A sudden thought came to my mind. Why not let every Indian learn sign language?
Government policies apart, Indians finding themselves in a State whose language they don’t know have a real need to communicate with the local people in their daily lives. How else can they enjoy their stay? We are all human beings and we feel an emotional need to connect.
So what was the provocation for my thought? Well, simply our difficulty in finding a suitable language for countrywide communication. India is a large country with many languages, with over a dozen languages commonly used by tens of millions of people. We have the problem of having an Indian link language. English is not considered suitable for this role by many. One can hardly expect the average person to communicate in English.
There is a case made for Hindi (spoken at home by about 500 million people), but that is not accepted by the southern States and Odisha. No language should be imposed on any group.
There are people in the south who want to learn Hindi, but it is not easy for them to learn in an environment where Hindi is not spoken. Learning through classes would also involve learning a script they are unfamiliar with
At first, my idea may appear funny. But just think. A Bengali visiting two different southern States need not learn two different languages. A Tamilian visiting any other State, including the other three southern States, can manage with just sign language. And so on. But yes, it has to understood by the other person. So there has to be a thought-out process to achieve that skill countrywide.
In schools
How about making sign language compulsory for school children in all States? No State will need to feel the reluctance of having to learn the language of another State. It would be a huge opportunity for all of us to learn to deal with the speech and hearing-impaired people in our country. (In a lighter vein, there will be an opportunity to reduce the decibel levels in homes. Married couples, please note...when you have those domestic tiffs. And oh yes, panel discussions on television!)
Teaching resources for sign language will have to be built up but these could be done more easily than for other languages. Audio-visual aids could be used and we can develop instructional websites on the internet.
Uniform everywhere
Fortunately, sign language is uniform throughout our country (though it is not so throughout the world). In fifty to sixty years 80% of our citizens will be able to communicate in sign language. And this may be nearly 100% for the inter-State mobile population, thanks to having made it compulsory in schools. We should certainly have ways to reinforce sign language beyond school level and have certificate, diploma and, of course, sign language teaching degrees offered by universities.
People say the best way to learn the language used in another State is to start speaking it, however tentatively, in daily life while in that State. People love it when they find a person from another State wanting and trying to learn their language and are only too glad to help the learner along. But the truth is that only a very small percentage of people are capable of learning this way or have that kind of a natural personality.
Most people would prefer a classroom situation and learn a language systematically to the level they need without feeling any embarrassment. This is okay for learning one or perhaps two additional languages.
But who knows, the person may need to live in yet another State for the sake of his or her job. That’s where the uniform sign language comes in. It’s only one language you have to learn.
The pan-Indian sign language will help in communication among people while in another State because it will be, as it already is, a common language for the speech and hearing-impaired across States. And yes, it is “neutral”, meaning, not easier or more difficult for speakers of a particular language!
Now what could be simpler than sign language? We don’t even have to be concerned about things such as grammar, pronunciation and writing skills. Taking this route, we can to some extent do away with the hurdle of language politics between the States. It will be a great opportunity for national integration.
laksh_77_ramesh@yahoo.co.in
