Language Celebrations Abound

International Mother Tongue Language Day is being honored today through Tuesday, February 21–23. This is the eleventh year for the cele­bra­tion, which was initi­ated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2000. Following an opening cere­mony at UNESCO head­quar­ters in Paris on Monday morning, an International Symposium on Translation and Cultural Mediation will be held Monday and Tuesday. An infor­ma­tion session will be held Tuesday after­noon following the symposium.

The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, is holding Endangered Languages Week, February 22–27. Activities include a variety of work­shops, films and presen­ta­tions regarding dying languages and the field­work involved in attempting to preserve them.

It seemed appro­priate to begin a language policy blog in a week when multiple language events are in session. One purpose of this site is to gather news on language policy matters around the world, keep tabs on upcoming confer­ences and discuss recent and upcoming publi­ca­tions. Another is to provide tools and data for language policy research. Language policy measure­ment scales and some of the data coded using those scales are already present on the site. Additional data will be made avail­able for down­load as datasets are prepared. Please explore the research pages and use the contact form to ask ques­tions or provide feed­back, whether on site navi­ga­tion or content. This site is a work in progress and can benefit from your input.

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