International Mother Language Day: An Abbreviated History

UNESCO/UN News Centre

While some may just know February for its untimely and unnatural spurt of roses and manufacturing of chocolate, it may also help to know that February 21st is known as the International Mother Language Day officiated in 1999 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The purpose of this celebration is to give recognition to an estimated 7,000 languages spoken internationally. This day, also known as Language Martyr’s Day, commemorates students who were killed by police in 1952 for demonstrating for the recognition of their main language, Bangla.

After the end of British rule over India and Pakistan in 1947, Pakistan was split into two and was separated by India: East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan). As the founder of the new government of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared Urdu the official language despite the fact that the majority of East Pakistan spoke Bangla. Then, on January 27, 1952, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Khwaja Nazimuddin reiterated Ali Jinnah’s declaration of a state language which led to an organized demonstration by Bengali students. In a blog post from 2012, Dr. Salman Al-Azami describes the events as follows:

“The leaders of the ‘Language Action Committee’ in East Pakistan decided to call a hartal (general strike) and organized demonstrations and processions on 21 February throughout East Pakistan. The government imposed a ban on demonstrators, a ban the people defied. Police fired upon the defiant activists, killing several with more killed on the following day.”

Finally, on February 16, 1956, the National Assembly of Pakistan declared Urdu and Bangla as the official state languages.

So this February, let us not forget the people who sacrificed their lives to protect their mother language and for the opportunity to commemorate them through International Mother Language Day. Let’s celebrate everyday by speaking and learning the mother language of our ancestors and of our neighbors around the world.

Here are some recommended readings if you’d like to more about the Bangla Language movement and International Mother Language Day.

Salman Al-Azami, “The Bangla Language Movement and Ghulam Azam” (February 2013) [A short article to brush up on the history of the Bangla Language Movement.]

UNESCO, “International Mother Language Day” (February 2012) [This UNESCO guide contains a variety of relevant resources.]

To start your research on Bangladesh, check out the following materials from the University of Illinois Library.

The crisis on the Indian subcontinent and the birth of Bangladesh: a selected reading list.
by Kayastha, Ved P. Published 1972
Call Number: Z3186 .K36 1972
Location: International & Area Studies Ref Asian [non-circulating]

Pakistan & Bangladesh: bibliographic essays in social science /
Published 1976
Call Number: Z3196 .P34 1976
Location: International & Area Studies Ref Asian [non-circulating]

Bangladesh, a select bibliography of English language periodical literature, 1971-1986 /
by Rahim, Joyce L. Published 1986
Call Number: Z3186 .R33 1986 Cop. 1
Location: International & Area Studies Ref Asian [non-circulating]

Essays on Ekushey, the language movement, 1952 /
Published 1994
Call Number: 306.4495492 ES73
Location: Main Stacks

Banglapedia: national encyclopedia of Bangladesh /
Published 2003
Call Number: DS393 .B38 2003 v.6
Location: International & Area Studies Ref Asian [non-circulating]

Bangladesh since 1952 language movement /
by Adhikari, Abanti Published 2011
Call Number: 954.92 Ad42b
Location: Main Stacks

Finally, make sure to stop by the International and Area Studies Library on the 3rd floor of the Main Library, Room 321. We have a variety of relevant reference materials and Mara Thacker, subject specialist for South Asia, will be happy to help you with your research.

Happy International Mother Language Day!

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Portuguese and Other World Languages by the Numbers

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“Proportion of U.S. undergraduates studying the Top 20 spoken languages compared to speakers worldwide.” Source: Student Language Exchange. (Click to enlarge)

The above infographic is highly informative: Given the amount of individuals who actually speak a living language, the number of U.S. students currently studying those languages may be completely disproportionate. Clearly this is the case of French, which, for historical and geographic reasons, has been Americans’ and other native Anglophones’ foreign language of choice par excellence (no pun intended) for centuries. But, in reality, only about 1.07% of the world’s population speaks French as a first language (Ethnologue 2014).

Especially in the case of the United States, Spanish also makes logical geopolitical sense to study and master. However, with 414,170,030 speakers worldwide (as opposed to French’s “only” approximately 75 million (Ibid.)), the prevalence of Spanish-language students makes more sense numerically. Still, statistics like those provided by the Student Language Exchange show that U.S. universities are neglecting huge populations and markets by only focusing on the old standbys.

Portuguese is one such example. While Portuguese has certainly been an important world language throughout the last 500 years, many Americans and English speakers in general may not have considered it as a worthy focus of their attention. Until now.

In a recent interview, Edleise Mendes, President of the Sociedade Internacional de Português Língua Estrangeira (SIPLE, the International Society of Portuguese as a Foreign Language), reports that, in the last ten years, interest in studying Portuguese as a foreign language throughout the world has tripled (Neves 2014). She notes that rising interest in China and the United States reflects a worldwide reawakening to the practicality of studying this language.

Of course, one would be quite remiss in omitting the vast influence that Brazil has had in swaying this surge in interest. In fact, and staying within this article’s parameters of “language by the numbers,” approximately 95% of worldwide Portuguese speakers (of a total approaching 210 million) live in Brazil (Ethnologue and CIA World Factbook 2014).

An enormous nation (the sixth most populous in the world) comparable in both territorial and population size to the United States, Brazil’s diversified economy has grown to the point that its is now primed to be one of the leading markets of the 21st century: “Exploiting vast natural resources and a large labor pool, it is today South America’s leading economic power and a regional leader, one of the first in the area to begin an economic recovery” (Ibid.). What’s more, Brazil’s image as a fun-loving, culturally rich patchwork nation of many nuances is a huge part of its worldwide appeal.

For more information regarding how you can study the Portuguese language and all of its many “ports of call” at the University of Illinois (and beyond), check out this LibGuide. The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Collection at the University Library is also a fantastic starting point and resource, along with the reference collection at the International and Area Studies Library.

Map of nations where Portuguese is an official language.

References

_____. (2014). “Brazil.” CIA World Factbook. Web. Accessed 11 December 2014. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html

_____. (2014). “French.” Ethnologue. Web. Accessed 10 December 2014. http://www.ethnologue.com/language/fra

_____. (2014). “Portuguese.” Ethnologue. Web. Accessed 11 December 2014. http://www.ethnologue.com/language/por

_____. (2014). “Spanish.” Ethnologue. Web. Accessed 11 December 2014. http://www.ethnologue.com/language/spa

Neves, Patrícia. (2014). “Português gera interesse mundial ‘nunca visto’.” Plataforma Macau. Web. Accessed 11 December 2014. http://www.plataformamacau.com/macau/portugues-gera-interesse-mundial-nunca-visto/

 

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