In a multilingual society like India, social acceptability of all mother tongues must be ensured. An unfamiliar language should not be a barrier to enabling equal access to knowledge for all
In a multilingual postcolonial society like India’s, linguistic hierarchy exists in a layered manner. It does not simply have a two-level hierarchy of Hindi and English versus the rest of the Indian languages. The whole linguistic profile of our country forms a pyramid having multiple broad levels, with English at the top and languages with less than 10,000 speakers at the bottom which are “omitted from being reported by the government.” In between the two levels fall the 22 scheduled languages, their “dialects,” the non-scheduled languages and their “dialects” in that order.
One language, many roles
There is a heterogeneity involved in the relationship Hindi shares with the various Indian languages. With languages such as Brajbhasha, Chhattisgarhi, Haryanvi, Nimadi, etc. which are spoken in the Hindi belt, its relationship is hierarchical because these languages have always been viewed as “dialects” of Hindi. In the popular discourse, dialects are considered inferior to languages. However, that is not really the case with regard to the other Indian languages like Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam, Kashmiri, etc. because like Hindi, they too are listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and hence enjoy a similar status. In addition to this, the notions of the mother tongue, first language, and second language have a very fuzzy position in a multilingual society like ours. In any Indian classroom, a language, for example Hindi, may simultaneously be the mother tongue of some students, first language for some others and second language for a different set.
On the other hand, English has more or less a constant position except in the Northeast and in the elite schools of metropolitan cities where English may be the neighbourhood language for many and mother tongue for a minuscule few.
There is no denying that grouping many languages under one has a repercussion on the identities of these languages and their speakers, leading them to dissociate themselves from or “unlearn” their native languages in favour of the language dominant in education and in the job market. However, the process of dissociation from one’s mother tongue or neighbourhood language goes on at a much larger scale in a much more intense manner with regard to English.
Of aspiration
Thus, be it Hindi — the lingua franca — or languages like Tamil, Malayalam, etc. with a rich and ancient literary tradition, or the other scheduled languages of India, all of them become a casualty of people’s aspirations and compulsion to learn the “international” language, English. The postcolonial mindset of linguistic subjugation has further intensified in the past two decades of liberalisation and English has become a language of opportunities and power not just in India but also in other countries. Technological advancement and economy are some of the major factors that have led to English becoming a super language. In fact there is a strong correlation between the expansion of Anglo-American powers and expansion of the language. These countries have been investing heavily in English to promote linguistic imperialism, with an agenda of strengthening their economic and political powers globally.
Hindi, on the other hand, is a language of desire in a very restricted domain and sense; in fact, it is rather absurd to equate the two languages in this regard. It is mainly in the Hindi belt that the native speakers of the so-called “dialects” of Hindi are expected to master “standard” Hindi, used outside the informal domain. In multilingual societies with a colonial legacy, languages are visibly the markers of class and power. In the hierarchical linguistic structure of such societies, shifting from one level to another level facilitates entry into the higher stratum of society. Also, linguistic aspirations of individuals are determined by their geographical location in the sense of whether they belong to a metropolitan/non-metropolitan urban area or rural area. The shift usually is to the next level in the hierarchy; skipping an intermediate level rarely happens. For example, a Pahari or Sadri speaking person from Himachal Pradesh or Jharkhand, respectively would desire to have a command over Hindi first. Her aspiration to acquire English and become a part of the higher socio-economic class would come later.
Expansion versus promotion
The expansion and promotion of a language may generally be witnessed at three levels: official/administrative, educational and societal. There have been all out efforts to promote Hindi ever since it was declared the official language of the country. Various departments and commissions were set up to promote the use of Hindi primarily in administration. In addition to this, the mandate of government agencies like the central Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) was to create terminologies in all the major Indian languages, used officially in different States. However, large-scale national level efforts and a major focus have been on Hindi much to the chagrin of many non-Hindi speakers, mainly in the Southern States. As for the promotion in education and society, the story is quite different. The increasing dominance of English in the educational sector at the cost of Indian languages is significantly linked to society’s postcolonial outlook towards indigenous languages (and knowledge) that have flourished on Indian soil. Added to this is the disciplinary hierarchy where the only valid language that has some ranking in education is English.
