The Linguist’s Calendar: March 21

Shah Reza Pahlavi

March 21
 
1924: First US foreign language course broadcast by New York’s WJZ radio.
 
1935: Shah Reza Pahlavi asks the international community to use the name ‘Iran" instead of "Persia." The new name means "Land of the Aryans."
 
1948: At Maidan Racecourse in Dhaka, Urdu is—despite Bengali protests—declared the one and only official language of both east and west Pakistan.