Monday, February 21 marks International Mother Language Day. This day celebrates languages and focuses on the fact that the learning of language, and also being able to speak more than one language, is key to no one being left behind when it comes to a country’s development. Some people who speak languages which are not widely spoken around the world, lack access to information and education. Or, education is only offered in another language where they live, and it’s what they use in their everyday lives. Eventually, the first language is used less and less, until they fade over time. When a language doesn’t have enough speakers, it disappears. With that, memories, traditions, unique expressions and ways of thinking are also lost.
When we hear the word “endangered”, we usually think of animals whose population numbers are dwindling. However, languages also become “endangered” and can even become “extinct”. That means they no longer exist. International Mother Language Day promotes diversity in languages, and part of that is promoting access to education for children everywhere which includes their mother language.
In our part of the world, many people speak more than one language, however, most of these languages such as English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Hindi, and Chinese are not endangered, since they are spoken by so many people. Other languages spoken in this part of the world that you have probably heard before are unique to some islands, but they are not considered endangered, because they are actively used by enough people, such as Haitian Kreyol in Haiti, and Papiamentu in Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire.
Did you know…
* Almost half of the global population claims one of only 10 languages as their mother tongue: Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese, and Lahnda.
* There are an estimated 6,000 languages in the world, and about 43 per cent of them (almost half) are endangered.
* Only a few hundred of these languages are really used in education systems and the public domain, and fewer than 100 are used in the digital world.
