Language is the key to communication because it helps people share ideas and information. There are about 8,324 languages in the world, but many are disappearing due to globalization and social changes. International Mother Language Day 2025 is celebrated worldwide on 21 February. Learning in someone’s mother tongue makes education easy, as students consider concepts better, continue and think more seriously.
International Mother Language Day
International Mother Language Day is celebrated on 21 February to promote language diversity and protect indigenous languages. It was launched in 1999 by UNESCO to remember the 1952 Bengali language movement, where students died in Bangladesh fighting for their language. Languages are important for cultural identity and communication, help pass traditions and history. With the disappearance of many languages, it is important to preserve cultures alive and protect them to support inclusive societies.
History of International Mother Language Day
The Bengali language movement of 1952 was a major struggle for language rights in Dhaka, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). On 21 February 1952, students opposed the government’s decision to make Urdu the only official language, even though most people spoke Bengali. The protest became violent, and many students lost their lives.
This movement played an important role in shaping the Bengali national identity and later produced Bangladesh. In 1956, the Pakistani government recognized Bengali as a state language. In 1999, UNESCO declared International Mother Language Day on 21 February to honor the struggle and promote linguistic diversity worldwide.
Importance of International Mother Language Day
UNESCO supports learning in different languages and believes that studying in one’s mother tongue helps in better understanding, engagement and thinking. This day reminds us of protecting native and minority languages so that they do not disappear. By doing this, we keep our cultural heritage alive and support global development.
Theme of International Mother’s Language Day
Objective The “International Mother Language Day Silver Jubilee Festival” is to remember linguistic diversity, multilingual education and 25 years of efforts in promoting the conservation of mother tongue around the world. This milestone highlights the achievements made since the day and was first recognized and confirms the ongoing need to protect minority, indigenous and endangered languages.
- By celebrating this silver jubilee, the objective of the subject is
- Reflect on language protection and progress in education.
- Increase awareness about the importance of linguistic diversity in cultural identity.
- Encourage action to protect the disappearance languages.
- Strengthen multilingual education for inclusive and equitable learning opportunities.
Importance of linguistic diversity in a globalized world
In today’s global world, linguistic diversity is necessary because it enhances creativity and innovation, promotes cultural understanding, encourages inclusion, and facilitates better communication and cooperation between diverse population. By offering different types of approaches and methods of thinking through different languages, linguistic diversity eventually contributes to a more harmonious and interconnected society.
Some major aspects of the importance of linguistic diversity:
- Cultural Protection: Each language bears unique cultural nuances and traditions, so preserving linguistic diversity helps in protecting cultural heritage and identity.
- Global Communication: In a world with mutual economies and societies, enabling effective communication and cooperation in multi -languageism boundaries.
- Cognitive advantage: Studies suggest that learning many languages can increase cognitive abilities such as problems-solution, important thinking and memory.
- Economic benefits: Businesses with diverse linguistic capabilities can access broad markets, attract a broad talent pool, and better understand the needs of customers.
- social inclusion: Identifying and evaluating many languages promotes inclusion and reduces the margins of minority language communities.
- Innovation and creativity: Come into contact with various linguistic approaches can provide new ideas and creative solutions for problems.
- Sympathy and understanding: Connecting with diverse languages helps people develop sympathy and understand various world interviews better.
There are challenges in maintaining linguistic diversity:
The dominance of some global languages like English may endanger the existence of small languages. Many languages are facing extinction due to factors such as migration and lack of support.
