How remarkable and diverse is language!

To give us the opportunity to celebrate this the United Nations has designed the 26th of September to be a day to commemorate the learning of languages across the world.  There are over 6000 languages spoken globally, underlying rich and beautiful cultures! This day therefore celebrates the joy of learning a new language, and hence finding out about the culture behind it. Language is the gateway to cultures. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is famously quoted for saying, “those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.”

2001 was the European Year of Languages which led to the establishment of the day we now celebrate, arranged by the Council of Europe.

Educational packs have been created for schools which teach children about different European languages. You can find these packs here. They include posters and  arts and craft materials. Multi-lingual assemblies are a fun tool to teach languages.

Individuals can put on different events to celebrate the day with perhaps language learning competitions or themed parties. Exhibitions or plays in other languages are a wonderful learning tool and even learning new words in another language for a day are a good way to commemorate the day. You may even find a love for another language and continue your learning!

Happy International Day of Languages!

Also in September:

UN International Literacy Day – 8th

International Day of Democracy – 15th

International Ozone Day – 16th

International Day of Peace – 21st

Yom Kippur – 26th

World Tourism Day – 27th

Rosh Hashana: Jewish New Year – 28th

Tags: cross-cultural differences, culture, European Day of Languages, International Day of Language

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 at 10:34 am and is filed under days of significance, Europe, General, other interesting stuff . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.