Highlighting the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity and multilingual education, International Mother Language Day has been observed annually since 2000. The 11th IMLD will be celebrated as part of 2010 International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, noted Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, in her message for the Day. “Languages are the best vehicles of mutual understanding and tolerance. Respect for all languages is a key factor for ensuring peaceful coexistence, without exclusion, of societies and all of their members,” she said.

            Essential to today’s globalization process, translation and interpretation help disseminate information but can also misinform. The “International Symposium: Translation and Cultural Mediation”, opening at UNESCO (Room XII) at 9.30 a.m. on 22 February, will bring together experts in intercultural studies and translation to analyze the phenomenon. They will participate in three panels: “Bridging global and local languages”, “Translation, mutual understanding and stereotypes” (22 February, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.) and “Translation and cultural mediation” (23 February, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.). The information session (3-5 p.m.) that follows will include a discussion on the New Atlas of Endangered Languages published by UNESCO and a presentation on “Technology and the Mother Tongue: Friend or Foe?” 

            More and more countries every year are organizing educational and cultural events for IMLD. This year, among activities worldwide, the village of Kovacica in the Republic of Serbia, where national minorities of Slovaks, Romanians, Roma, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Croats live alongside Serbs, will celebrate the day with roundtables and discussions. Every school in Serbia will mark the occasion by devoting one lesson to mother languages.