Tasmanians and particularly Hobart folks are being encouraged to take part in the second celebration of language diversity when the Hobart Language Day kicks off in 10 days more on Saturday 23 April.
The Hobart Language Day activities are taking place in Mather’s House from 11am to 1 pm, to promote richness of language and cultural diversity. As the Hobart Language Day will be celebrated in the middle of the “World Book and Copyrights Day” created by the United Nations and also in the English and Spanish Language Day, this year we will have information, books and texts about Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,-the most famous writer in Spanish language and author of the Quijote de la Mancha- to commemorate the 400 years of the death of them both.
The Hobart Language Day will be multilingual with people talking, singing, reading or writing in Vietnamese, Bangla, Malagasy, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Greek, German, Palawa Kani, Farsi, Cornish, Mandarin and more languages.
This year we will do it for the second time, with the Tasmanian Government support and with the slogan “our language our inheritance” to encourage parents and grandparents to speak in their mother tongue with the children. “I think that it’s really important to give the kids our mother tongue as a gift, and it is also very important to have and increase this linguistic richness in Tasmania and Australia, otherwise it will be lost for the next generations” said Sonia Parra, organizer.
“Hobart Language Day is for everyone and everybody is welcome. I encourage everyone to get involved in the celebration of language and cultural diversity in our city”, said Sonia Parra.
Hobart Language Day have also the support of the Hobart City Council and the Multicultural Council of Tasmania.
Sonia Parra, Matthew Bishop
