International Mother Language Day

International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

The date was chosen to commemorate the 1952 massacre of students demonstrating in Dhaka, Bangladesh (then Pakistan), for their right to speak their native language, Bengali.

There are still though more than 20 languages spoken by hundreds of millions of people that still do not enjoy official status, and whose speakers are forced to bilingualism.