“February 21st – the International Mother Language Day”

Before starting my presentation, I want to know some answers from you.
Can you express yourself better without any words of your own? Have you ever heard of a nation who sacrificed many lives to speak in their mother language?
Good afternoon audience, I am Brajalal Sinha, and I come from Bangladesh.
When I have got chance to represent some, I always try to introduce some history of our country. Because I believe we paid so much cost to achieve our country and to speak our mother language that no nation pays. As usual, this presentation is also one of the historical events of our country which is now an international matter and I will take little bit long time for this. I think you are familiar with February 21st which is International Mother Language Day. I am here to tell you, why February 21st has been declared International Mother Language Day. It is totally related to our language movement. That is why, I hope you realize how much cost we paid to speak in our mother language and the significance of the International Mother Language Day.

Background: I would like to start by talking about the background of the day.
In 1947, after partition, Pakistan was born with two wings; West Pakistan and East Pakistan. The formation of these states was according to majority of religious and ignored basic elements such as language and culture.
In 1948, the Governor General of Pakistan declared that Urdu would be the only official language for both West and East Pakistan though Urdu was not the native language of any part of Pakistan. The Governor further declared that “Urdu and only Urdu” embodied the spirit of Muslim nations and those who disagreed with his views called as “Enemies of Pakistan”.
People in East Pakistan, especially the students, were not ready to accept this decision. They argued that this was not the rule of democracy. 56% of the total population spoke in Bengali, and it had to be the National language along with Urdu.
Now you should have a little bit idea about the background of the language movement.

The movement: Let’s look now at the movement.
After many discussions, February 21st was chosen to be observed as the state language day and it included a whole day strike for accepting Bengali. At noon on February 21st, students gathered and protested with slogans such as “We want Bangla as the National language”. During that moment, a group of police opened fire without any prior notice. Once firing had started the movement spread wider than fire, faster than the bullets. Many students were died and many were injured. It raised a determined voice against injustice.
That’s all I have to say about the language movement briefly.

The consequence of this movement: Now I am going to tell about the result of this movement.
Bengalese of East Pakistan began to take a new pride in their language. A new taste was created, and a new standard of cultural judgment was set up. This movement ultimately led to the fights for self rule and later resulted in the Liberation War in 1971 and Bangladesh was born, at the price of 3 millions lives in only 9 months. After that, according to application of Bangladesh, in 1999, UNESCO decided to observe February 21st as International Mother Language Day to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.



The significance: next I am going to brief the significance of the International Mother Language Day.
Our mother tongue is more than a language; it’s a soul inside us. According to the UN site, “Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage”. When a language is lost, culture and heritage are also lost. Now very few people speak most of the 6,000 known languages around the world. Half of today’s languages have fewer than 10,000 speakers and a quarter have less than 1,000. About 27 percent of the world’s languages are threatened to be extinct. If a language dies, that community also dies. How do you feel to know that no one else in the entire world speaks your native language any more? Can you imagine that scene?
I don’t know how much I make you all understand the importance of one’s mother language.

What do people do on this day? Now I am moving on to what people do on this day.
In Bangladesh, it is a public holiday and known as Shohid Dibosh. People go to Shahid Minar (Martyr’s monument) on barefoot and lay flowers at Monument. There is a big book festival throughout the month February.
Outside Bangladesh, on this day UNESCO and UN agencies participate in events that promote linguistic and cultural diversity. They also encourage people to maintain their knowledge of their mother language while learning and using more than one language.
Replicas of the Shahid Minar have been constructed over world wide; London and Oldham in UK; Sydney in Australia; Tokyo in Japan; USA and Canada.


In conclusion, I am telling you about our responsibility to find out answers of the following questions: Why do languages disappear? Which parts of the world are most affected? What can be done to save them? Long live February 21st the International Mother Language Day! Thanks every body for your patience listening today.

References:
01. http://www.21stfebruary.org
02. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/shaheed_minar
03. Click This Link
04. Click This Link
05. http://portal.unesco.org/education/en