Though there have been no official efforts to promote English, the language has been expanding consistently in urban India. In the past two decades of globalisation especially, its use has increased exponentially, governed by seeming fascination but underlying compulsions in the subconscious of people to survive in the system driven by a market economy and technological advancement. Since the medium and lexicon of market and technology is English-centric, familiarity with it is the route to enter the system and become its beneficiary. Thus, if we juxtapose the two scenarios of English and Hindi, we find that in spite of all the official measures taken to promote Hindi, its use has remained at the free will of the people. On the other hand, the same will of society, born out of compulsion, led to the consolidation of the position of English in education not only as a subject but also as a medium. In fact government measures have caused serious damage to Hindi by developing a heavily Sanskritised and artificial officialese. This has led to people forming the perception that Hindi is essentially a dull and complex language and not developed enough to be used as a medium of academic discourse. Also, it is not an enabling language in the sense that it does not equip students with requisite skills and “smartness” to fetch her recognition in society. This hinders the expansion of the language in various domains and it remains a language of the “masses,” not transcending to “classes,” a language of informal conversation, not of formal discourse. This probably is the plight of the other major Indian languages as well.
To ensure the coexistence of languages, social acceptability of all the 1,652 mother tongues in the linguistic hierarchy is a prerequisite, not just from the point of view of equity but because every language indeed has a well-defined structure governed by its own rules. The existence of a language depends on its use in various informal-formal domains. Therefore, opportunities to use multiple languages must be enhanced and knowledge creation must happen in at least the major Indian languages; translated knowledge is not the solution. In education, fresh perspectives need to be harnessed, backed by democratic principles and critical pedagogy. Also, it is absolutely necessary to give students the choice of Indian languages as a medium of education so that an unfamiliar language is not an impediment in enabling equal access to knowledge for all.
(Mukul Priyadarshini is with the Department of Elementary Education, Miranda House, University of Delhi. Email: mukulpriya@yahoo.co.in)
Keywords: mother tongue, Hindi, English, Indian languages
Writing on broad aspects such as language,religion..etc requires a great deal of self control for a writter in order to make sure that he/she does not appear as indulging in propagation of biased opinions or self beliefs.
The simple solution for the language problem in India is to make English mandatory in all schools. Schools can offer local languages, Hindi and any other language, if they wish. You will never convince people to give up their local language, it defines their identity. But Hindi is completely pointless and a burden. Hindi has official status only in Delhi, UP and Bihar. How a language that enjoys official status in only 3 states can be called the national language is beyond me. For those who have issues with English...two points...First, if you want a real job, you need to speak English....Second, the Constitution and the Penal Code are written in English, so the very principles our country was founded on are written in English.
There is an embarrassing but real reason why English has spread in
India, and that is we Indians are inherently copy cats and rote
learners. All our technical literature is in English whether it is in medicine, engineering, accounting, management, etc. In a big picture
sense, we have copied all these concepts from US and England. In fact,
some people now tend to believe that the Indian languages can't
support technical work. On the other hand, people of other
nationalities -- from Germans to Chinese internalised the concepts,
even contributed to them and re-expressed them in their own languages.
I am not arguing against English but I am pointing out some other real
problems in our 'Indian' attitude that are leading to a gradual
erosion of our own identity. Today entire families have shunned their
own languages and are in a race to imitate American families!
The story of English in India is different. This is a story of
domination, not of natural choice. The English speakers consider
themselves superior over non-English speakers and the non-English
speakers consider themselves inferior. The spread of English in India
is guided by this attitude -- people are pushing themselves to learn
English because no one wants to feel inferior and they all want to
join that 'club'.
