Today Is February 21

Today is International Mother Language Day.

2017 International Mother Language Day celebration in Bangalore By Suyash Dwivedi

International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is a worldwide annual observance held on February 21 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism. The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh February 21 is the anniversary of the day when Bangladeshis fought for recognition for the Bangla language. Mother Language Day is part of a broader initiative "to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world" as adopted by the UN General Assembly on May 16, 2007.

The book of Genesis in the Bible tells us that the emergence of different languages happened in around 4,000 BC. It was God's punishment for man's presumption in building the mighty tower of Babel, in Babylonia which was a monument to their own greatness. He scattered the people all over the Earth and confused their language so they wouldn't understand each other.

A recent Languages Of The World publication lists 7,097 languages spoken on Earth. Around 40 per cent of them are in danger of disappearing.

The ten most spoken languages in the world are Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, German and French, in that order.