Have you ever noticed how your personality changes depending on the language you speak? In one language you might sound serious and professional, but in your mother tongue you feel softer, funnier and more like your real self. Even the way you say “I miss you” feels more honest in your mother tongue. That’s identity.
Every year on February 21, the world observes International Mother Language Day, established by UNESCO in 1999. The date remembers the students in Bangladesh who were killed in 1952 while protesting for the right to speak their mother language, Bengali. Imagine loving your language so much that you risk your life for it. That’s when you realize language is not just words. It’s dignity.
We celebrate this day because language is more powerful than we think. It carries history, culture, traditions and the emotional memory of a community. When a language disappears, it’s not just about losing vocabulary. We lose stories, lullabies, humor and ways of thinking that cannot be translated perfectly into another language.
This day also remind us that education should being with understanding. Children learn better when they are taught in their mother language, especially in their early years. When students are forced to learning language which they barely understand, they may struggle, not because they are not intelligent, but because they are disconnected. Celebrating this day highlights the importance of respecting linguistic diversity in education and society.
Now let’s talk about something very real. How many of us have been in situations where we were embarrassed to speak our mother language in public? Maybe at school or university. Maybe in professional setting. Maybe when someone mocked our accent. And slowly, we start switching. We start thinking, “Let me just speak in English. It sounds better.” That’s how language being to fade.
We celebrate global languages because they open doors. But sometimes, in chasing global recognition, we slowly disconnect from our roots. We text in one language, write assignments in another and rarely read or write in our own language. One day we realize we cannot even properly explain our feelings in our mother tongue anymore and that hits hard.
Mother language is the first sound we hear from mother. The first lullaby. The first scolding. The first “I love you.” It carries childhood memories, stories, inside jokes and cultural values. When the language disappears, an entire way of seeing the world disappears with it.
Being multilingual is beautiful. Learning global languages is important. But protecting your mother language is responsibility. So maybe today, call your parents and speak in your mother tongue a little longer. Read and write something in it. Don’t let it become something you “used to know.” Because once language dies, we don’t just lose words. We lose stories, memories and pieces of ourselves.
Written By: –
Rtr. Hirushi Ranathunga
(Junior Blog Team Member 2025-26)
Design By :-
Rtr. Mesandi Nikagoda
(Junior Blog Team Member 2025-26)
