mother language

Chan said he had been running the group to promote the mother language of many Hong Kongers for 10 years.

"I know the answer but I can only respond with my mother language," he remembers saying.

In Naima’s village, on International Mother Language Day, when the whole country celebrated the beauty of their Bangla language, the leaders gave a prize to the girl who painted the best alpanas.

She hadn’t cared much on International Mother Language Day, but now the mistakes made her feel even worse.

“It really is about the sense of being invisible in this country and what it means to see your mother language on paper or on a website. It makes a huge difference in terms of feeling like you belong, that you matter.”