languages in a multilingual approach are essential components of quality education, which is itself the foundation for empowering women and men in their societies. — Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General.

International Mother Language Day Top Events and Things to Do

Read about language acquisition and its critical period. Language and The Mind is an educational read by world renowned scientist Noam Chomsky.
Host a language party. Invite friends from all over the world and play games requiring each one of you to teach a few basic words in your language and the others to make use of them.
Make a financial or time donation to an organization that aims to preserve endangered languages in the world. These organizations work with communities whose languages are at risk of extinction and promote the use of the language in education and communal life. Some such organizations include, The Linguistic Society of America and The Endangered Languages Project.
Gather with friends and family to assess your local education system. Does it provide adequate language instruction and second language instruction? Second language acquisition has been linked with critical thinking, creativity and flexibility of the mind.
Generate awareness for International Mother Language Day by using the hashtags #InternationalMotherTongueDay, #IMLD, #motherlanguage or a hashtag followed by the language of your post (#english, #bengali, #xhosa).