Celebrating the UN Chinese Language Day

Ambassador Liu Zhenmin
Ms. Jia Qi
Mr. Chen
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a pleasure to welcome you all this afternoon, as we come together on the occasion of United Nations Chinese Language Day. I wish to thank Ambassador Liu Zhenmin and the Permanent Mission of China for organizing this event which celebrates Chinese language, film and culture. For five days beginning tomorrow, five different films will be showcased here at the Palais des Nations as part of an excellent Chinese Film Festival. The Festival highlights the rich history of the over one century-old Chinese Film Industry and I hope to see you all there!

One outstanding characteristic of the Chinese language is its ability to produce pieces of wisdom such as “haste makes waste” (拔苗助长). It also plays an active role in eternalizing pieces of wisdom already part of the rich cultural heritage of human kind, such as “do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you” (己所不欲，勿施于人). The four treasures of study (文房四宝，笔、墨、纸、砚, Brush, Ink, Paper and Ink stone) in China since the Northern and Southern Dynasties (220 AC) are much talked about candidates for the list of intangible heritage of the world.

Here at UNOG, we have celebrated “Language Days” since the initiative commenced in 2010. It is essential that we do so, as the promotion of multilingualism is a key priority of the United Nations, and one of my personal priorities as Director-General. Linguistic diversity is a condition for sincere and authentic international cooperation, where each person’s thoughts can be expressed directly and accurately. It is not only a matter of equality and respect, but also of efficiency and clarity.
We also appreciate the importance of communicating with global audiences in their own languages. In recognition of the value of multilingualism, we are doing our utmost at UNOG to support the use of all official UN languages, including through our documentation and language services, our UNOG Library resources, and in our outreach and communication to the public.

Dear Colleagues:
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is through the learning of a language that one truly appreciates a culture. I came to understand this first-hand as a student of languages and an aficionado of Chinese film. It is for this reason that I am quite pleased to be able to highlight the Chinese language through this exhibition and Film Festival for the international community here in Geneva.

Please enjoy the evening and I hope to see you during the Film Festival.

Thank you very much.