Mother Language Day

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (15:27): On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to share in an important multicultural community event that is part of an annual observation which is not so well known, despite its worldwide reach. International Mother Language Day aims to promote the awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to champion the retention of all of the world's mother tongues.

It is recognised each year on 21 February because that was the date in 1952 when university students demonstrating for the recognition of their language, Bangla, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka. Their people were under pressure to cease the use of their natural language. They made the supreme sacrifice for their own language: they gave their life.

Sixty-three years on, we recognise the vital importance of preserving the vast number of mother languages across the world. We know that, regardless of our circumstances of birth, our culture or creed, our gender or sexuality, our ability or disability, we all have a contribution to make to society. The languages of our forebears have an important function, not just in our history but also in our future. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO):

…when languages fade, so does the world's rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memories, unique modes of thinking and expression…are all lost.

I thank and congratulate the organisers of Saturday's event, including the Adelaide Bangladeshi Cultural Club President, Alamgir Hussain, and Vice-President, Zaman Khan. I was appreciative of the opportunity to be part of such an important and moving occasion, which was marked by the children singing, dancing and displaying their drawings.

According to UNESCO, more than 50 per cent of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world are likely to die out within a few generations, and 96 per cent of these languages are spoken by only 4 per cent of the world's population. Only a few hundred languages are truly recognised through education systems and less than 100 are in use in the digital world—less than 100 of 7,000, a staggeringly low figure.

The situation is no less grave for Australia's Indigenous languages. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, at the time of the first European settlement more than 500 dialects may have been spoken by the Indigenous population. These dialects made up about 250 distinct languages. Over time in Australia many languages and dialects have been lost—speakers have died and others have shifted to speaking other languages. The most recent report into Australian Aboriginal languages in 2014 stated that there are around 120 Indigenous languages still spoken today in this nation, which is down from 145 Indigenous languages identified in the previous 2005 report, and most of the remaining languages are critically endangered.

The South Australian government has developed the South Australian policy framework, Aboriginal Languages, Interpreters and Translators, to demonstrate its commitment to closing the gap through providing a coordinated policy approach across South Australian government, agencies and services for the effective provision and use of Aboriginal languages, interpreting and translating services. Hearteningly, the document notes that in August 2009 the then federal minister for the former department for families, housing, community services and Indigenous affairs, and the former department of environment, water, heritage and arts, announced a national Indigenous languages policy focusing on five key areas, including making sure that, in areas where Indigenous languages are being spoken fully and passed on, the government recognises these languages when it interacts with Indigenous communities.

Languages play a unique role in communication, education and social integration, and are fundamental to maintaining a community's or an individual's identity. As our world becomes seemingly smaller due to globalisation, languages are increasingly becoming endangered or disappearing completely. International Mother Language Day celebrates our diversity, embracing those things that make us different from each other, including our mother tongues, but it is also important to celebrate the things that unite us: our common humanity, and the quest for peace, harmony, equality and social justice.

I am always inspired when courageous people face tragedy and from the depths of grief are able to find the strength to shape something positive, something for the future, and to see hope through tears. International Mother Language Day is one such example.