“Language is the cornerstone of communication, and it is through language that we express our thoughts, ideas and emotions,” says Elsabé Taljard, Professor and Acting Head of the Department of African Languages in the Faculty of Humanities, who details the significance of International Mother Language Day.

International Mother Language Day is designated by the United Nations to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, and to highlight the importance of preserving and protecting mother tongues around the world. It is celebrated annually on 21 February in honour of the Bangla Language Movement in Bangladesh, when on this day in 1952, students and activists protested for the recognition of Bangla as an official language of East Pakistan.

The significance of the day lies in recognising the role that languages play in shaping our cultural identities and promoting social cohesion. Language is the cornerstone of communication, and it is through language that we express our thoughts, ideas and emotions. Our mother tongue is often the first language we learn, and it plays a fundamental role in shaping our worldview and cultural identity. Apart from recognising linguistic and cultural diversity, International Mother Language Day is also an opportunity to reflect on the importance of promoting inclusive and equitable education, which includes the preservation and promotion of mother tongues.

As a result of globalisation, many languages are under threat of extinction, and language death is a reality. Language death is not only the disappearance of a language, but also of a culture. Of the estimated 6 000 spoken languages of the world, at least 43% are endangered. Linguists estimate that every two weeks, a language completely disappears and a cultural and intellectual heritage is lost. As speakers of African languages in particular, we cannot assume that our languages are not threatened; International Mother Language day affords us the opportunity to critically appraise the status of our languages.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) theme for this year’s International Mother Language Day is ‘Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education’. This  offers us a chance to reflect on the status of languages in educational spaces: we need to consider whether all languages, dialects and accents are respected and valued in lecture halls and classrooms, and whether our curricula are designed to benefit from the variety of mother languages to enrich learning through diversifying perspectives. As lecturers, we need to re-evaluate the way in which we teach, investigating different strategies to empower students to use their complete linguistic repertoires for learning. We need to ensure that students maintain and develop all languages that are important to their identities. Being multilingual is a characteristic feature of many South Africans and, fortunately, of many UP students. Therefore, we need to value multilingualism as an asset, rather than as a stumbling block for equitable education.

So let us celebrate, but also go beyond celebration – let us initiate actions to leverage linguistic diversity and ensure equity for speakers and students of all language and cultural identities.