Why languages matter: meeting millenium development goals through language

Published in the International Year of Languages (2008) by the Christian faith-based organisation SIL International (formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics), “Why Languages MatterÀ provides readers with stories about how literacy programmes in local languages are intending to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The 9-page brochure also highlights how partnerships can revitalise local languages. According to the brochure: “The MDGs focus the work of advocates, aid workers, governments, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as they partner with local communities. Language-based development plays a significant role in giving communities the tools to work out steps to meet these goals. Many of the [economically] poorest people speak mother tongues that are not national or international languages. Poverty, lack of access to primary education, inequality, and disease are daily challenges for them.”

The document poses the following questions:

1. “Can the development of minority languages become key to helping people create their own way of successfully meeting the challenges in their lives?

2. Can writing systems for mother tongues and multilingual education become tools for people to build a better present and a better future?

3. Are the long-term results worth the investment of money and time?”

The document uses examples of local language development for each of the MDGs to show how “communities are discovering that by using their languages in new arenas of their lives, they can begin discovering solutions to the challenges stated in the MDGs.”

Publisher: SIL International
Year of Publication: 2008