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Feb 18, 2021

#164


“The theme of the 2021 International Mother Language Day, “Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society,” recognizes that languages and multilingualism can advance inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goals’ focus on leaving no one behind. UNESCO believes education, based on the first language or mother tongue, must begin from the early years as early childhood care and education is the foundation of learning.” Taken from International Mother Language Day 21 February.




As shared in last year’s blog post, International Mother Language Day, February 21 was chosen specifically in recognition of the 1952 Bengali Language Movement.


As cited in Nemo’s recent article, More Than 40% of Languages Are at Risk of Fading Away Completely, the fight for language rights and the understanding that language is a reflection of a culture continues. For some this fight for recognition entails imprisonment as is the case for Zara Mohammadi, a Kurdish literature and language teacher (more details may be found Iranian Kurdistan: Kurdish Teacher Sentenced to 10 Years in Jail, Iran: detention of mother tongue volunteer teacher and Iran: how to kill a language). In the case of the Cherokee Nation, Nemo shares the alarming statistic that over 30 first-language speakers have - as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic - been lost.

Notable cases of languages dying and/or being revived include Cornish (Dolly Pentreath - The last native speaker of the Cornish Language and The Cornish Language Revival Picks Up Speed) as well as the oft cited examples of Hebrew (A Brief and Interesting History of Hebrew) and Maori (Maori Language, Once Shunned, Is Having a Renaissance in New Zealand). In the case of Maori, Irish, and Welsh, mass communication (New Zealand broadcasters refuse to stop using Māori words, TG4, and S4C) and proactive language policies such as the “language nests” in New Zealand have a positive impact on interest in and familiarity with leading to increased speakers of the the specific language.


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Mindful of International Mother Language Day and the communicator attribute of the IB Learner Profile [“We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.”], the following quotes about language and language learning are pertinent:


  • “A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.” ~ César Chávez

  • “A different language is a different vision of life” ~ Frederico Fellini.

  • “To have a second language is to possess a second soul.” ~ Charlemagne

  • “Every language is a world. Without translation, we would inhabit parishes bordering on silence.” ~ George Steiner

  • “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

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In addition to the UN’s February 19, 2021 webinar entitled 2021 International Mother Language Day "Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society" (registration here), these articles and comments (previously shared in last year’s blog post, International Mother Language Day) may be of interest:

  • In Code-Switching: The Weird And Wonderful Side Of Bilingual Communication Asklov states - in a section entitled, Your Heart Speaks Your Mother Tongue - that “Often, our first language represents certain values, like safety, childhood and even our more “primitive” feelings. So when we live in a society that speaks a different language, we rely on our first language to help us express certain feelings like being shocked, angry or scared.” A gentle reminder of not just the benefits of having additional languages, but the emotional attachment to one’s mother tongue.

  • Guy Deutscher’s 2010 New York Times article, Does Your Language Shape How You Think? highlights differences in languages and how this may impact one’s perceptions and how one expresses oneself be it conceptually, at the word level and more.

  • The Guardian’s London's Second Languages Mapped By Tube Stop is a fascinating overview of language profiles (not nationalities/ethnicities) in different parts of London. (Over the next few years it will be interesting to see the impact of Brexit on linguistic diversity in London).

  • In The Confusing Way Mexicans Tell Time Rigg shares her observations regarding the intersection between language and concepts, which is succinctly summed up in the phrase, “Difficulty interpreting what I have come to call ‘Ahorita Time’ is a reflection of different cultural understandings of time.”

  • In Unknown Unknowns: The Problem of Hypocognition, Wu and Dunning share the following “Hypocognition is about the absence of things. It is hard to recognize precisely because it is invisible. To recognize hypocognition requires a departure from the reassuring familiarity of our own culture to gain a grasp of the unknown and the missing. After all, it is difficult to see the culture we inhabit from only within.” and share words which can not be translated by a simple word or two, but must be rendered by a phrase as the concept does not exist (as a word or two) in English. Examples cited include mamihlapinatapei (Chilean Yagán language), gigil (Tagalog), and amae (Japanese) and reminds me of words such as saudade (Portuguese) and l'esprit de l'escalier or l'esprit d'escalier (French)/Treppenwitz (German).


Mindful of Chávez’s quote,“A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.” how will you - on International Mother Language Day and beyond - foster “… multilingualism for inclusion in education and society”?


References:

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