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CALL International Mother Language Day celebration at the Desert Knowledge Precinct
Home CALL International Mother Language Day celebration at the Desert Knowledge Precinct
21 February 2025
4 minute read

‘UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day (IMLD) takes place on 21 February each year.

IMLD is aimed at to encouraging awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity, and to promote multilingualism.

 2025 also marks the 25th anniversary of International Mother Language Day. This milestone highlights a quarter-century of dedicated efforts to preserve linguistic diversity and promote the use of mother tongues.’

Batchelor Institute Language Centre, CALL, and the Batchelor Language Certificate Courses joined the International celebration of International Mother Language Day (IMLD) by inviting staff and students to a morning tea at the Desert Knowledge Precinct where people shared a few words and a little information about the wide range of languages represented. In the room were speakers of Eastern & Central Arrernte, Western Arrarnte, Warlpiri, Anmatyerr, Maṯutharra, Luritja, Yankuntjatjara, Arabic (from Palestine), Tamil (from India) and Xhosa (from South Africa).

Here are a few words of greeting that were shared:

Werte Hello (Arrernte)

céad míle fáilte One hundred thousand welcomes (Irish)

Marhaba Hello, welcome (Arabic)

Molweni ninjani? How are you? (Xhosa)

It was a very happy event. People commented about how rarely we stop to think about all the different languages and cultures that are represented around us at work, and how good it is to share and make space for learning a little more about each other.

‘UNESCO estimates that there are 8,324 languages, spoken or signed, worldwide. Out of these, they estimate that around 7,000 languages are still in use. However, linguistic diversity is under threat, with many languages disappearing at an accelerated pace in our rapidly changing world.

 Learning in one’s mother tongue enhances comprehension, engagement, and critical thinking, particularly for marginalised communities, but 37% of learners in low- and middle-income countries lack this opportunity. Multilingual education addresses these gaps, boosting participation, retention, and socio-emotional development, while also supporting global goals like gender equality, climate action, and sustainable communities.’

 Apart from the paragraph about the morning tea, the information presented here is taken from

 https://romaniaembassy.orderofmalta.int/en/news/international-mother-language-day-2025/