How important is our mother tongue ? Thinking from an urban perspective, we could say that it is very important, since we all cultivate Spanish as a mother tongue. -if we understand by it, in a strict sense, the language that our mothers taught us to speak. However, seen from a national perspective, there is little that we value, know and spread the mother tongue s that exist, many of them in a perfect state of conservation and use, among our native, Andean and Amazonian communities. The teaching of Quechua, for example, in an educational system in Lima, is today more than ever a pending task because the capital of Peru has been, for a long time, a melting pot of pluridiversity in which families of migrants who have, as mother tongues, language systems other than Spanish. To reflect on these issues there is the International Day of the Mother Language , which is celebrated on Friday, February 21.
The importance of all languages, not only as a distinctive of different cultures, but also as a means of expressing the thoughts and feelings of human beings, is incalculable. It is estimated that around 6,703 languages are spoken in the world, of which approximately 30%, that is, 2,011 are spoken in Africa, 15% or 1,000 in all of America, 2,165 or 33% in Asia, 3% or 225 in Europe. , 19% or 1,302 in Oceania.
In Africa, only fourteen languages out of a total of 2,011 spoken have the status of official languages. It is the languages of the former African colonies (English, French, Portuguese) that have predominance on that continent. Throughout America, the situation is very similar, the languages of the former territories occupied by England, Spain and Portugal are the most widely spoken, leaving a large number of aboriginal languages relegated to a small group of speakers. In Asia, there are 34 languages recognized as official for a total of forty-nine States. In Europe there are 35 official languages and a total of 222 native languages, with Russia being the country with the largest number of languages, a total of fifty-six. In Oceania, statistics say that there is one language for every 23,000 inhabitants.
In November 1999, the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization decided that as of the year 2000, every twenty-first of February , the international day of the mother tongue would be celebrated in all the Member States of UNESCO. This day is commemorated to remember the struggle of the "Movement to rescue the Bengali language" in 1952, the year in which, after a demonstration for the protection of this language, the police and the Pakistani army, occupation forces in Bangladesh at that time, shot against the Bengali-speaking population.
You cannot speak of the superiority of a specific language over another or others, because it is about different worldviews, ways of thinking, interacting, discussing and discerning that finally find their vehicle transmission through languages. The complexity of thought is transmitted through oral and written language, in what undoubtedly represents a basic and irreplaceable intellectual exercise for the normal, healthy and edifying formation of the personality of all human beings.
It is essential for the cultural, political, social and economic development of all peoples to enjoy a common vehicle for the expression of ideas that identifies all the individuals who are part of a specific community. Languages are not dead entities, but on the contrary, they are constantly evolving according to the geographical territory, use, changes in society and the time in which they are used.
In 1928, in a first attempt to educate children in their mother tongue , the International Bureau of Education in Geneva held the first international congress on bilingualism in Luxembourg. This event was held within a context in which many of the representatives of the different nations spoke languages that were not considered official languages in their respective countries.
In 1954, UNESCO or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization advocated the use of the mother tongue for the primary education of children in order to establish a consensus regarding the problem of bilingualism in many regions of the world. The first education that children receive is essential because it is during this stage that children learn to think in a structured way, to discern, to express and formulate ideas all through the language. Children who belong to groups whose languages are not as well represented in society, are not official languages or are not taken into account to impart knowledge, start with a disadvantage that is often insurmountable for them in their adult lives.
The relevance of the mother tongue it is undoubtedly in the formation of all individuals as integral and functional beings within a system that respects and considers the expression and communication of ideas as an inalienable and irreplaceable right of all human beings. It is essential not to ignore the burden that this means for a person, not to be educated in their mother tongue , a language that transmits the traditions, mentality and culture of the different peoples of this planet.