International Mother Language Day
21 February
| 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. |
Links to UN and UN System sites:
United Nations:
- UN Works for Cultural Diversity - Language
- African Local Languages (Economic Commission for Africa)
- Activities for the World Summit on the Information Society (Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia)
- Sociedad de la Información (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean)
- ICSTD (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific)
- World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva 2003 - Tunis 2005
Unesco:
- International Mother Language Day
- B@bel Initiative
- Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Education
- Intangible Heritage
- MOST Clearing House Linguistics Rights
- Multilingualism on the Internet
- Red Book of Endangered Languages
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
The additional resources links on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not necessarily represent an endorsement by the United Nations.
American Association for Applied Linguistics
Central Institute of Indian Languages
European Network in Language and Speech