The ability to speak is generally recognized as one of the most significant traits of ‘being human’. That separates us from primates who almost have the same level of intelligence in every other aspect. For millennia, humans have been using unique combinations of words that evolved into what we call languages.
Languages are indeed a prime treasure of humanity. There are more than 7,000 languages on Earth, but only a few hundred are prominent. English is the undisputed king of languages in the world, followed by Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Spanish, and Hindi. Each country is generally associated with a language of its own, though some countries have three to four official languages. Sri Lanka has three – Sinhala, Tamil and English.
Mother tongue
We all ‘inherit’ a language by birth that is closer to our hearts than any other language. Called the native tongue or mother tongue, this is the language that we learn to speak by immersion, mainly because our parents and others nearby speak it every moment of the day. Scientists are still trying to decipher how we learn a complex language so fast – a typical three-to-four-year-old has a fairly good vocabulary and the ability to form very complex sentences.
In our case, the native tongue is either Sinhala or Tamil, but if you have ‘mixed community’ parents, it is quite possible to pick up both languages and be fluent equally. In countries such as Switzerland, most people learn to speak (if not read and write) three or four languages. But there is always one particular language that you will call your own. A Frenchman’s mother tongue would naturally be French, An American’s native language would be English or Spanish and so on. We are generally proud of our mother tongue, no matter where in the world we live in.
Languages, with their complex implications for identity, communication, social integration, education and development, are of strategic importance for people and planet. Yet, due to globalization processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether. When languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression — valuable resources for ensuring a better future — are also lost.
More than 50 per cent of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken in the world are likely to die out within a few generations, and 96 per cent of these languages are spoken by a mere 4 per cent of the world’s population. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given pride of place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world. The World celebrated the International Mother Language Day on February 21 with the aim of protecting these important languages.
International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh. Language is fundamental to communication of all kinds, and it is communication that makes change and development possible in human society. Using — or not using — certain languages today can open a door, or close it, for large segments of society in many parts of the world.
Meanwhile, there is growing awareness that languages play a vital role in development, in ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, but also in strengthening co-operation and attaining quality education for all, in building inclusive knowledge societies and preserving cultural heritage, and in mobilizing political will for applying the benefits of science and technology to sustainable development.
Access to education
To foster sustainable development, learners must have access to education in their mother tongue and in other languages. It is through the mastery of the first language or mother tongue that the basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy are acquired. Local languages, especially minority and indigenous, transmit cultures, values and traditional knowledge, thus playing an important role in promoting sustainable futures.
Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.
Preserving our mother tongues has become a major challenge as nearly 90 per cent of the languages in use are in danger of being ‘lost’ by 2100. Some languages are already down to a few thousand speakers and one or two languages have only a handful of speakers. This is even more pronounced in the case of languages that do not have an alphabet (written script).
The loss of a language is a black mark on the collective human conscience. A language represents a particular culture, a way of life and the very soul of a particular community of people. Therefore, all attempts must be made to preserve our languages for posterity. Some countries have braved all odds to revive languages on the verge of extinction. In today’s world, a language cannot be considered in isolation. We hear Sinhalese and Tamil being spoken all over the world, not just in Sri Lanka. English is spoken everywhere. This applies to most other languages too. Thus the Mother Language Day has increasingly drawn the international community’s attention to the foundations of linguistic diversity and multilingualism in this globalised world.
Education for All
Another factor is that languages are key to the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals. Learning a language and gaining literacy is the key to education. Links between multilingual education (involving the mother tongue, national languages and international languages), and Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals now constitute the pillars of sustainable-development strategies.
Mother tongues can also be a foundation for peace and mutual co-existence. If all Sri Lankans knew both Sinhala and Tamil well enough at least to converse (if not write and read), the ethnic problem would not have come this far.
Thus, it is vital for communities in countries where several languages are spoken, to learn each other’s languages. It is heartening to note that education authorities have taken steps to teach Sinhala and Tamil, along with English, to all schoolchildren. After all, childhood is the best time to learn a new language. The electronic media too can play a major role in this regard by having more programs to teach the native languages. Languages bring communities – and the world together. In celebrating languages, we are celebrating the very essence of humanity – and life.