The inauguration of the campaign "We speak Greek in March" was held on the occasion of International Mother Language Day, by the Consul General of Greece in Melbourne Mrs. Christina Simantirakis. In this context, a message of Greek ambassador to Australia, Charalambos Dafaranou was also addressed. Greek diplomats have described the initiative "extremely important."
The event, presented by the president of the Cultural Association Mrs Katy Alexopoulou. The ground was also offered to the Labour MP Stavros Dimopoulos, the president of Greek Community Claus Papastergiadis and the priest Eumenios by the Holy Archdiocese of Australia which supported the campaign.
Other representatives of Diaspora organizations and educational institutions were also present.
As known, goals of the campaign are to:
- Establish the March as the month that members and organizations of the community speak Greek,
- Encourage and provide opportunities for Greek origin parents and grandparents to contribute actively in teaching the Greek language to children and grandchildren,
- Promote the Greek language as one of the oldest and richest languages, which, along with Latin, has contributed to the development of other modern languages.
To achieve the objectives of the campaign various events have been scheduled, such as participation in the Festival of Lonsdale, lectures, book presentations, exhibitions and activities in cooperation with expatriate and Australian organizations. Schools where Greek is taught have also been asked to activate students and parents to take their own activities.
"A simple initiative launched in December 2014 in order to promote the learning of the Greek language setting March as" Greek Month ", was not only embraced enthusiastically by the Greek community of Melbourne, but with the power of the Internet has been spread outside Australia and has been adopted in several countries with large numbers of residents Greek origin, "said Mr. Zafeiropoulos.
"I am grateful to the all Greeks who tried hard for this ceremony, media and volunteers strengthened the campaign and work hard to ensure its success. I am also very proud that my initiative had such a great acceptance. I am optimistic that we will achieve the goals we have set and will probably overcome in accordance with the interest shown by the Greek diaspora. "
Source: http://www.iefimerida.gr/news/192785/ekstrateia-gia-tin-elliniki-glossa-stin-aystralia