Part of what makes Europe such a bountiful well of cultures is its linguistic diversity. The annual European Day of Languages celebrates it. Today is the 23rd anniversary of the European Day of Languages.
First celebrated on 26 September 2001, the Council of Europe initiative highlights the importance of preserving linguistic diversity across the continent. Across Europe, there are more than 225 indigenous languages alongside the huge number of non-European languages that have arrived in the continent through migration. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, acting president of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe released a statement to recognise the day.
In it, he quotes the 16th century humanist Catholic priest Mikalojus Daukša, who published the first books in Lithuanian. “It is not by the fertility of the land, nor by the diversity of the clothes, nor by the beauty of the country, nor by the strength of the cities and castles that nations live, but mainly by preserving and using their language, which increases and preserves unity, harmony and brotherly love. Language is the common bond of love, the mother of unity, the father of citizenship, the guardian of the state,” Daukša wrote in 1599.
Nausėda says that Daukša embodied the best of Europe’s approach to language: “Linguistic diversity, from which a remarkable cultural diversity springs, is the foundation of today's Europe. We are unique because we pay attention to each language, to its .
