English Language Day 2023: Date, Theme, History, Significance & All You Need To Know
English Language Day 2023: The day coincides with both the birthday and death day of William Shakespeare and World Book Day. The English language is one of the most popular languages used across the world. The day prospects the development, history, culture, and achievements associated with the language.
English Language Day: History
English is the most widely spoken language or a "world language". Therefore, it is known as the lingua franca of the modern era. Along with French, English is also the working language of the United Nations (UN). English Language Day is the result of a 2010 initiative by the Department of Global Communications. It established language days for each of the Organisation’s six official languages.
English Language Day 2023: Wishes, Messages, Greetings, WhatsApp & Facebook Status, Quotes & More
Under the initiative, the duty stations of the UN celebrate six separate days and each day is dedicated to one of the Organisation's six official languages across the world.
The language days are as follows:
Arabic (18 December)
Chinese (20 April)
English (23 April)
French (20 March)
Russian (6 June)
Spanish (23 April)
World Book Day 2023: Current Theme, History and Significance
English Language Day 2023: Theme
Every year, World English Language Day has a different theme that highlights a different aspect of the significance of the language. The UN has previously declared the themes "English as a Global Language" and "English and Creativity" for this day, which highlight the language's impact on international culture, education, and communication, respectively. However, there is no official announcement for this year's theme yet.
English Language Day: Purpose behind the celebration
Basically, the main purpose of the UN's language days is to observe multilingualism and cultural diversity. The days also promote the equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organisation.
At the UN, the Language days aims to entertain and to inform about the goal of raising awareness and respect for the history, culture, and achievements of each of the six working languages among the UN community.
On this day several events are organised including book-reading events, English quizzes, poetry and literature exchanges, and other activities that stimulate the English language.
The celebrations of the day for 2021 focuses on Africa. English is spoken in about two dozen African countries as an official language or widely used in education, administration, law, business, the mass media, and literature, the top five (by the number of inhabitants) gathering nearly 500 million people. English is also one of the official languages of the African Union and of various Africa's subregional organisations.
UN and Multilingualism
Multilingualism is an essential factor in harmonious communication among peoples. By promoting tolerance, it ensures effective and increased participation of all the Organisation's work, as well as greater effectiveness and involvement with better outcomes. As discussed above the six official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The working languages of the United Nations Secretariat are English and French. It is used in day-day professional exchanges.
Let us tell you that the United Nations Secretary-General on 3 September, 2019 appointed Mr Movses Abelian of Armenia (as well as a national of Georgia), Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference management, as Coordinator for Multilingualism. The General Assembly resolution 69/250 was implemented for it. He is responsible for coordinating the overall implementation of multilingualism Secretariat-wide.
Gender-Inclusive language
The main aim is to help the staff of the United Nations so that they can communicate in a gender-inclusive way in the six official languages of the Organisation.
A gender-inclusive language here means that there should not be discrimination against a particular sex or social gender regarding speaking and writing.
The key role of language in shaping cultural and social attitudes by using gender-inclusive language as a powerful way to boost gender equality and eradicate gender bias. It also does not perpetuate gender stereotypes.
Therefore, English Language Day is observed on 23 April to generate awareness regarding the importance of language.
Source: un.org
About William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was a playwright, poet, and actor from England, popularly known as 'Bard of Avon'. The widely regarded English-language author and the greatest dramatist have a total of 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three lengthy narrative poems, a few other verses, and a lot more as his legacy for the world. Most of his work was based on Tragedy, and experts believe most of them were instances of his unfortunate life.
He spent his early years at Warwickshire's Stratford-upon-Avon. He married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18, and the two had twins Hamnet and Judith in addition to Susanna. He started a prosperous career in London between 1585 and 1592 as an actor, playwright, and co-owner of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, subsequently known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford at the age of 49 (about 1613), where he passed away three years later.
Shakespeare's writing left a tremendous and enduring effect on theatre and literature. He increased the dramatic possibilities of characterization, plot, language, and genre, in particular. Shakespeare continues to hold the title of the best-selling playwright in the world, according to Guinness World Records, with sales of his plays and poems estimated to have exceeded four billion copies in the nearly 400 years since his demise. Also, he is the third most translated author in literary history.
