The International Mother Language Day was established in 2000 to highlight and celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity. It is celebrated all over the world on February 21, and Savremena students marked it by attending an interesting workshop and talking about the importance of mother tongue.

Senior students whose first language is not Serbian, as well as those who nurture a special love of the Serbian language also participated in the workshop which comprised three parts. The first part involved introductions. Each student introduced themselves in their mother tongue, telling others where they are from and writing their name on the board.

Then they shared several of their favorite words, or sentences in their native language which they wanted to translate, so that others could understand them as well. What pet name do their parents and grandparents have for them? Do they know what their very first word was? What was the name of their first pet? Together with their teacher Marina Gava, they researched how that word is pronounced in another language, and its origins.

BY INTERPRETING PROVERBS WE LEARN THE POWER AND IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE

The second part of the workshop was dedicated to the importance of language. Students’ task was to write down proverbs about language or words, and teachers helped them by providing a few examples.

The goal was to interpret proverbs and idioms so that students could understand the beauty and diversity of language, as well as its importance.
In the last section, students wrote down words (sentences, expressions) that had been confirmed to represent concepts of great personal importance to them on paper flowers, creating a bouquet as a reminder of the importance and power of language, which must be nurtured, just like flowers.

Year 1 students also celebrated Mother Language Day. They learned what mother tongue is, why we learn our native language and foreign languages, and why it is important to nurture one’s own, and respect other languages. They drew flags of different countries and greetings in their languages.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT LANGUAGES

• There are 2.700 different languages, and over 7.000 dialects in the world.
• The most spoken languages in the world are Chinese, English and Hindu.
• Chinese, the most widely spoken language on the planet, has over 50.000 characters. If you want to be able to read newspapers in Chinese, you need to know at least 2.000 characters.
• Languages influence each other. For example, 30% of the English vocabulary are loanwords from French. For example, the whole English terminology referring to ballet is French in origin.
• Serbian is the only European language that uses digraphia, i.e. two alphabets.
• Numerous scientists claim that learning a second language improves various brain functions, as well as that those who speak or learn a foreign language can slow down brain aging.

 Savremena’s little ones said hello in several different languages.