{"id":544,"date":"2021-02-16T14:10:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T14:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-skills\/?p=544"},"modified":"2021-02-24T09:55:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T09:55:55","slug":"happy-international-mother-language-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2021\/02\/16\/happy-international-mother-language-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy International Mother Language Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>21 February is <a href=\"https:\/\/en.unesco.org\/commemorations\/motherlanguageday\">International Mother Language Day<\/a>, a day observed annually since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The theme of this year's event is 'Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society.'<\/p>\n<p>To mark International Mother Language Day 2021, some of the Skills Centre's teaching staff share what they love about their own mother languages and why learning languages is so important.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"International Mother Language Day\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/512917906?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Anne-Catherine Mechler, Teaching Fellow \u2013 French<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Joyeuse F\u00eate \u00e0 toutes les langues maternelles!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Vous parlez fran\u00e7ais ? Un peu ? Beaucoup ?<\/p>\n<p>Why speak French? Because it's the language of love, food, wine and fashion of course!<\/p>\n<p>A language that speaks to all of your senses, bien s\u00fbr !<\/p>\n<h2>Dr Uwe Baumann, Teaching Fellow \u2013 German<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Alles Gute zum International Tag der Muttersprache!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>German is a language that is spoken by more than 100 million people worldwide, not just in Germany, Austria or parts of Switzerland but also in Liechtenstein, Luxemburg and parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Northern Italy and France. And beyond! Imagine my surprise when I was in Ontario in Canada and heard German spoken on the street by local people. Why was that? A lot of Germans migrated to Canada (and the USA) in the 19th century and kept the language alive.<\/p>\n<p>And as Germany is one of the strongest economies in the European Union and worldwide with a large labour market, it will be an advantage if you speak German, whether you work in finance, marketing and sales, engineering or the arts and media.<\/p>\n<p>What I like about German is that it is a precise language with rules and mostly logical structures. And I think German is a flexible language \u2013 for example, you can change around the word order without it becoming ungrammatical.<\/p>\n<p>But what I love most about German is its ability to create compound nouns. Look at this: der Gummihandschuh or in English: rubber gloves. It has combined three different words together: das Gummi \u2013 rubber, die Hand \u2013 hand, and der Schuh \u2013 shoe.<\/p>\n<h2>Michela Prevedello, Teaching Fellow \u2013 Italian<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Buona Giornata Internazionale della Lingua Madre!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Italian is just\u2026 beautiful! People say that an Italian conversation sounds like a song, for its rhythm and melody. Hence, Italian is also considered one of the most romantic languages, the perfect language to express emotions. It is the language of music and the arts (musical terms like 'adagio', 'allegro', 'piano' are in fact Italian words).<\/p>\n<p>The sound of Italian is 'round' and full as most Italian words end with vowels. Let\u2019s focus on one of the most common words in Italian, 'allora', and appreciate its full and round sound. We use 'allora' for everything, as this expression can have a lot of different meanings: 'allora' is 'so', 'well', 'then', but it can also imply 'what are you doing?' or 'what do you want?' and many other things, depending on the context and on the way one says it.<\/p>\n<p>Probably students do not think Italian is an easy language to learn, but this is not a big deal, as learning Italian is such a pleasing experience per se. It is like an amazing journey through the fascinating richness of Italy, and its different regions and dialects.<\/p>\n<p>Last but not least, Italian is the only language that will allow you to use your hands whilst speaking, like Italians do. When people say that Italians talk with their hands, they are not joking!<\/p>\n<h2>Ana Bertolossi, Teaching Fellow \u2013 Brazilian Portuguese<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Feliz Dia Internacional da L\u00edngua Materna!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What I like about my language, Brazilian Portuguese, and its variants is that they sound sonorous, smooth, and vibrant. I also feel like a different person when I speak Portuguese. I instantly become more relaxed and cheerful!<\/p>\n<p>I am passionate about teaching my mother language. Portuguese is a close cousin to\u00a0Spanish, Italian, and French which makes it easy to learn. I feel privileged to share my knowledge of language and culture with my students and empower them to achieve their learning objectives, whatever they might be:\u00a0travel, employment, communication with relatives and friends, understanding global social and environment issues. My students are a diverse, motivated, and curious group of people and I always learn something new with them too.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, when learning a language, students develop a series of employability skills such as teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving, not even realising this is happening.\u00a0Studies have shown that learning a language can also prevent a certain decline in memory that comes with age and it can help to delay the progression of dementia later in life.<\/p>\n<p>Bora l\u00e1 aprender portugu\u00eas?\u00a0Vamos aprender l\u00ednguas? - Let's learn Portuguese? Let's learn languages?!<\/p>\n<h2>Tom Rewhorn, Pre-sessional Course Leader - English<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Happy International Mother Language Day!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My first language is English. However, through learning other languages, I\u2019ve learnt a lot about my own. I love how English is flexible and that through its history we have many words originating from other languages, such as \u2018sick\u2019 and \u2018ill\u2019. \u2018Sick\u2019 is originally Germanic, whereas \u2018ill\u2019 comes from Old Norse, which the Vikings spoke.<\/p>\n<p>My two favourite words in the English language are 'mumble' and 'grumble', since they are onomatopoeic, and they sound like something out of Harry Potter!<\/p>\n<p>There are more people who speak English as a second, or foreign language, than there are native speakers. Even though English is not the most spoken first language, it is commonly used for work and travel as a lingua franca. Indeed, nowadays many companies around the world require their employees to speak English and prove that they have a certain level of English, by taking an exam.<\/p>\n<h2>Ana Sevilla-Merino, Teaching Fellow \u2013 Spanish<\/h2>\n<p><strong>\u00a1Feliz D\u00eda Internacional de la Lengua Materna!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My first language is Spanish, better said, Castilian, mixed with the dialects and forms of my parents\u2019 and family languages. The language of my first tears and my happiness.<\/p>\n<p>At 11 another language came into my life: Catalan. I had never heard it before, forbidden until then, and I embraced it. Both became the languages that made me feel and tools to express those feelings. Other languages had been around me - French, Italian, Portuguese, and later English - in my childhood. Suddenly the borders opened, the wall fell, literally, and other languages appeared around me, around us. And then I went and looked for more.<\/p>\n<p>And what I found was the richness of their peoples and their cultures and their feelings.<\/p>\n<p>And that is why I love to learn languages, and learn that other languages are there, waiting for me, for us, to uncover the mysteries of their richness, the kindness of their words.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Follow International Mother Language Day on social media - #MotherLanguageDay - and let us know what you love about your mother language in the comments!