The argument that Indians are learning or should learn English because
it is an international language is invalid in most contexts. For
example, why does a waiter or a driver need to learn English? Why do
children need to talk to their parents in English? They are not going
to interact with US customers! But they still feel forced to. The
movie English-Vinglish painfully highlights this attitude (watch
Sridevi's discomfort even when she was in India). Does it not sound
strange or problematic to you that Indians feel embarrassed in front
of each other to not speak in English?
This is just a blah-blah article -- seemingly saying lots of things
but actually nothing.
As nationally spoken languages, Hindi and English come from two
different directions. When you put together middle or lower middle
class people from diverse regions of the country into one common area,
you will observe that they will very likely start interacting in
Hindi. This is neither good nor bad, but just a likely fact. No one at
home makes any special efforts to learn Hindi, they just pick it up
from movies, TV or friends, even if half baked. No one feels forced to
learn it (notwithstanding the government policies; nobody decides his
personal life after reading government policies). Many, of course,
don't bother learning Hindi, which again, is neither good nor bad.
Things our government should do
1,Stop promoting Hindi as "India's language".
2,Give awareness to people that India has many languages and promote
each one of them equally.
3,Give awareness to the Indians that Hindi is not the National
language and it's just like any other local languages in India.
4,Either remove Hindi from the South Indian syllabus or make it
mandatory for everyone in North India to learn any of the South Indian
languages.
5,Remove all Hindi sign boards from South India(No one understands
Hindi and it's a waste of space).The local language and English is
necessary.
I completely agree with Mr. M. K. Pand. We should totally change all the signboards in South Indian states into Hindi because that would totally be beneficial to the very small percent of North Indians who might be visiting the state. The fact that the local population is unable to read Hindi is obviously completely irrelevant here. In fact, when I visited China last month, everything there was in the hanzi script and not in the familiar Devnagri. As you can imagine, this made things very difficult. I suggest that the government take strict action to ensure that Hindi signboards are available on Chinese buses because t is very difficult to learn the hanzi scripts if one has not learnt it from childhood.
If one is asked What is India's national language. The response by and large (except those who understands the official status given by the Constitution) would be 'It's Hindi.' Even though they don't know the correct answer, they are made to assume that this could be the correct one. This reaction is witnessed from people who doesn't know Hindi. Such is the language domination in India.
National language is a misnomer for a country like India.
Its a well acceptable fact that English is the way to go in terms of
personal or nation development since all the latest technological
inventions or developments were from the west. In this era of
evolution, most of our educational goals are moving away from arts &
literature and focusing towards science and technology because of so
many advancement reasons. There is nothing wrong in adapting English
as long as we can develop and also see the nation's talent growing at
the international level. Its also not necessary that we can become
scientists only if learn in your mother tongue. There are numerous
examples of scientific achievements done by Indians in the foreign
lands still learnt in a foreign language. Like, every being in the
universe, all the languages too have a life(birth and death). Its
natural. We have to accept this fact and keep moving. Any language
should be an instrument of communication and after all its created by
man. So, let it evolve to its own destiny.
This whole debate is actually mindboggling to what to do in this confusing situation. The peoples are in worrisome of their mother tongue. The author is right in saying that post colonial state structure has created the strange phenomena and the leaders who decided to make certain languages as the national language and promote to them as national language and the rest of language we re given less importance and disregarded. This was blunder actually done by so called leaders in the South Asia specifically in sub-continent.
In reaction we saw what happened in newly independent state in Pakistan Urdu and Bengali controversy as national language resultant dismemberment of the country in 1971.
In actual what had to be done regarding the languages. All languages should have been given equal respect and right to promotion but the one language dominancy was established and other were made inferior that was a total follish vision of the leaders.
I have a few comments. They are:
1- Does the dominance of English harm the acquisition and expansion of
knowledge by Indians. If yes, English must be displaced. Else I see no
problem.
2- Does the bilingualism/multilingualism of educated Indians hamper
the acquisition and expansion of knowledge. If yes, we must promote English as the sole/first language of Indians. Else, I see no problem.
