In a historic decision, UNESCO on Monday officially declared February 9 as World Greek Language Day, after approving a proposal made to the UN’s cultural body.
The proposal was put through to the international agency’s Executive Board by Haiti—a symbolic move since the Carribbean country was the first to recognize Greece as an independent state—and was signed by 88 member states during the board’s meeting in Paris.
Greek Language Day has been unofficially celebrated on February 9 since 2018. The date marks the anniversary of the death of Dionysios Solomos, Greece’s national poet who passed away in 1857.
“This is an international recognition of the timelessness, universality and contribution of our language to the cultural heritage of humanity. It is a day of joy and pride,” Giorgos Koumoutsakos, Greece’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, said in a statement to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
In the proposal, the Greek language stands out as one with unique characteristics, including “an unbroken continuity of 40 centuries of oral tradition and 35 centuries of written tradition . . . which makes Greek the longest continuously spoken and written language in Europe. As the poet Giorgos Seferis said during his Nobel Prize Banquet speech in 1963: “the Greek language has never ceased to be spoken. It has undergone the changes that all living things experience, but there has never been a gap.”
Moreover, the Greek language has “a highly elaborated structure,” “a widespread presence in many languages,” and remains to this day an “inexhaustible source of international scientific terminology, especially in medicine.”
Greek Language Day, UNESCO worldwide official celebration
While Greek remains a language which is native to a mere 13 million people worldwide, its influence and contributions to the entire world are unparalleled.
Native speakers of the Greek language often find themselves initially perplexed when they visit countries and peoples well beyond Europe, only to realize that the languages they hear there use words and phrases, as well as grammatical and syntactical rules, which derive directly from the Greek language itself.
It is no surprise that the phrase ”The Greeks have a word for it,” is used by English speakers when they encounter difficulty in describing an object or an idea.
This day, celebrating the unique achievements of the Greek language, has sparked initiatives to help spread this great language and culture worldwide.
The initiative was originally taken in 2014 by communities of Greeks and Italians in Italy who were the very first to propose an international day for the Greek language. The Greek government eventually adopted the proposal in 2016 and a plenary session of the Greek parliament unanimously accepted it.
Professor Ioannis Korinthios, a Diaspora Greek in Italy, is the man who proposed the celebration of Greek Language Day in 2014. When he spoke to Greek Reporter in 2024, Korinthios expressed his certainty that the Greek language is not under threat by the internet or the existence of multiple social media platforms.
Rather, he stated that “The Greek language is threatened by the indifference of those who must protect it: the schools, universities, homes, media, and our public services.”
“The Greek language is ancient and yet alive… it is a valuable legacy and the cornerstone of the identity both of Hellenism and of European education.”
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