International Mother Language Day

Happy International Mother Language Day!

Today is the day that we can celebrate languages across the world.  International Mother Language Day was introduced by UNESCO in November 1999 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, and since February 2000 it has been celebrated annually.  The day celebrates the variety of languages across the world, and observes the human right to use those languages.  It also remembers events such as the killing of four students on 21 February 1952, because they campaigned to officially use their mother language, Bengali, in Bangladesh.

Here at Simply Nectar we have people from across the world working with us. They all converse in English at work, but they each have their own mother languages as well.  It's fascinating really.  And today is a great day to appreciate all those languages in their beautiful form.  We have members of staff from the following countries speaking the following languages:

• Poland - Polish
• Latvia - Latvian
• Albania - Albanian
• Ireland – Irish and English
• Estonia – Estonian and Russian
• Sri Lanka – Tamil, Sinhala
• India – Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi
• Brazil – Portuguese
• Malaysia - Malay
• Russia – Russian
• England – English

Join us in celebrating International Mother Language Day.  Speak your own language, speak other languages and learn about different languages in general.  We'll give you a little head start by telling you some fascinating language facts:

• It is estimated that up to 7,000 different languages exist in our world
• 90% of these languages are used by less than 100,000 people
• 2,200 languages can be found in Asia and just 260 can be found in Europe
• There are 46 languages that have just a single speaker 
• At least half of the world's popular are bilingual or multilingual
• Russia (population 148 million) has the highest number of languages spoken on its territory - between 130 to 200, depending on criteria
• All pilots on international flights identify themselves in English
• Many languages in Africa include a clicking sound that is pronounced at the same time as other sounds. You must learn these languages in childhood to do it properly
• Somalia is the only African country in which the entire population speaks the same language - Somali
• around 200 artificial languages have been created since the 17th century

(Fact sources: bbc.co.uk, factmonster.com, edl.ecml.at)

So there we go - ten fascinating language facts.  Now you can go and amaze your friends with your new knowledge :)  

Happy International Mother Language Day once again.  Goodbye, adios, ciao, elveda, afscheid, नमस्ते  

Simply languages, 

Simply Nectar

Put the kettle on and enjoy English Tea Shop teas

If you're anything like us then you'll probably like tea.  Actually no, you won't like it, you'll LOVE it!  Who doesn't?!   Tea solves everything.  It answers all problems, mends all broken hearts and stops all those tears from falling.  It is wonderful stuff, and we Brits love it. We drink it day and night, in all sorts of places and for all sorts of reasons.  Come to think of it we put the kettle on at every given opportunity – during a tea break at work, when a friend comes round for a cuppa and even when disaster strikes and we need time to collect our thoughts.  The water boils, the mugs come out and the tea is made.  Well, it certainly happens that way here at Simply Nectar!

Our love for tea meant we were very excited to hear that our friends at What On Earth have formed a distribution partnership with English Tea Shop.  This means that What On Earth is now a supplier of these delicious tasting teas.  The company will supply more than 20 different flavours of English Tea Shop teas, both in envelope and silken pyramid tea bags.  The selection of teas will include favourites such as English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Green Tea, Peppermint, Black Tea Chai and Superberries.  

If you haven't tried English Tea Shop teas before then you really should.  The company sources the finest, tastiest ingredients to create genuinely lovely teas.  English Tea Shop is based in the UK but has its manufacturing facility in the heart of Sri Lanka.  The company deals directly with farmers and producers from all over the world and has some of the most experienced tea blenders, formulators and tasters in the industry.  The company has spent hours blending, tasting and sampling different tea blends, which is why they all taste so good.  We should know, we've tried many of them.

Like Simply Nectar and What On Earth, English Tea Shop is a very green company that cares about the environment.  It purchases most of its teas and ingredients from small producers in the third world, and they take great care in selecting their suppliers.  The company’s factory has lots of green certification and its tea is certified organic by Soil Association. Some teas are also Rainforest Alliance Certified and some have Ethical Tea Partnership Certification.  The factory in Sri Lanka is also on its way to becoming carbon neutral and all the teas used are from certified ‘Ozone Friendly’ plantations.  English Tea Shop is a key Fairtrade player and has international licensing to market Fairtrade products in more than 25 countries.  Fairtrade not only helps farmers to achieve a sustainable livelihood but rewards and encourages farming and production practices that are environmentally sustainable.

Photo Sura Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you want to find out more about What On Earth visit www.whatonearth.co.uk.  If you want to find out more about English Tea Shop then visit www.etsteas.co.uk.  

Simply tea,

Simply Nectar