Developments in the period of modernism caused significant changes in societies’ lifestyles as well as in the languages of some societies. In this while, with the effect of industrialization and globalization, the number of spaces for social life increased in big cities and radical differentiation occurred in the language habits of societies with different ethnic origins. Some societies moved away from their mother tongue over time and learned and acquired the language of the dominant society they interacted with. Societies that displayed receptive and recessive bilingualism and multilingualism in their mother tongue emerged. Under the shadow of nationalism and the language of the nation-state, languages of some societies, which were defined as minorities, underwent restraints or prohibitions dictated by law of the decision-makers for the fear of threatening the nation- state integrity. Perspectives on languages, which have lost their functionality to a certain extent by being excluded and denied due to the trends that have developed in modern times, have started to change in our recent history. The existence and continuity of multilingualism and therefore languages belonging to different societies is a richness which has become an accepted opinion by decision makers in Europe and Turkey. Efforts to extend multilingualism and teach the languages of different ethnic communities started to be supported. In this context, according to the data of the project we carried out in Turkey, supported by the European Union and named “Approaches to Multilingual Schools in Europe” (AMuSE), the children with a good level of first language proficiency were better at second language proficiency due to the first language effect. It is understood that children with poor first language competencies have difficulty in the acquisition and application of the second language, depending on various linguistic indicators. The struggle to underline the importance of multilingualism and mother tongue continues as a dilemma against the achievements of modernism and globalization. On the other hand, globalization has become threatening not only to the languages of minority societies but also to the languages of nation-states. Language movements will continue to be adapted depending on the needs of the time and societies.