UN to mark Russian Language Day

June 6 has been declared by the United Nations as the Russian Language Day. Such events highlight various languages are meant to underscore the profound respect the organization feels towards the countries' cultural heritage.  The French Language Day will be marked on March 20, the English Language Day is set for April 23 and they are now looking for a date to highlight the Chinese language.

The decision to hold official UN language days comes ahead of the International Mother Language Day which was proclaimed by UNESCO on November 17, 1999 with an eye to fostering linguistic and cultural diversity.

According to UNESCO more than half of the 6,500 languages now existing in the world are on the verge of extinction. One language disappears every 14 or so days, and 96 percent of the existing languages are spoken by a meager 4 percent of people. It's been conservatively estimated that the overall number of existing languages may contract by half already before this century is out.

In Europe alone a whole 50 languages are already on their way out.