On February 21st we celebrate International Mother Language Day, observed around the world since 2000. Initiated by Bangladesh more than two decades ago, this year’s theme for Mother Language Day is “Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities.” UNESCO approved this day as a way to show its commitment to preserving cultural and linguistic diversity, in a world where 40% of the population cannot get education in a language they speak or understand. 

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, addressed this following message on the occasion: "Technology can  provide  new  tools  for  protecting  linguistic  diversity.  Such  tools,  for  example,  facilitating  their  spread  and  analysis,  allow  us  to  record  and  preserve  languages which sometimes exist only in oral form. Put simply, they make local dialects a shared heritage. However, because the Internet poses a risk of linguistic uniformization, we must also be aware that technological progress will serve plurilingualism only as long as we make the effort  to  ensure  that  it  does" (see more on UNESCO’s website).

We remind you that in Connecticut, The Romanian Online School offers classes of Romanian Language and culture, taught by highly prepared teachers. The School is approaching the middle of the Spring 2022 semester with over 40 children enrolled. For more details, visit https://romanulonline.org/school/.