21st February is observed as International Mother Language Day (IMLD). The Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad on 21-02-2025 celebrated the day with a one-day seminar on the topic “Multilingualism in CALTS” where members of the centre participated enthusiastically. Given that IMLD celebrates language diversity, documentation and preservation efforts and since language cannot be practiced without a community, the students of the centre proposed that the event coincides with an Ethnic Day celebration. The event was sponsored by the University’s Institute of Eminence.
The program started with a formal welcome address by Ms. Soumya Sree L, followed by Prof. S. Arulmozi’s introduction to the event as HoD. The Dean of School of Humanities, Prof. MT Ansari addressed the gathering. Both the HoD and the Dean gave their insights about how important it is to value one’s mother tongue.
The academic proceeding of the event is made up of students’ presentations on the different languages spoken by active members of the Centre based on the results of the survey which was conducted prior to the event. The languages that were returned in the survey totalled 30 in number. These languages were organised into 10 clusters representing the 30 mother languages- on the basis of regions, languages and language families- Mauritian Creole, Austroasiatic, The Greater Deccan, Tibeto Burman, Indo Aryan Major, Eastern Indo-Aryan, The Greater Gangetic, South Dravidian-1(a), South Dravidian-1(b) and South Dravidian-2. Each presentation included a brief introduction of the respective mother languages, their specific language situations and future vision and possibilities. The academic session was concluded by an address from the coordinator of the event Dr. Gracious Mary Temsen.
The second part of the program continued with vibrant representations of the diverse cultures present in the centre in the form of language games, poem recitations and artistic performances. Both students and faculty members participated in showcasing their ethnic attires in the ethnic walk.
The walls of the auditorium were decorated with colourful hand-made posters of idioms, proverbs and wise sayings from different languages prepared by a dedicated group of students from the centre. The event also had two activity corners where everyone was welcomed to share/write down slangs in their mother languages and/or their names in the spaces provided for the same.
