As if you didn’t know already, tomorrow – Saturday 21st of February - is International Mother Language Day. And yes, it may only seem like last week that we were last celebrating the day that is dedicated to the promotion of cultural diversity and multilingualism, but here it is once again.

UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation – launched International Mother Language Day for the first time on February 21st 2000, in recognition of the importance of linguistic diversity and also in response to the growing concern that over 50% of the world’s 6,000 plus languages are endangered.

It’s estimated that on average, one language disappears every two weeks. And as many as 90% of the world’s languages aren’t represented anywhere on the internet.

But there is an increasing awareness within Europe – and the rest of the world – of the importance of keeping local languages alive.

In Scotland, there are many initiatives that are designed to keep the Gaelic tongue alive and kicking. With around 60,000 native speakers in Scotland, the language is perhaps not exactly thriving, but with the provision of a BBC Gaelic radio station and several television programmes, the cause will be greatly supported.

And with the first modern solely Gaelic-language secondary school opening in Glasgow in 2006, this should go some way towards ensuring the language survives, at least in the short-term.

But the language also survives in pockets around the world, such as Novia Scotia in Canada, where there is an estimated 2,000 speakers, and the USA, Australia and New Zealand also still have a small number of speakers, though this is likely to dwindle within the next generation or so.

In Scotland though, there does seem to be enough of a desire to keep the language going and the passing of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 was the first official legislation to formally recognise the Scottish Gaelic Language.

Lingo24 have been involved with Gaelic translations for clients as far away as Japan. In general the types of things we are asked to translate are signs, press releases, questionnaires and other types of marketing materials.

There is a definite demand for Gaelic language translations, though from it’s not quite as high as that of the Welsh language.

But what about Scots, the language made famous across the world by Scotland’s very own Rabbie Burns?

Well, Scots is definitely a niche language, but compared to Gaelic, we have had very few requests for translations into Scots. We have never turned down a translation request yet though, so whenever we do receive a request to translate into Scots, this is the type of challenge we are always up for.

Scots is probably more widely spoken in Scotland than Gaelic is, even if it is only a few words. It’s believed there could be well over a million speakers, many of whom probably aren’t aware that they’re speaking Scots.

And last year, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was translated into Scots to mark the 60th anniversary of one of the most important documents of the 20th century.

The UDHR was already one of the most translated texts in the world and now that it can also be read in Scots, this is perhaps reason to suggest that the language could well be on the comeback. And on the day that is International Mother Language Day, it may be worth remembering that linguistic diversity is very much part of what makes Scotland what it is.