UNESCO and Multilingualism

The International Mother Language Day is being observed every year in UNESCO's Member States and at its Headquarters to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

Languages are at the very heart of UNESCO's objectives. They are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage.

All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to development fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

Bilingual and multilingual education means using two or more languages as mediums of instruction.

UNESCO adopted the term "multilingual education" at its General Conference in 1999, to mean use of at least three languages in education - the mother tongue, a regional or national language and an international one.

This is noted in a just-published UNESCO position paper called Education in a Multilingual World.

Several declarations and conventions adopted by UNESCO Member States set out guidelines for this and for education. The 1976 Recommendation on the Development of Adult Education, for example, calls openly for education in the mother tongue. The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001) mentions the importance of languages in promoting cultural diversity.

These documents all detail UNESCO's position, which can be summed up as:

1. Promoting education in the mother tongue to improve the quality of education.

2. Encouraging bilingual and/or multilingual education at all levels of schooling as a means of furthering social and gender equality and as a key part of linguistically diverse societies.

3. Pushing languages as a central part of inter-cultural education.