<\/p>\n<p>If you'd like to develop your foreign language skills, or learn a brand new language from scratch, the Foreign Languages team offer a range of courses in eight different languages for University of Bath students, staff and members of the public.<\/p>\n<p>(Image courtesy of UNESCO)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>21 February is International Mother Language Day, a day observed annually since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The theme of this year's event is 'Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society.' To mark International Mother...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1438,"featured_media":546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[63,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employability","category-foreign-languages"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/02\/IMLD.png","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1688,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2025\/09\/19\/false-friends-when-languages-play-tricks-on-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":0},"title":"False Friends: When Languages Play Tricks on Us","author":"Daisy Zhu","date":"September 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the most entertaining (and sometimes embarrassing) aspects of learning another language is encountering false friends: words that look or sound familiar but carry different meanings. Every year on 26 September, we celebrate the European Day of Languages, a chance to reflect on the joys of multilingualism. This year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Foreign languages&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Foreign languages","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/language-skills\/foreign-languages\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"image with words \"European Day of Languages 26 Sepember\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2025\/09\/European-Day-of-Languages-2025.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2025\/09\/European-Day-of-Languages-2025.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2025\/09\/European-Day-of-Languages-2025.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2025\/09\/European-Day-of-Languages-2025.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":971,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2023\/02\/20\/celebrate-mother-language-day-with-a-pancake-or-crepe\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":1},"title":"Celebrate Mother Language Day with a pancake or cr\u00eape","author":"Kerry Vevers","date":"February 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"21 February 2023 is International Mother Language Day, as well as Pancake Day in the UK and Mardi Gras in many French-speaking countries. What\u00a0batter*\u00a0way to celebrate than for French Teaching Fellow Rachel Los to explain more about the festivals in English and French?\u00a0 Pancake Day\u00a0 Pancake Day, also known as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Foreign languages&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Foreign languages","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/language-skills\/foreign-languages\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"French cr\u00eapes on a plate next to a bowl of eggs and a sieve with flour in.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/02\/crepes.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/02\/crepes.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/02\/crepes.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/02\/crepes.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2021\/09\/24\/european-day-of-languages\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":2},"title":"European Day of Languages","author":"Kerry Vevers","date":"September 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"To mark the 20th anniversary of the European Day of Languages on 26 September, the Skills Centre's Head of Foreign Languages and Italian national, Isabella Stefanutti, shares some fun facts about European languages and why language-learning is a fantastic skill to develop.\u00a0 Can you read this? Aoccdrnig to a rceearsh\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Employability&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Employability","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/employability\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"European Day of Languages logo representing the overlapping profiles of multicoloured heads taliking.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/09\/EDL_Logo1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/09\/EDL_Logo1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/09\/EDL_Logo1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/09\/EDL_Logo1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":977,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2023\/03\/02\/international-womens-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":3},"title":"International Women's Day","author":"Kerry Vevers","date":"March 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"To celebrate International Women\u2019s Day on 8 March, Skills Centre staff shine a light on some remarkable women, past and present, from around the world.\u00a0 Dame Professor Sarah Gilbert Marketing, Communications & Web Manager Kerry Vevers: British vaccinologist and Bath honorary graduate Dame Professor Sarah Gilbert will surely go down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Foreign languages&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Foreign languages","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/language-skills\/foreign-languages\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rear portrait of four women standing in a line with their arms around each other.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/02\/IWD.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/02\/IWD.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/02\/IWD.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/02\/IWD.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1808,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2026\/04\/13\/characters-culture-and-careers-celebrating-un-chinese-language-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":4},"title":"Characters, Culture, and Careers: Celebrating UN Chinese Language Day","author":"Daisy Zhu","date":"April 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"On 20 April, the United Nations will mark its 17th Chinese Language Day, one of six official language days designed to promote multilingualism and cultural diversity. For many, this day may pass unnoticed, yet behind this date lies a rich cultural story and a compelling case for why learning Chinese\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Employability&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Employability","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/employability\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"UN Chinese Language Day","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2026\/04\/UN-Chinese-Language-Day.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2026\/04\/UN-Chinese-Language-Day.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2026\/04\/UN-Chinese-Language-Day.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2026\/04\/UN-Chinese-Language-Day.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1063,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2023\/09\/20\/european-day-of-languages-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":544,"position":5},"title":"European Day of Languages 2023","author":"Daisy Zhu","date":"September 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"How much do you know about European languages? To mark European Day of Languages on 26 September, here are some interesting facts to test your knowledge. How many languages are there in Europe? It really depends on how we define language. As a popular adage puts it, \"a language is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Employability&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Employability","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/employability\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The word 'Hello' written in a variety of different European languages.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/09\/EDL.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/09\/EDL.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/09\/EDL.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2023\/09\/EDL.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1438"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}