2022
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. Here’s what @Soykot_azam, @MohammadPalash, and @Papel_Mahammud shared.
@Soykot_azam shared: “[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.”
@MohammadPalash shared: “International 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.”
@Papel_Mahammud shared: “Every language in the world is beautiful and sweet, but the languages of 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.”
Local Guides, do you celebrate International Mother Language Day where you live? Let us know below.
Hello @DeniGu
Thank you for this post and I'll also say thank you to ;
For their dedication in sharing their culture and traditions and way of life with us here on connect. That's one good advantage of connect. Travelling virtually and sharing other peoples views etc.
It's 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 don't 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. It's not bad really but we could use English as well as preserve these native mother tongues.
While we don't 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.
Happy guiding
Cheers
আন্তর্জাতিক মাতৃভাষা দিবস উদযাপন লক্ষ্যে একটি ছোট শহীদ মিনার তৈরি করা হয়েছে এবং সেখানে ফুল দিয়ে শহীদদের শ্রদ্ধা জানানো হয়েছে।
আন্তর্জাতিক মাতৃভাষা দিবসের পটভূমি শেয়ার করার জন্য আপনাকে ধন্যবাদ @DeniGu
মাতৃভাষা রক্ষায় বাংলাদেশের জনগণের দৃঢ়তার কথা সত্যিই অনুপ্রেরণাদায়ক। এই উদযাপন ভাষাগত বৈচিত্র্যের গুরুত্ব এবং নিজের ভাষা স্বাধীনভাবে ব্যবহার করার মৌলিক অধিকারের একটি শক্তিশালী অনুস্মারক হিসাবে কাজ করে।
আন্তর্জাতিক মাতৃভাষা দিবসে লোকাল গাইডস কানেক্টে আপনাদের ফটো এবং বক্তব্য ফিচার্ড হওয়াতে আপনাদেরকে অভিনন্দন 🎊 💐
@Soykot_azam, @MohammadPalash, @Papel_Mahammud
ধন্যবাদ প্রিয় @DeniGu আন্তর্জাতিক মাতৃভাষা দিবস কে দারুনভাবে ফুটিয়ে তোলার জন্য।
প্রিয় @SholaIB আপনার উপলব্ধি র প্রতি সহমত পোষন করছি এবং ধন্যবাদ আপনাকে।
ধন্যবাদ @KamalHossenR ভাই আপনার সুন্দর মতামতের জন্য।
Congratulations on the celebrations of the "International Mother Language Day" in Bangladesh
Nice decorations and floral decorations 👍
@SholaIB Interesting information about the languages in Nigeria.
In India, where several dozen languages are used, we celebrate them all under the slogan "Unity in Diversity".
@MohammadPalash @Soykot_azam @Papel_Mahammud Congratulations and thanks to @DeniGu for the nice post.
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,
People's 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!
