Languages powerful instruments to preserve heritage

Bapatla: International Mother Language Day was celebrated under the auspices of Forum for Better Bapatla on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, the forum secretary, PC Sai Babu said that all the moves to promote mother tongue would serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world. The mother tongue inspires solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue, said the speakers.

“Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage,” they opined. “More than 50 per cent of 7,000 languages spoken in the world would be likely to die within a few decades. About 96 per cent of these languages are being spoken by a mere 4 per cent of the world's population. 

Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given pride of place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world,” they added. Tahsildar T Valliah, deputy tahsildar G Sricharan, revenue inspector B Omkaram, staff and others participated.