Taiwan marks Mother Language Day with competition

Feb 24, 2010, 7:40 GMT

Taipei - 'Don't fear, I am here' and 'In my eyes, you are the best' were voted as the most beautiful sentences in a contest held in Taiwan Wednesday to mark the International Mother Language Day.

The competition was held by the Kaohsiung City government in the context of an initiative by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to promote mother tongues and multilingualism.

Entries in several languages were submitted by 317 primary and middle school students in Taiwan's second city, among the 45 winning sentences were 'Go for it,' 'You can make it,' 'Love is the best thing in the world' and 'If you are happy, I am happy.'

Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu issued cash awards ranging from 500 to 1,000 Taiwan dollars (15-30 US dollars) to the winners. Most entries were in Mandarin and the Mandarin dialect of Taiwanese Hokkien - often just referred to as Taiwanese - with others in Hakka and Taiwanese aboriginal languages.

Chen encouraged the students to their mother tongue as much as possible to preserve native languages.

In 1999, UNESCO proclaimed February 21 the annual International Mother Language Day, warning that a quarter of the world's 6,000 languages may become extinct in this century.