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Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.21,0:00:04.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Peter Austin] 21st of February is International Mother Language Day.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.10,0:00:07.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the day that celebrates mother languages all around the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.57,0:00:14.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it commemorates the date on the 21st of February 1952, that is, 60 years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.10,0:00:18.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when a group of students protesting in Dacca, in what is now Bangladesh,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.88,0:00:23.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the fact that they were being forced to use Urdu, the national language of Pakistan,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.23,0:00:28.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,since it was then East Pakistan, and not able to use their mother tongue, which is Bengali or Bangla.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.75,0:00:33.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The vast majority of communities around the world are bilingual or multilingual:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.90,0:00:38.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is, people are speaking two or more languages as part of their regular daily lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.85,0:00:46.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In order to support multilingualism and bilingualism, it's very helpful to have mother tongue, mother language education,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.13,0:00:54.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and for children and students to study two or more languages as part of their process of learning and studying at schools.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.04,0:00:59.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Australia, the government is currently carrying out a national review, looking at the role of languages,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.84,0:01:07.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,multilingualism, bilingualism, indigenous aboriginal languages and immigrant languages across the whole community,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.24,0:01:12.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they have called for submissions, and the parliamentary committee that's looking into this
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.20,0:01:21.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is currently interviewing a range of people, to try and understand the role of language and multilingualism and bilingualism within the Australian community.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.59,0:01:29.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So here at SOAS, the Endangered Languages project is concerned with recording, documenting and helping to support endangered languages all around the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.99,0:01:37.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are training students, post-doctoral researchers and giving grants for researchers to travel to distant places,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.08,0:01:40.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to record and document languages that are under threat.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.20,0:01:47.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We also have a major archive, with ten terabytes of material that is being collected and made available
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.90,0:01:51.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to communities and to researchers and to members of the interested public.