Sixty Years: Language Matters
Today is International Mother Language Day, a day cited by UNESCO and one that you would think would be celebrated by all people across the globe. Language is the marker that identifies our commonalities and our diversities in a way that no outward appearance can. Learning a language other than one’s own breaks down barriers and builds an appreciation for and a sense of communion with other humans. Learning another’s language is a true sign of some degree of empathy. Or so I think it should be. Others don’t feel that way It goes without saying that if you can eradicate a language, you have effectively eradicated a culture. The government of the People’s Republic of China has been attempting to do this with the Tibetan language (and by extension, Tibetan culture) for decades. It has stepped up its machinations a good bit in the past couple of years with a measure of success. Across a spectrum of cultural areas (music, language, nomadic traditions, religion, and for that mat...