English Language Day is celebrated on April 23 of every year. The day is celebrated to honor the well-known writers, including Maurice Druon, Cervantes Saavedra, Haldor Kiljan, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Manuel Mejia Vallejo, Josep Pla, Vladimir Nabokov, and William Shakespeare. The day seeks to entertain and to increase awareness of the culture, history, and achievements of the language.
“I don’t follow anything blindly. I have to know the entire thing if I have to get into it. It might sound funny to you, but it’s like using the English language. I use an English word only when I know its meaning and understand its connotation. You won’t hear me say, ‘What’s up, dude’ or anything like that just for the heck of it.” – Kailash Kher
History of English Language Day
In 2010, the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) founded the day to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote the equal use of all six official working languages throughout the organization. They chose April 23, because the day marks the birthday of William Shakespeare, the most famous and well celebrated English play writer and author in history. The six working languages in the UN community are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The language was founded in the year 450 when German tribes spoke a similar language. The language of that time is referred to as Old English. Even native English speakers will find difficulty in understanding that, as it has a lot of differences from what we consider as the English Language. The current English language that we spoke is referred to as Modern English. It originated in the year 1800. Modern English has more words, which was founded to name new technologies during the time of the industrial revolution.
How to celebrate the day
Celebrating the day is quite easy and simple to remember. Just entertain and inform the people about the history and importance of the language. Spread awareness on social media by using the hashtags #English, #EnglishLanguageDay or #EnglishDay.
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