If we cannot feel and think in English, I do not see how the current
situation can lead to even economic growth.Countries do not grow by
providing cheap labor n niche areas.
As far as culture is concerned, I see no use of a culture that is not
worthy of expressing scientific ideas. Most, if not all of the
"traditional" culture of India is pre-literate and hence does not need
a written language to survive or thrive. Nor does it have much
interaction with our education system.
Language determines one's entire way of life, including one's thinking
and all other forms of mental activity. To use language is to limit
oneself to the modes of perception already inherent in that language.
The fact that language is only form and yet molds everything goes to
the core of what ideology is. therefore the thing that is of utmost
importance in today's world is to learn the productive languages i.e
English, to contribute for the growth and development of his nation.
India is a multilingual country with huge diversity in itself. one
should or even must be perfect in their native languages, but it is not
the right way to argue, many people learn even foreign languages,it
doesn't mean that they are insulting their own languages. to learn
English is the need of the hour, to get educated, to get into the job
market, and at least to contribute in the growth and development
process of the nation.
One of the reasons why English is becoming so successful in India is that it is frequently the only medium through which one Indian may communicate with another Indian IN THE SAME COUNTRY. Nationhood is difficult when citizens cannot even talk to each other without recourse to a foreign language. Hindi itself is not a monolithic language but an amalgamation of various northern and north-western languages. It should be further augmented with southern flavours to create a "first language" which all Indians can understand and in which all can communicate. This should be a long-term project. I myself am Gujarati but I believe it is more important to be able to communicate in Hindi for that is the language spoken by the majority of my countrymen, and therefore the lingua franca.
@MKPand:dear Pand, before making comments know facts, Hindi is not national language, it is just official langauge, even if it is made national language it may be constitutionally called so but no non-hindi speaker will learn it, because we see no use of learning Hindi, we would rather go for english which gives us world access, we used to learn hindi when Mohd Rafi and kishore kumar were singing, now in the age of Himesh rashemmiya we dont feel the reason behind learning it, regarding the name boards in local language, first remember that you are a guest here in south india, learn the etiquitte of a guest, many times I have observed that North Indians feel very much privileged for being north Indian, I do see their dominating attitude while they are in Hyderabad/Bangalore, but know the fact that there will be a limit till which your domination will be entertained when it crosses you know what is happening in Mumbai :) so my advice is keep your NI pride aside and enjoy staying in SI.
As a polyglot, capable of speaking good Hindi,I personally feel Hindi is
a not a solution at all ,Katju makes his wise comments but he is wrong
On the other hand English should be made mandatory ,especially the
poorest society.There are numerous people used in clinical trail
medicinal,with lack of English knowledge they are easily lured into the
tap and exploited.Knowing Hindi doesn't help either as most of these
documentation are in English.Most medicine we consume don't have Hindi
Names or regional names.
@MK Pand, there is no National language in India , For a diversified country like India there cannot be national language or National religion . All languages identifies in the 22nd schedule are often called as national languages . this mis - conception of Hindhi is the National language is promoted by over funding of the union govt towards Hindi , I wish the union govt spend's tax payers money to promote other Indian languages in central govt offices so that the essential services and information reaches the masses in their respective states,
I don't get it where the heck is the reference to Telugu language. South Indian doesn't always mean Tamil, Malayalam, etc. Telugu should have definitely been mentioned.
I agree with Mr Prasad, South India languages must be taught in North India, the Southern part of India has never been ruled by the north and now a northerner thinks he rules the south and hence the imposition of Hindi!
well said Mr. PR Prasad, Mr Panda only taking about the north Indians who live in South but he completely ignored the fact that many people from south are residing in north without complaining.
"Tamil, Malayalam, etc. with a rich and ancient literary tradition."
I thought Malayalam is not older than 500 years.
