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<p class=MsoNormal>Greetings and Happy New Year to all,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The year 2008 has been proclaimed International Year of
Languages by the United Nations General Assembly. UNESCO, which has been
entrusted with the task of coordinating activities for the Year, is determined
to fulfill its role as lead agency.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Message from Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of
UNESCO, on the celebration of 2008, International Year of Languages<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a
href="http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35559&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35559&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>More than 50% of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world may
disappear. Less than a quarter of those languages are currently used in schools
and in cyberspace, and most are used only.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>We must act now as a matter of urgency. How? By encouraging
and developing language policies that enable each linguistic community to use
its first language, or mother tongue, as widely and as often as possible,
including in education, while also mastering a national or regional language
and an international language. Also by encouraging speakers of a dominant
language to master another national or regional language and one or two
international languages. Only if multilingualism is fully accepted can all
languages find their place in our globalized world. sporadically.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>UNESCO therefore invites governments, United Nations
organizations, civil society organizations, educational institutions,
professional associations and all other stakeholders to increase their own
activities to foster respect for, and the promotion and protection of all
languages, particularly endangered languages, in all individual and collective
contexts<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY PROCLAIMS 2008 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF
LANGUAGES TO PROMOTE UNITY IN DIVERSITY, GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a
href="http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/ga10592.doc.htm">http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/ga10592.doc.htm</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>2008 International Year of Languages at Wikipedia<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_of_Languages">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_of_Languages</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>2008 International Year of Languages at Facebook<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19666430768">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19666430768</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>[With thanks to Gustavo Lucardi for the formatting concept
of this message]<o:p></o:p></p>
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