Facilitating a learning environment that supports or incorporates a learner’s mother tongue is complex. It can be messy. Yet there are clear benefits:

- It sharpens the focus on the quality of teaching and learning, requiring teachers to prioritise deep understanding and creativity in the classroom.

- It reinforces the cognitive dimension of learning, as the use of a learner’s mother tongue connects learning outcomes directly to lived experience, fostering authentic understanding.

- It strengthens dialogue and interaction between teacher and learner. A “mother tongue–friendly” environment from the first day of classes enables genuine communication and signals respect for cultural heritage.

- It supports participation and action in society by providing access to new knowledge and cultural expression, encouraging a constructive interaction between the global and the local.

Mandela’s quote on language and the distinction between understanding and meaning provides an appropriate endpoint to this brief reflection on mother tongue and International Mother Language Day. Celebrating the diversity of linguistic heritages within a classroom or school can contribute to an environment in which learning flourishes, communication is enabled, and global-mindedness is fostered. These are worthy aims. Yet ensuring that linguistic diversity is intentionally woven into pedagogical practice takes this a step further. Rather than simply engaging in learning and interaction across different contexts, hearing what one is to learn in one’s own language (even if only key concepts) can cultivate a deeper sense of ownership over the learning process. As we pursue greater degrees of global citizenship and international-mindedness, empowering learners to take ownership of the very processes designed to foster these qualities can only strengthen their development.