CETRA Celebrates International Mother Language Day
International Mother Language Day celebrates a quarter-century of efforts to preserve linguistic diversity and promote mother tongues on February 21. This year is the 25th anniversary of the day and emphasizes the importance of language preservation in safeguarding cultural heritage, improving education, and fostering more peaceful societies. 2025’s theme is “Silver Jubilee Celebration of International Mother Language Day”.
International Mother Language Day was fist proclaimed by UNESCO in 1999 and later adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2002. It underscores the role of languages in promoting inclusion and achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage. UNESCO estimates that there are 8,324 languages, spoken or signed. Out of these, around 7,000 languages are still in use. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world. International Mother Language Day is observed every year to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
Happy International Mother Language Day 2025!
