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<font face="Arial" size="2">On the occasion of the sixth
International Mother Language Day, celebrated 21 February, UNESCO is
organizing a conference on linguistic diversity*. Participants will
include: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former President of the Republic of
Iceland and Goodwill Ambassador of the Organization, Adama Samassekou,
President of the African Academy of Languages, Vittorio Bo, President
of Codice (Italy) and Daniel Prado, Director of the Terminology and
Language Industries Department of the Latin Union (Room IV, from 10 am
to 6 pm). The conference will be opened by UNESCO Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura, Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan, President of the General
Conference, and Zhang Xinsheng, President of the Executive Board of the
Organization. </font>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2">Vigdís Finnbogadóttir will discuss the
impact of the disappearance of languages, which is the subject of a
documentary film, In Languages We Live – Voices of the World (Denmark
2005), made at her initiative. Directed by Billeskov Jansen and Signe
Byrge Sørensen, the film treats the issue through a number of
individual stories. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2">The documentary film screening will be
followed by the presentation of a number of initiatives for the
protection of linguistic diversity. Vittorio Bo will talk about the
City of the Word project for a museum dedicated to languages soon be
established in Italy. This project is an initiative of Codice, an
association which creates and manages cultural research projects (</font><a
href="http://www.codicecultura.it"><u><font color="#0000ff"
face="Arial" size="2">http://www.codicecultura.it</font></u></a><font
face="Arial" size="2">). </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2">Adama Samassekou will present the
activities of the African Academy of Languages, which was recently
instituted as an organ of the African Union (AU), entrusted with
developing continent-wide programmes (</font><a
href="http://www.acalan.org"><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"
size="2">http://www.acalan.org</font></u></a><font face="Arial"
size="2">). The AU has proclaimed 2006 as the Year of African
languages. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2">Daniel Prado will present the results of
the survey about multilingualism recently carried out by the Latin
Union, an institution dedicated to the promotion of the common heritage
and identities of the Latin world (</font><a
href="http://www.unilat.org"><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"
size="2">http://www.unilat.org</font></u></a><font face="Arial"
size="2">). </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="2">International Mother Language Day is
celebrated every year on 21 February to promote the recognition and
practice of the mother languages of the world, and especially those of
minorities. It was proclaimed in 1999 during the 30th session of UNESCO
General Conference. </font></p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Foundation for Endangered Languages
Registered Charity: England and Wales 1070616
172 Bailbrook Lane, Bath BA1 7AA, England
+44-1225-852865 <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nostler@chibcha.demon.co.uk">nostler@chibcha.demon.co.uk</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ogmios.org">http://www.ogmios.org</a>
</pre>
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