Mother tongue as intangible heritage.

The mother tongue: the basis of communication and a tool for assimilation

It's the language learned in early childhood, or spoken to a child at home before he or she even goes to school. Unlike foreign languages, mother tongues are the first languages that are best understood, assimilated and communicated in.

Much more than a simple means of communication, it is a cultural heritage, part of a human being's identity. It was thanks to the mother tongue that the first writers were able to tell the stories that have over time been translated into universal languages.

Gradual disappearance of the mother tongue

<<The need to preserve mother tongues: a vital issue for cultural diversity>>

According to UNESCO, around half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken in the world are threatened with extinction by the end of this century. The loss of a mother tongue can have serious consequences for cultural identity and understanding of the world; such is the case of Komi, a young Togolese who, after spending ten (10) years on American soil, is unable to converse with his grandmother back home. A situation that doesn't encourage his grandmother to privilege conversation with her grandson. As Nelson Mandela once said, "If you speak to someone in a language they understand, you're speaking to their head, but if you speak to them in their own language, you're speaking to their heart".

International Mother Language Day, for the preservation of languages

To avoid such situations, which contribute on a large scale to the cultural uprooting of people, International Mother Language Day has been established. An opportunity to raise global awareness of the benefits of linguistic diversity and the preservation of mother tongues. And for this year 2023, the theme chosen is: Multilingual education, a necessity for transforming education.

This year's theme is about strengthening multilingual education as a necessity for transforming education in multilingual contexts, from early childhood onwards, supporting learning through multilingual education and multilingualism in changing global contexts and in situations of crisis and emergency, and revitalizing languages that are disappearing or threatened with extinction.

By promoting and preserving mother tongues, we can help build a more inclusive world that respects cultural diversity.

Betfrika invites us all to join in the celebration of International Mother Language Day, because ,In a second language, words are simply further from reality than in the mother tongue" (Monique Larue).

BINGUI Japhet Consolation