I don?t know how many of the readers are aware that this 21^st February is considered as the International Mother Language Day and the background story behind this significant day. I am a proud Bangladeshi to tell that this was a matter of glory that no other country than Bangladesh shed their blood to rescue their mother tongue- Bangla. It was back then, in 1952, when Bangladesh wasn?t an independent country yet, rather a part of Pakistan. However, the rulers declared that the official govt. language of the whole country including Bangladesh (which was known as East Pakistan) will be Urdu. The date represents the day in 1952 when students from different educational institutions such as Dhaka University, Jagannath University, Dhaka Medical College demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka (near High Court), which is the capital of present-day Bangladesh. Now International Mother Language Day is an observance held annually on 21 February worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.

Though having a glorifying and brave past, today our language Bangla is not that much respected. Where ever you look around you, you will see a number of bill boards with lots of spelling mistake. As they say, the term "mother language" is, itself, a somewhat awkward calque translation of the term used in a number of "Romance languages"—e.g. lengua materna (Spanish), lingua madre (Italian), langue maternelle (French), and so on. A more fluent English translation would perhaps be "mother tongue", though "native language" is the most readily comprehensible term in English. In linguistics, in fact, "mother language" refers to an ancestral or protolanguage of a particular branch of a language family. Yet, it seems the love which cost blood once, is being vanished these days. People mix Bangla with other languages like English and Hindi to make it sound ?cool?. Well, English is the international language, we have to be fluent on that, but we have to respect our own language as well at the same time.

However, a team of youth, named ?Kaktarua? has started a unique journey. They are working in the field and correcting all the spelling mistakes on the bill boards, over the shops, banners hanging from the buildings, writings painted on the walls. At first, it wasn?t easy to convince the owners, and then they somehow managed them to correct the spellings. I think that?s a great initiative. And we should all respect that and do as much we can do from our own stand. Lastly,

Languages 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 develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

—from the United Nations International Mother Language Day microsite