Excellent read. Especially the point on 'knowledge creation' which I interpreted in one sense as the urgent need to retain originality of concepts that are unique to languages and language speakers. Concepts, ideas, and ways of thinking, ways of 'being', ways of living, unique to India, are disappearing very fast. At times, some such concepts clothed in popular language make an appearance - like 'jugaad' - because of their relevance to the modern times. But mostly they get obscured and eventually die out under the rush and crush of the dominant 'global' ideas that find expression in 'translated knowledge'. Translated knowledge is very enriching without a doubt, but what is original to our languages and ways of expression, ways of living and thinking, should also stay alive.
in india there is a dominant of langauges exists or not nobody can imagine or comment on it.so we can compare all this issues raised by the author upon languages. we need here to use only hindi at national level and eng at international level not to use it publicly while interaction with humans being.... so dont take it all about wrong.... this is india here is facility to speak in many languages thats why this country called federal..
Kudos to Ramkumar for that really incisive comment. As a multilingual country, we
have no choice other than using the "glue" of English to connect the various parts together.
Of course, we could try to use Hindi as a medium but that would cause too much
trouble as it would be tantamount to forcing the language of one region onto the
others, and we know how that one turns out from our various experiences in the
past. Besides, the excessive sanskritization and move towards "tatsama-Hindi" in the post-Partition era has made the language totally useless. While I myself have a decent command of it, it makes Hindi stiff and at best, a subject of much lampooning as done in the famous movies from the 70s "Chupke Chupke".
What we do ought to do is to also promote our local languages and mother tongue
with pride. I find it disturbing when parents speak to their kids in English alone. I am sometimes the only one that still talks to his children in Hindi.
@MKPand
Hindi is an 'official language' for administration of India, and not a 'National Language'. I see no reason why buses and signboards have to use Hindi in South India. We in South India (except TN) have to study Hindi or Sanskrit as the 'Third language', and we do not complain about that. On the contrary, we are happy that we get to learn something new (and necessary). Isn't it ironic that, on the anniversary of formation of Karnataka state, you suggest the imposition of Hindi on public signboards and buses?
It's high time school syllabus in North India included any one of the South Indian languages (choice of students of course) , so that people like you are not put to inconvenience when you come down south.
Hindi is not a national language of India. The constitution of India doesn't define a
national language yet! Hindi and English are the official languages of the country.
What that means is that the office of the ministers, etc can use these languages. The
people of India don't have a defined national language. Many Hindi speakers have the
misconception that Hindi is the national language of India. It is not and and I am not
sure if a multilingual country like India will adopt one language over a thousand
languages which were absolutely born in India.
The irony is that the author has to be good in english to write such an
article and get published in The Hindu. sort of sums up her plight.
When Hindi has been officially recognised as National language why sign boards in buses and other public places are in local language only in South India.While it is very difficult to read and write in south indian languages although it is easy to understand spoken telugu.It is the same for at least past 20 years that I have seen.While in Maharashtra it is Devnagiri script they use but it is entirely different in other parts of south India.While it may appear to protect the locals but it is very difficult to an outsider particularly from North India.It is very difficult to learn South Indian scripts if one has not learnt it from childhood.
Thanks for a well articulated opinion. The joy of being in India is that you can be a Kannadiga living in Hyderabad and converse to an auto driver in hybrid Dakhni-Hindi, while speaking English with Americans at work, and enjoy Thyagaraja Kritis in Telugu at home. We, and our government have to understand and accept this diversity of language and encourage its continuity. A part of that is to ensure that local languages and dialects get a representation in education. It is a reality that exposure to and mastery of English gives a competitive advantage in the marketplace of work. At the same time the rich cultural and literary heritage in local languages is too precious to be lost or worse not continued by future generations by a monotony of English or Hindi. Thankfully the numbers and diversity of India give a natural protection. Also the local Television channels and newspapers offer avenues for languages to persist.
