Today is International Mother Language Day, a holiday that celebrates all languages everywhere. It started as a tribute to the Language Movement in Bangladesh in the early 1950s when the government wanted to remove Bengali as the official language, even though it was spoken by the majority of people. On this day, the people of Bangladesh remember and give thanks to those who fought for their right to freely use their mother tongue.
To celebrate International Mother Language Day, we reached out to Local Guides in Bangladesh to learn more about what this day means to them. Hereâs what @Soykot_azam , @MohammadPalash , and @Papel_Mahammud shared.
** @Soykot_azam shared:**â[During a rally] on February 21, 1952, many people laid down their lives on the streets to keep our mother tongue, Bengali, alive. So for me, this holiday is more important than any other.
On this day, I go to the Central Shaheed Minar monument in Dhaka early in the morning to pay tribute to all language martyrs with flowers. I use Google Maps for navigation and choose the route with relatively less traffic.â
** @MohammadPalash shared:**âInternational Mother Language was created because of the Bengali language, so it feels special to me. Language is not only a medium of communication, it is the carrier of our culture and tradition, and everyone has the right to education in their own language.
I mainly celebrate at the Shaheed Minar in my district town, Munshiganj. We also commemorate the language martyrs in educational institutions and at social gatherings by participating in discussions and cultural events. We listen to Bengali language songs, poems, and essays.â
** @Papel_Mahammud shared:**âEvery language in the world is beautiful and sweet, but the languages ââof small communities are disappearing day by day. Through this international celebration, maybe we can encourage everyone to be more devoted to their mother tongue.
As I live in Old Dhaka, I can directly witness the state ceremony and go to the Central Shaheed Minar to lay flowers. I have previously participated in volunteer activities for painting walls and streets [for the holiday]. Dhaka University organizes various programs such as patriotic songs concerts and drawing competitions.
Many people and VIPs from Bangladesh and abroad arrive in Dhaka for the celebration, and as a result, many roads are closed. So the traffic alerts on Google Maps help me a lot.â
Local Guides, do you celebrate International Mother Language Day where you live? Let us know below.
For their dedication in sharing their culture and traditions and way of life with us here on connect. Thatâs one good advantage of connect. Travelling virtually and sharing other peoples views etc.
Itâs amazing how that here in Africa Nigeria speaks the highest number of languages. Although we have the 3 major languages and ethnic groups of Hausa Igbo and Yoruba yet we have about 300 ethnic groups and 500 hundred languages spoken all over Nigeria. By the way the 3 moderators from Nigeria are from the 3 major ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Yet we donât have this celebration of international mother language day. I wish we do really. Lots of these native tongues are going extinct. People are preferring to speak in English rather. Itâs not bad really but we could use English as well as preserve these native mother tongues.
While we donât celebrate this,yet I wish you all a happy celebration and thank you for your good work on the local guides scenes. Happy celebrations to all out there in Bangladesh.
At first iâm glad to @DeniGu for tagging me & share my thoughts on this valuable post.
Then thanks @SholaIB for express your language story in africa as well as Nigeria.
Strange to know that such many different languages are use in Nigeria.you are also right, itâs a great platform for know all over the world virtually.
Thank you,Google Contributor @DeniGu for sharing this post with stunning photos. It is interesting to know from @SholaIB that Nigeria has about 300 ethnic groups and 500 hundred languages spoken. I would like to share about India,
India recognizes 22 languages as official,
Peopleâs Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI): This comprehensive survey conducted between 2010 and 2019 identifies 780 languages spoken in India,
The Census of India in 2011 reported 122 major languages and 1599 other languages.
As per Ethnologue, world language reference lists 456 living languages in India as of 2023. (Data source: Google)
Best wishes to everyone who participated in celebrating International Mother Language Day!
This is a great piece @DeniGu . I wish you and everyone a happy celebration of International Mother language day.
This is the first time I am hearing of this day being celebrated and it is rather awesome to hear the way @Soykot_azam, @MohammadPalash, and @Papel_Mahammud celebrate the day very actively.
Thank you for sharing your insights, experiences, and history of International Mother Language Day, @Soykot_azam , @MohammadPalash , & @Papel_Mahammud . Good for the Bangladeshi people fighting to keep your culture and language alive. The US could use a lesson in celebrating the hard-fought cultures of our neighbors who immigrate here.
Your all expression makes feel great for unity and maintain the culture for ages with rest of world and with us too. Such pillara and flowers laying can symbolise the importance of your language to us.
Coming to my own language odiya which is now spread to rest of world is celebrated on March 11. A language since 1200 AD has now been cross to abroad creating some best experience with rest of world.
Hey all guides letâs celebrate my odiya language in a magnificent way to reach maximum people of this planet and exchange the values.
Earlier this February I noticed that there is a newly built Central Shaheed Minar near my current address. Not yet covered by Google Maps. I immediately added the place to Google Maps. And wrote a [Review](http://Check out this review of āĻā§āĻ¨ā§āĻĻā§āĻ°ā§āĻ¯āĻŧ āĻļāĻšā§āĻĻ āĻŽāĻŋāĻ¨āĻžāĻ° āĻļāĻŋāĻŦāĻāĻā§āĻ on Google Maps Google Maps) . We Bengalis in Bangladesh celebrate this day every year as International Mother Language Day.