Happy UNESCO International Mother Language Day / La journée internationale de la langue maternelle.
Here’s what UNESCO says (portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12871&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html) [EDIT (6/4/10): dead link]:
International Mother Language Day (21 February 2007)
The theme of International Mother Language Day in 2007 is the linkages betweenmother [sic] tongue and multilingualism.Languages play an important role in the integration process in all aspects of public life but especially education. However, thousands of the world’s 6,000 languages are absent from the public arena and fifty per cent are in danger of disappearing altogether.
Here’s more information:
- All the International Mother Language Days (2000-2007)
- UNESCO 2007 events (Paris, France)
- Northern Russia indigenous peoples (includes audio of songs and poems)
- Germany’s minority-integration and language issues