I am surprised after reading the article as there is nothing new has been discussed in the article. For any nation on the highway of development, needs to understand the fine line of disticnction between economical development and cultural preserverance. Today almost every other Indian graduate is planning to appear for GMAT, GRE, supercomputers and all technolgy development is in English, FDI has made Indian market a hub for East and West and the saga has continued which has been termed as Globalization. We should be vigilant to avoid any local factors in the name of linguistic or cultural dominance hindering us to become a super power. This does not mean that we should neglect linguistic- cultural knoweldge, but definitely not at the cost of our development.
There is a very common saying " Hindi LADOO Nahi La Do". Right from the beginning of enforcement of the constitution of our country English was adopted as language for all official purpose to be continued for 15 years way ahead. To make Hindi "lingua franca"; official language Act 1963 was enacted. The rajbhasha Hindi under Article 351 is being promoted in all government organization. The author in the above article has a very valid contention to instill officialism in all 1652 mother tongues but then the question arises, Do we have the resources to do so? Article 350A and 350 B calls for promotion of all mother tongue and appointment of Linguistic officer to look after their welfare needs. How effectively are these provisions are being implemented ? The world today has changed amid "globalization", English has became such a giant medium of communication regionally , nationally and internationally that hardly any sensibility allows traditional learning.
It will be India's loss if its languages are destroyed by the use of
Hindi and English alone. People should try to learn the local
languages wherever they reside....
This is the most stupid article I have ever read, and that too from a
teacher. 1652 languages!! As such we are a backward country, and
having so many languages will only push us backwards. None of the
Indian languages, none, are suitable for any scientific work. Sanskrit
may have worked in the olden days, and today, it the Germans who are
carrying the language forward, not us wonderful Indians. Go to a
foreign country and see how diversified we are. Instead of a single
Indian club or association, we have Gujarati Association, Hindi
Association, Malayalam Association, etc. Again a wonderful way of
showing the world we are united.
For a long time, we have allowed the politicians to rape us with their
personal greed. Should we now allow the academicians to rape us with
their ignorance. Imaging taking a ride in a metro that makes
announcements in 1652 languages.
I agree mother tongue is important, but we must have a common language
that works across the country. It has to be English.
I was brought up for export. I went to a convent school in an Indian city in the 70s and 80s. My mother herself had been to such a school. My parents subscribed to an English newspaper. We spoke Telugu at home in my early years. But my knowledge in English fast outpaced my knowledge in Telugu leaving me feeling like an illiterate as far as Telugu is concerned. In fact, as a young adult, I found it hard to have a sense of belonging in India. I eventually ended up in Canada, where I live now, and feel at home here because people speak English - the language in which I can express myself. I am sure my case is not unique. Our overdependence on English is fracturing our identity as Indians. Despite the large populations speaking our vernacular languages they are at risk of being lost over the next few decades if we do not have laws enforcing them compulsorily in schools and making them more visible on roads, in government offices, everywhere. Quebec province in Canada is a good example.
If the author refers to English as an "unfamiliar language", then it
is true only during the first several years of education. English
becomes the language of science and commerce, at and above high school
level, so pursuing any profession is impossible with out proficiency
in English. It is a natural evolution of not only former British
colonies, but also the rest of the world.
The author has highlighted the multiple layers of hierarchy of
languages within the Indian context; the "dialects to Hindi" status to languages in Hindi belt, the other 21 scheduled languages, partly
being occulted by the Lingua Franca at least in cities - are intended
consequences of governmental policy. It is unnatural, unlike the
development of English, by necessity.
Currently the medium of instruction exists in about 15 of the 22
scheduled languages, but they also yield way to English when it comes
to university and professional education. Access to education is not
affected at this higher level.
Our leaders and educations (including Gandhi and Nehru) made a terrible assumption that best way to define Indian Nationhood would be to bind them in one language, hindi their National Language. I wish our educationists had promoted our Nationhood by us respecting the other by learning their language. They should have made it cumpulsory either Malayalam, Tamil, Telegu or Kannada compulsor in Hindi-speaking areas schools from grade 1 to 5 or 6. At the same time in South, people learn any of the non-South language. We should have promoted learning of two out of 14 major Indian languages compulsory in schools where one was mother tongue and the other a language of diffrent root.
