Fluency in mother tongue is the talking point in UAE

[Harold Schiffman]

 Forwarded From:edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu


Gulf News



Fluency in mother tongue is the talking point in UAE



Do you struggle to be coherent in your mother tongue?

Language helps preserve, develop and communicate the various aspects
of a heritage to others. In order to promote linguistic and cultural
diversity, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (Unesco) decided to observe International Mother Language
Day on February 21 of every year.

The day was first celebrated in the year 2000. Gulf News's
multilingual readers expressed their views about life in the UAE and
the future of their languages and cultures. Although some residents
said they felt their traditions were being influenced by forces of
globalisation, most were confident about preserving their heritage and
mother tongues.



Full story:

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Heritage_and_Culture/10288025.html





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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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