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Languages face peril

New York: More than half of the world’s 6,700 spoken languages face extinction and on an average one language a year disappears somewhere in the world, the United Nations warned as it kicked off the International Year of Languages.

The year is being observed under the shadow of experts’ estimate that currently 96 per cent of the languages are spoken only by 4 per cent of the world’s population with globalisation placing many under grave threat.

In a message marking International Mother Language Day, Kochiro Matsuura, the Director-General of the U.N. Educational Cultural and Scientific Organisation stressed the importance of all languages to everyday life.

“Far from being a field reserved for analysis by specialists, languages lie at the heart of all social, economic and cultural life,” he said. The Director General stressed UNESCO’S slogan for the year, ‘Languages matter!’

The agency held a series of events including a seminar, presentations and a workshop at its Paris headquarters to mark the day and to launch the International Year.

International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since 2000. This year UNESCO has put emphasis on instruments and standards that encourage multilingualism. — PTI

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