Wishing everyone out there a Happy International Mother Language Day! Do you read and write your mother tongue? If so, have you helped others learn? International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by UNESCO in November, 1999. It has been observed every year since February, 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. We are concerned that out of the approximately 6,000 existing languages in the world, some 2,500 are endangered. As a UNESCO Director-General once said, The death of a language leads to the disappearance of many forms of intangible cultural heritage, especially the invaluable heritage of traditions and oral expressions of the community that spoke it—from poems and legends to proverbs and jokes. The loss of languages is also detrimental to humanitys grasp of biodiversity, as they transmit much knowledge about nature and the universe. (Koichiro Matsuura) UNESCO assesses how endangered a language is by using a set of nine factors. One of these factors is whether an active literature exists in the language, producing books to read for enjoyment, and to use in education and in literacy programmes. Developing a literature requires authors. To be authors, all we need to do is write, in any language we choose. Every one of our languages in Sierra Leone needs authors—are you ready to fill the gap?
Posted on: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 10:36:41 +0000
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