What our leaders failed to do, now commerce is doing it. IT professionals from North migrate to South India for job, learn local languages and settle there. Babus from South come to Delhi learning hindi fluently. It is still well short of Switzerland, where almost every one knows French,German and Italian
Any language should not be imposed on any person irrespective of his place of living. If any person feels the need of learning any new language apart from his mother tongue, then he will surely learn. Afterall, we should learn different languages to communicate with each other, not to fight over the issue that why should I learn..!!!
A great argument by Mukul Priyadarshini. I just worry if it comes a bit too late in the day, just based on personal experience.
I also hope one of the experts in language or education would elaborate on the effect of learning in one's own mother tongue. While learning through English as a medium clearly allows one to get into the "system", a cursory glance shows that virtually all original technology and superior manufacturing capability have been developed only in countries where most students learn the basic knowledge (sometimes even advanced knowledge) in their mother tongue. In contrast, Indian people seem highly qualified in the use of the English language and in their ability to "work for" others who have developed the technology, or "work with" technology developed by other people. It seems like learning basic scientific and technological concepts in one's mother tongue allows people to have a much "closer" relationship to these, psychologically, hence facilitating innovation.
A well analysed and written article. Let me try to give my
perspectives. I see language is a communication medium to transact
ideas. India's GDP is 1.8 trillion dollars and US 15 trillion dollars,
if we want to sell our produce and ideas we need to speak customer
language.
If french had ruled India and by now we would have had French as one
more official language. English is an extrovert language which is good
for innovations (Not trying to say Japan and Germany are not
inventing). Every year more than 9000 words are included in oxford
dictionary.
Indian languages have their own intricacies and beauty for any
spiritual activity Indian languages are the best. Eg. English we say
teacher but in Hindi Guru, Acharya, Adhayapak, shikshak and many more.
I personally advice Indian language but professionally I do not have a
choice once we achieve highest GDP we can ask not only Indians but
foreigners to converse in Hindi, Tamil or anything for any business
with us.
A thought provoking article. Especially the second and final para under Expansion Vs Promotion. English had been given more importance right from the early 1900s. If you have a very elderly lady or gentleman at home, even today, you will notice their knowledge of English is far more superior than the one that nowadays learn! I may be wrong in my statement, but one should realise how elderly people were taught in those days. They were made to learn the language through the language, with the result, their exposure to the language became superior.
With so much advancement in Science and Technology, one should appreciate the usage of English. Irrespective of the fact that whether one likes or not, the presence of English cannot be totally erased. We find those who oppose the language openly, send their own kith & kin to the Convents and Colleges where the kids get their education in English only to gain more advancement in their careers.
India is country where many languages spoken. It is obvious that
language has vast role. Language often forms the basis of
discrimination and disability. People do not trust a people having
some other language. The character of linguistic discrimination is
not changed even after sixty five years of independence. Much
politics have done in this regard. Gandhi Ji suggestion to create an
all Indian Vocabulary is still distant dream. Government have not
done any significant work to enrich, preserve and promote the any
language except Hindi. The fast spread of English is engulfing other
languages. The need of hour is to create political mobilizations to
create linguistic brotherhood, to formulate policy for developing all
languages. I appreciate Authors suggestion for multi-layered
approach. All inclusive approach is necessary.
I think that the author is getting it all wrong. People are very proud
of their native languages, and nothing can stop that. However, global
realities are such that English helps one advance economically. The
author is suggesting that a person can only learn one language, which
is nonsensical. English will not and should not displace our culture
and language, but by teaching English to all children, not just the
urban elite, we can make sure that this language elitism ends, and it
also empowers people because with English, they can see the world
through so many perspectives not available otherwise. People already
have the option to study in their mother tongues, but they don't want
to, they want to learn English, so that they can be self-reliant. If
the author thinks English is such a bane, why did she learn it
herself? We should promote both our local languages, and English as a
trade and exchange language.
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