February 21 is celebrated as International Mother Language Day. The day is dedicated to promote awareness of linguistic diversity and cultural unity. It also promotes multilingualism. The United Nations recognised this day in 2002, three years after it was first announced on 17 November 1999 by UNESCO. It was the initiative of Bangladesh with the broader idea of preserving and protecting all the languages used by the people. It is said that out of 7000 languages spoken in the world, 2000 are spoken in India itself.
The International Mother Language Day page on the UNESCO website reads, "UNESCO believes in the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies. It is within its mandate for peace that it works to preserve the differences in cultures and languages that foster tolerance and respect for others"
International Mother Language Day 2022 Theme
"Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities," is the theme of the International Mother Language Day 2022. The objective of this year is how to use advanced technology to support the development of quality teaching and take forward multilingual education. UNESCO has organised a webinar from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm (Paris time) to observe this day.
How many languages are spoken in India
In India, 22 languages are constitutionally recognised as mother tongues. These are- Hindi, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Santhali, Dogri, Nepali, Bodo, Maithili, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Urdu, Oriya, Konkani, Kashmiri, Manipuri, Kannada, Bengali, Sindhi, Gujarati and Marathi.
Among these, Hindi, Bengali and Marathi are the most spoken languages in India. Also, India has more than 99 non-scheduled languages.
