21st February marked International Mother Language Day to promote awareness of our diverse languages and linguistic culture, but also to promote the preservation and protection of languages used by people all over the world.
A mother tongue generally refers to our first language or the language that we have been exposed to from birth but in some countries and cultures the term native language or mother tongue refers to one’s ethnic group rather than to one’s first language. Mother language plays a big part in our culture and traditions and therefore plays an important role in our intangible cultural heritage. It is a valuable channel to transmit other intangible cultures such as oral histories, songs and ancestral knowledge of a specific community.
It is estimated that there are 91 languages spoken in Bristol, with 187 countries of birth represented. With an overall 9% of people not speaking English as their main language, we cannot argue about the linguistic diversity and multiculturality of the city.
We are proud to say that within our office, the BSWN team have a rich linguistic diversity from Swahili, Somali, Slovak, Czech, Italian, French, Malagasy and English mother languages, and our language is very important to us as it is part of our identity and culture.
A day like today is important as a reminder that there is so much linguistic diversity in the world and we should cherish this heritage. Unfortunately in some part of the world, mother language is under threat and it is estimated that 6000 languages spoken in the world are currently endangered and we risk losing important intangible cultural heritage. Let’s be proud of our languages and keep speaking them to keep them alive.
We would love to hear about your languages and any stories linked to your linguistics heritage. If you would like to share your stories with us, please do get in contact with us at heritage.manager@bswn.org.uk
Happy International Mother Language day to all of Bristol and the South West!