UNESCO International Year of Indigenous Languages

Languages play a crucial role in the daily lives of people, not only as a tool for communication, education, social integration and development, but also as a repository for each person's unique identity, cultural history, traditions and memory. Despite their immense value, languages around the world continue to disappear at an alarming rate.

With this in mind, the United Nations declared 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages in order to raise awareness — not only to benefit the people who speak these languages — but also for others to appreciate the important contribution they make to our world's rich cultural diversity.

Video — International Year of Indigenous Languages

Related links

• International Year of Indigenous Languages
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Let the Languages Live — 2019 International Conference on Indigenous Languages
• Indigenous languages — Learning and teaching resources — Translation Bureau
• GCIndigenous — A Government of Canada Twitter account