María del Mar Larraza, Director of the Chair of language and Basque Culture of the University of Navarra.
International Mother's Day language
A deep conviction led UNESCO in 1999 to declare February 21 as International Mother Language Day language : the need to defend and promote "linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism as a factor for peace and sustainable development ". This was expressed by University Secretary Ban Ki-moon in his message last year: diversity, he added, fosters ¿dialogue, mutual understanding, innovation and creativity", and this financial aid to build ¿more just and inclusive societies".
The main goal of the language policy of the world organization is to propose trilingualism in all societies, which implies the use in the Education of at least three languages: the mother tongue language , a regional or national language and an international language . The first of these, the one we receive at home in the first years of life, is the one in which we find the knowledge, values and wisdom of our community that we wish to share in intercultural dialogue. issue It is essential to our identity; its recognition - as the Director General, Irina Bokova, recalls in her message - "allows a greater number of people to make their voices heard and to participate actively in the collective destiny". If to the respect to the original language we join the knowledge and speaks of a "neighborly" language and of an international language , we will be building a world citizenship that makes possible a real rapprochement of the peoples based on understanding and dialogue between them.
understanding and dialogue between their different cultures.
understanding and dialogue between their different cultures.
On the day on which all this is celebrated, we want to add our voice to those of thousands of other institutions and individuals who share UNESCO's project . In fact, we live in a land of linguistic and cultural diversity, historically already ascertainable since the first written testimonies left here by the Roman presence, which has made us aware of the richness of our heritage and the plurality of cultural roots of our community. In these times of internationalization of the teaching, in which it is more necessary than ever to take care of what is proper from a non-exclusive but integrating option, it is necessary to renew the effort to find imaginative formulas to ensure a balanced space for mother tongues in the field professor, including the university, as the maximum world organization for the Education and culture proclaims and commemorates on this day. The university institution lives in a global world in which English is consolidating as the international language , but in this space we must find channels so that the Basque language and its culture do not cease to be present in the teaching, in the research and in the projection of activities inside and outside the classrooms. It is a commitment based on the idea that the coexistence of languages brings mutual enrichment, and is also decisive for the normalization of environments characterized by the diversity of languages.d cultural.