Sign language
These two Sri Lankan children were wonderful photography subjects as they waited for their train to depart. They were charming and playful, using the universal language of hand gestures to communicate their enjoyment in the moment, and to mimic my actions in photographing them.
I share this image on International Mother Language Day. The languages of Sinhala and Tamil dominate in Sri Lanka as the main national tongues, and English is widely used as a ‘link language’ - a good example of which can be seen on the train carriage: the English words “FOR CLERGY” indicate that there specific seats here reserved for Buddhist monks and other religious leaders. (An ironic co-incidence too that I was in the Sri Lankan province of ‘Little England’, named after its 19th Century British colonial history, cool climate, and tea-covered hills.)
A few other languages, still spoken in remote pockets and certain communities, reflect the island’s layered past.
The unique language of Sri Lanka’s only surviving indigenous people, the Vedda, is declining rapidly as their cultural identity is eroded by the march of time. The ‘colonial’ languages of Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole and Sri Lanka Malay are still spoken here and there, but also shrinking as they are not being actively taught to the younger generation. These languages carry identities and histories that will disappear without active preservation.
According to Google, while the total number of distinct human languages is decreasing due to globalisation and language death, the use and digital presence of many languages are expanding. AI, such as Google Translate's addition of 110 languages, is breaking barriers, while 1.5 billion people are actively studying new languages, boosting the learning market.
Languages hold unique memory, culture and ways of seeing the world. On International Mother Language Day I am reminded that linguistic diversity cannot be taken for granted — it must be protected deliberately if it is to endure.
I was never any good at languages; if I had a superpower it would be the gift of understanding and being able to speak every language.
#InternationalMotherLanguageDay | 21 February 2026
