Please join the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs at celebrating International Mother Language Day at Queens Museum! This celebration will honor the diverse and rich languages spoken throughout our great city, featuring agency and community information tables, spoken word performances, as well as an activity corner with hands-on artmaking activity.

About International Mother Language Day

International Mother Language Day aims to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The date represents the day in 1952 when students 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, the capital of what is now Bangladesh. First announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999, it was formally recognized by theUnited Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.

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.