Press Release: Burwood Language Festival is the —th effort of Language Festival Association Sydney (LFAS) to show that all languages are equally important in the eyes of their native speakers; local residents will be able to attend a celebration of the language diversity at no cost to them to acknowledge & honour the existence of their own and other linguistic communities with one another.
UNESCO’s research has revealed that the global community is losing one language every fortnight, and by end of this century the total number of languages would be half of the current number if this alarming trend of language loss is combated by language users globally. As a result, in the 30th general assembly of UNESCO, held in 17th November 1999, the 21st of February was proclaimed as the International Mother Language Day (IMLD) for the annual observation and dissemination of the consequences of language extinction, through involving and engaging all linguistic communities.
Language lovers, researchers, academics and community volunteers have identified the negative impacts of globalisation through rapid technological development, digitalisation and increased settlement opportunities across the globe, as well as the use of a globally common language for personal development and global communication, on mother languages. As part of the combat strategy; we, the Language Festival Association Sydney (LFAS) have been organising language festival at different libraries across Sydney; & Mother Languages Conservation (MLC) Movement International Inc have developed global strategies to strengthen UNESCO’s IMLD observance missionary strategies. The World’s 1st IMLD Monument had been built in Ashfield Park (19-2-06) with global appeal, “Conserve Your Mother Language”, World’s 1st Twenty-first (Ekushey ) Corner formally inaugurated at Ashfield Library (20-2-16), the NSW State Library have hosted seminars on IMLD every year, and the Australian Federal Parliament (12-2-18), NSW State Parliament (15-3-18) and ACT Parliament (13-9-17) have agreed to formally pass motion to observe IMLD annually at all government levels. Mr A Chanthivong MP for Macquerie Fields electorate announced about $36,000 donation from NSW government to build a Mother Language Monument (Shahid Minar) in response of formal request from Sydney Bangalee Community Inc.
(Sydney, NSW, Australia, June 28, 2018) – According to a recent study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of different languages in Australia has exploded over the past five years, and organizers of the Burwood Language Festival, say attending this year’s event will not only celebrate language diversity, but also bring attention to the problem of endangered languages such as Australian Aboriginal languages.
“We’re very excited about this year’s event, which is absolutely free to the public,” said Dr. Greg Cooper, Linguist and Editor. Greg specialises in linguistics, English, and south and west Asian languages, for the quality and standards agency that regulates and registers Australian universities.
The Burwood Language Festival will take place on Saturday, July 28 at the Burwood Library & Community Hub. The festival, according to Dr. Cooper, is a cultural and educational event devoted to celebrate language diversity. This year’s languages include: Aboriginal languages, Hindi, Esperanto, Auslan, Hebrew/Israeli, Korean, Kalasha, Urdu, Udmurt, Russian, Ukrainian and more.
The purpose of the festival is to show the great variety of languages and to demonstrate that all languages are equally important and valuable. This year’s festival could prove to have perfect timing due to the rapidly-growing use of different languages in Australia.
In fact, in total 1.3 million new migrants have moved to Australia since 2011, India with 163,000 and China with 191,000 are the largest sources, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. When subtracting those who have left in the past five years, the total number of people living in Australia who were born overseas increased by 870,000 between 2011 and 2016. That’s a rise from 24.6 per cent to 26.3 per cent – more than one in four Australian residents.
“This year’s languages will be presented in 20 minute introductory lessons during which the presenter will provide general information about their language,” Greg Cooper explained, before adding, “There will also be an additional 10 minutes allocated to a cultural presentation through song, dance or music for each language. Participants will also be invited to learn more about specific languages during the so-called ‘language clubs’. Each language will have 20 minutes made available to it.”
The Burwood Language Festival, which has the support of the Burwood Library & Community Hub, and geared toward those interested in languages, aims to promote understanding and interest of cultural, linguistic diversity to the local community. In fact, there are no other linguistic events of this nature in Sydney where people can taste multiple languages before undertaking further study, event organizers say.
As to why locals should consider attending this year’s event, Dr. Cooper pointed out that language festivals provide an important bridging opportunity unique in their ability to mix education with entertainment (infotainment).
“Although multicultural ideals are widely promoted within Australian society, there is still much work to be done to encourage friendship and understanding between different cultural groups,” Greg Cooper noted. “A language festival provides a unique opportunity for people to come together and learn from each other. By sampling various languages, and the artistic and cultural expressions associated with them, participants in a language festival will learn that their cultural world, even in their own local area, is larger as some might originally think.” Dr. Cooper added that “a language festival aims to celebrate cultural and intellectual diversity, and to help high school pupils, university students and adults in the community learn more about the various cognitive and health benefits of being multilingual.
Mother Languages Conservation (MLC) Movement International Inc , Language Festival Association Sydney
Sydney, AUSTRALIA