The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh. It was approved at the 1999 UNESCO General Conference and has been observed throughout the world since 2000.
UNESCO
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.
Multilingual and multicultural societies exist through their languages which transmit and preserve traditional knowledge and cultures in a sustainable way.
Celebrating International Mother Language Day at Queen’s
The Language Centre at Queen’s is committed to promoting language learning and use in different contexts of education for a variety of purposes through delivering language courses, resources and support. We also value the richness of languages and cultures brought in by staff and students to Queen’s as part of the assets of our multicultural campus. We believe that linguistic diversity is a key feature of university campus life, and part of our Equality Policy. We welcome proposals related to this theme from students and staff members to celebrate the multilingual society we value at Queen’s.