Languages provide “strong emotional links,” so repressing the use of mother languages is “playing with fire”.

That’s according to Fernando Lopez Murcia, coordinator of the Spanish Language programme at the United Nations Headquarters.

Speaking to Lucy Dean in the lead up to International Mother Language Day, marked on 21 February, he said endangered languages should be conserved in the same way as endangered species of animals and began by explaining the value of multilingualism.

Duration: 4’17’’