International Mother Tongue Day - February 21. A holiday that promotes linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism

Each nation has its own unique and inimitable language, which serves the purpose of a person and carries a whole heritage. The inhabitants of a particular state have their own characteristics, traditions, culture, and language is a direct reflection of these features. It conveys the entire distinctiveness of the nation, so the native language is a subject for a real pride. And the day of the native language is a very important and necessary holiday.

The date of this holiday is associated with a tragic event that took place in Pakistan in 1952. On February 21, students from the University of Dhaka demonstrated against the Urdu language. Most of them spoke the Bengali dialect, so the protesters demanded to recognize it as the state language. However, not only did they not listen to the protesters, but they also started shooting. As a result, four students were killed. After the deaths of these students and other residents of Pakistan, as well as a number of disorders and liberation movements, Bengali was declared the official language. The campaign for the right to use familiar from childhood language was crowned with success.

According to UNESCO, at the present moment there are about six thousand different languages, and half of them are in danger of complete oblivion, as their speakers are becoming fewer. About two thirds of the world's population speaks the forty most common languages. The most common of them are: Chinese, English, Russian, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Arabic. According to various estimates, 240 to 260 million people in the world speak Russian. On the International Mother Tongue Day, all languages are recognized as equal, since each of them is unique. In Russia, the national language is Russian.

The Russian language has always been a national pride for its native speakers. After all, the famous classics and emperors, scientists and travelers who brought glory to Russia spoke this language. On Mother Tongue Day, it is necessary not only to be proud of the state language, but also to remind about the importance of language of small nations, the uniqueness of the dialects of national minorities.