In light of International Mother Language Day that is celebrated worldwide on 21st February, Likee launched the #LanguageChallenge to allow Bangladesh’s vibrant dialects in achieving the spotlight that they deserve. From the day when the campaign was launched, over 300 total posts were uploaded, attracting the attention from over 1400 followers, while the hashtag generated a viewership of nearly 400,000 people that day. Creators used their mother tongues and regional dialects to highlight how every language is important.
The world is home to over 7 billion people that share between 5000 to 7000 languages amongst them. However, with the pace of globalization and set standards of educational languages, most of the regional dialects are under threat.
It is estimated that just 0.2% of the world’s languages are spoken by more than half of the global population. This has led linguists to believe that 50% to 90% of the regional languages will either be endangered or dead by the year 2100.
Bangladesh is the world’s Eighth most populous country. So, it comes as no surprise that there are around 50 different languages spoken across the nation. Sadly, many of them are in danger of extinction. These languages are distinct national assets and protecting them is a holistic responsibility.
Thankfully though, we live in a world where social media spans every part of the world. These platforms play a particularly effective role in highlighting some of the most critical issues, no matter which remote corner of the globe they occur in.
Creators like Afsana Mim and Phillu Raja posted interesting videos comparing common phrases and conversations in some of the regional dialects of different districts of Bangladesh like Chittagonian, Noakhailla, Dhakaiya etc. The videos drew immense appreciation from their fans and audiences in general, giving the hashtag, the traction that it deserved.