00:00Have you ever wondered how many languages are spoken in Kent?
00:03Well according to Kent County Council there are 98 main languages spoken in the county
00:09with English as the primary one and in this bandstand in Dartford Central Park
00:14is the annual celebration for International Mother's Language Day
00:18organised with the aim to unite the community.
00:21Since the last few years we have seen Dartford is a growing town
00:25and we've seen a lot of multi-national multi-cultural people are coming in Dartford
00:33so that's why we are trying to gather them together.
00:37My mother language is Bengali.
00:39We have lots of other languages other countries people are coming as well.
00:43Last year we had 18 different countries people here
00:46who actually spoke in their own languages here.
00:48Ami, Banglai, Gautha, Woli.
00:50I'm going to speak Chinese.
00:52English is my mother tongue.
00:57And you can see behind me that celebrations
00:59for International Mother's Language Day are still ongoing
01:02organised to commemorate the diverse and multilingual community here in Dartford.
01:07ASM is encouraging the younger generation specifically
01:10to remember and learn their mother tongue
01:12in a bid to protect their heritage
01:14especially when going to countries that might be completely unknown to them.
01:18International Mother's Language Day was an initiative of Bangladesh
01:22to preserve and protect the world's languages
01:25in remembrance of a 1952 language movement
01:29defending their right to speak Bengali as their mother language.
01:33Every day I manly cook.
01:35Saturday was a day full of poetry
01:40celebrations of the Lunar New Year
01:43and music played on an Israj, a stringed instrument found in West Bengal.
01:53And alongside a variety of speakers,
01:56the mayor of Dartford made an appearance.
01:59Language is the thing that will keep us all together.
02:02Language and working together.
02:04Yeah, everyone should remember where they come from.
02:07Everyone should remember what makes them what they are.
02:09And if that includes language, then so be it.
02:12Every two weeks, a language completely disappears.
02:16So Generation Rights organise the event, encouraging people to be proud of their native language.
02:21And also as a reminder for people to protect their culture,
02:25their heritage and their histories from disappearing.
02:28Naila Mahamud for KMTV in Dartford.
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