20.02.25
HLD 10th Anniversary Blog, 2025
By Thomas H Bak and Dina Mehmedbegovic-Smith
Image above: Thomas and Dina at Ganesha University, Singaraja, Bali.
Languages, tourism & sustainability: Linking UNESCO International Mother Language Day with the International Tourist Guide Day
When Dina Mehmedbegovic-Smith and I met for the first time, at a meeting of the Multilingualism Committee of the European Commission in Brussels 10 years ago, we were stunned how, independently of each other, we were using the same metaphor of a healthy diet in the context of education and of ageing and dementia respectively. The following year, on the International Mother Language Day on 21 February, we established our Healthy Linguistic Diet website, which has since hosted blogs, articles, video-recordings of talks and much more (the opening blog of the website explains the origin of the day: http://healthylinguisticdiet.com/21st-february-international-mother-language-day/; the concept itself is explained in: https://www.meits.org/policy-papers/paper/healthy-linguistic-diet).
When we met again recently, on a lecture tour and a round-table meeting on the role of belonging in education in Bali, we were stunned anew about the parallel development of our ideas, reflecting to a large degree the great concerns of our time. One of them is undoubtedly sustainability. Although this term is mainly used in the context of natural resources, energy and/or biology, the idea of a similarity between biological and linguistic diversity goes back hundreds of years, as discussed by Maffi (2005). Particularly in the age of globalization, preserving glottodiversity and different linguistic habitats is a pre-requisite for maintaining a healthy linguistic diet.
Importantly, the benefits of glottodiversity have two, complementary sides. One, linked to the original idea of the International Mother Tongue Day, is related to human rights and social justice, giving recognition and support for all languages, not only those at the top of the pecking order of language hierarchies, those associated with wealth, power and prestige. From the ecological point of view, it sees all languages, be they of indigenous or immigrant populations, as a valuable resource. It is, so to say, the linguistic equivalent of basing the diet on fresh, natural, local produce.
However, linguistic diversity is not only beneficial to speakers of “Mother languages”. It can also be an important resource for tourism, in its modern, responsible and sustainable form, respecting, valuing and striving to preserve what makes different places unique and special, and therefore worth visiting. And this links the International Mother Tongue Day with another important celebration taking place on exactly the same day, 21 February: The International Tourist Guide Day.
Linguistically-conscious tourism means on one hand, that the visitors are guided in language(s) of their choice, and this requires training in a wide range of languages as well as in intercultural competence. On the other hand, it means that languages are seen and presented as an essential part of the “sense of place”, as important as local nature, cultural sites and food.
An example that this is possible can be seen on Bali, an island characterised by enticing nature as well as ancient and unique culture and traditions, but also threated by excesses of uncontrolled tourism. In recent years, Balinese people and their provincial government made a great effort to strengthen and revitalise their language. Thursdays have been established as a “Balinese day”, on which teachers, pupils and employees wear the national costume and are encouraged to use the Balinese language. February is the Balinese month, with events celebrating Balinese language and culture (while the national language, Bahasa Indonesia, is celebrated in November). I was fortunate to witness one of these events, a well-frequented festival of Balinese language in the northern city of Singaraja, with competitions in speaking, story-telling, writing, reading and debating in Balinese (Photo 1). At the same time, Balinese language is made visible to the visitors, e.g. through the use of the aesthetically extremely appealing Balinese script, which is now visible even in typical tourist places such as Kuta (Photo 2).
Seen like this, the fact that the International Mother Language and Tourist Guide Days occur on the same day doesn’t look like a random coincidence, but as a meaningful complementarity. Indeed, the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) at its 1st Trainer convention in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, North Borneo, with the overarching topic of sustainability (Photo 3), recognised the important role of languages and has decided to establish a working group on languages in tourism. Healthy linguistic diet is good for everybody, for locals as well as for tourists!
Happy International Mother Language Day!
Happy International Tourist Guide Day!
Maffi, Luisa. 2005. Linguistic, cultural, and biological diversity. Annual Review of Anthropology 34(1): 599–617. (doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.34.081804.120437)
A competition in reading the traditional Balinese writing on a palm leaf at the Balinese language festival in Singaraja, Bali, in February 2025.
Balinese script at a hotel in Kuta.
The participants of the 1st Trainer Convention of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA), in Sabah, Borneo, with the mountain Gunung Kinabalu in the background.
