I read an article here that talked of twitter being up in arms over the Union government’s attempts to impose Hindi. some Twitterati felt that Modi, by delivering most of his speeches in Hindi was deliberately disrespecting the non-Hindi speaking population of the country. The article also quoted some unknown personages who claimed that Hindi was understood by around a quarter of the country’s population (the reality is around 40% of Indians understand Hindi) and Modi was deliberately disregarding that by rambling on in Hindi. Why is it that even after 7 decades of independence and mostly peaceful co-existence among various linguistic groups, anti-Hindi (-ism) continues to be a popular cause, whereas we have accepted, English, a foreign language, with open arms?
A historical perspective:
It has mostly been the South that has been at the forefront of anti-Hindi agitation. In late 1930s, Madras state erupted in protests, when the Congress government made Hindi a compulsory subject. The same issue re-surfaced soon after independence. Periyar and his Dravidar Kazhgam were at the forefront of these agitations. At the time of framing of India’s constitution, the constituent assembly was deeply divided between those who wanted Hindi as a national language and those who opposed it. As a compromise, it was decided to do away with the nomenclature of “national language”. It was decided that Hindi along with English and several regional languages was to be the official language. It was also decided that the government would endeavour to do away with the usage of English in 15 years’ time, by when, Hindi would become the sole language of correspondence within between the states and the Union. When the time came for implementing this decision, the South, once again was engulfed in anti-Hindi agitations. Several protesters lost their lives and the government vacillated before Indira Gandhi introduced a constitutional amendment establishing the bi-linguism that has persisted till date.
But why hate Hindi?
India has several language families that thrive in the country. The most prominent ones are Indo-Aryan (Hindi,Urdu, Marathi, Punjabi,Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese etc.), Dravidian (Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu), Tibeto-Burman (spoken mostly in the North East and Ladakh) and Austroasiatic (Munda, Khasi etc.). Indo-Aryan languages basically from Sanskrit and Prakrit (though Islamic invasions brought in many loanwords from Arabic and Persian and the arrival of Europeans enriched these languages with European words). Dravidian languages stem from Old Tamil, though Sanskrit words were freely borrowed (and local words freely exported into Sanskrit), as were words from European and other Asian languages. Over a period spanning several millennia, Sanskritic and Dravidian languages influenced each other, along with the influence of other languages, resulting in the languages that we know today.
The hatred of Hindi in the South started with the anti-Brahmin Self Respect Movement. Periyar agitated against the overwhelming influence wielded by the handful Brahmin minority in the political, social and economic spheres. Periyar, along with his other Justice Party colleagues sought to build a Tamil identity by denying the Brahmins the power they had formerly wielded. Given the importance of Sanskrit in their rites and rituals, Brahmins were an easy target for this Nationalist movement of sorts. Over a period of time, Hindi came to be equated with the much detested Brahmin population of this region, who were viewed as agents of the North. Tamil Nationalists claimed a unique history for their language and flatly denied any association between Tamil and Sanskrit. The issue of Hindi language, thus, became a political issue and continues to be so even today. Such virulent anti-Hindi sentiments, were however, not witnessed in any other state in India.
A National language:
Given that the issue of language has been heavily politicized, it is highly unlikely that we would ever be able to have a dispassionate and logical debate on this issue. It is unfortunate that in a linguistically rich country such as India, we need a foreign language (English) as a medium of communication among people. Obviously, in a globalized world such as ours, knowing English has its benefits, but it need not necessarily be a replacement for our own languages. Almost all specialists believe that a child learns best when taught in his mother tongue. Yet, we continue to force our children to learn Shakespeare and Milton by the rote, while glossing over Kalidasa and Thiruvalluvar. Instead of building a system that encourages a Punjabi to learn Tamil and vice versa, we choose to force English down everyone’s throat. And what is the result of this? Our languages are dying, bit by bit. Unlike English, which is flourishing with the introduction of new loanwords and phrases, our languages are becoming stultified, much like Sanskrit, which after millennia of efflorescence, is today a dead and buried language.
Israel revived Hebrew which was then a dead language (much like Sanskrit today) and today it is a flourishing national language there. We can also look at evolving a common national language. While Hindi is an easy choice, but given the prevalence of anti-Hindi sentiments, it will be a difficult step. In fact, Hindi, Tamil,Bengali, Telugu, Odia and others need not be the national language. A new national language that takes the best features of diverse Indian languages can also be explored as an option. Like Esperanto tried to be the language of the world, we could have a “Bharati” as a common language of India. Sanskrit can be another choice, given its pan India presence, but given the politics around Sanskrit, it is highly unlikely if it would ever be accepted.
In the words of Michael Madhusudan Dutta, “If there be any one among us anxious to leave a name behind him, and not pass away into oblivion like a brute, let him devote himself to his mother-tongue. That is his legitimate sphere his proper element”.
It is time to give Indians a common Indian language!
The NDTV article you are referring here is full of misinformation…as usual. Group behind “StopHindiImposition” hastag were not against Modi giving speeches in Hindi as said by NDTV, it’s about unnecessary imposition of Hindi in our state (Karnataka in my case) when it’s not required. As an example given in that article, Bangalore to Mysore train ticket carries Engish and Hindi but not Kannada. How do you explain this? Isn’t this an imposition? Karnataka, except Bangalore hardly has Hindi speaking population. Even in banks, post offices and other central govt offices, we get to see all forms/challans in Hindi (with English/Kannada and in some cases only English). I’m a Modi fan too and absolutely fine with him giving his speeches in Hindi but would also like to see his speech translated to other regional languages. This in fact benifits him to greater extent.
And we have schools with syllabus where Hindi is mandatory but not Kannada. I don’t see our kids reading kannada novels/news papers from the next generation unless it’s taken care at home. I agree with Periyar being Anti-Bramhin which is the result of Anti-Hindi campaign then. But now, we are not anti-Hindi. Let they promote Hindi in Hindi belt region, we have our own languages which has history estimated to be older than Hindi and we don’t like it to die a slower death due to this. Regarding accepting English over Hindi…only reason is English can get us jobs in this globalized era. There is no guraantee for jobs if we finish our schools in our mother language like in Japan, China, France etc.
BTW, good news is PMO has decided to go with PM’s speeches, communication in multi-linguial soon as per this report. This is what we expect
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-going-beyond-mainstream-media-pm-modi-s-words-to-go-multilingual-2112409
It would be so terrible to not have forms in Kannada in Karnataka. I read a similar story in Quora.
Make kannada mandatory or as a languauge requirement in IT sector. It wont take more than 2 years before everybody starts learning kannada.
Why are all the facts being twisted when all they want is the freedom to practice their language without Hindi being shoved down their throats. is asking for the PM’s speech to be translated so the other 60% of the population can understand, too much? Is it too much to ask for train tickets to travel within Tamil Nadu or Karnataka be printed in Tamil and kannada respectively. Why do people find it offensive when a person from chennai can’t speak Hindi?why is it on a English channel that it is perfectly alright for someone to speak in Hindi and not when people ask the right to speak their language in their homeland. When people raise their voice demanding equality they are being branded anti nationalist. If this is not imperialism then what is.
was english shoved down ur throat..?? u learned it cuz u know everything on internet is in english.. but if u would have learnt Hindi, atleast people of India would be enjoying their stay in South India.. u know we don’t understand what common south Indian people say.. u knw most of them dnt knw how to speak english and Hindi both.. u can’t just ask for an address or ask for any food joints while travelling, cuz they won’t understand us and if they did, we will never understand what they say.. we are just saying, Hindi is easier and more widely used in India… so instead of shoving ur throats with English, shove them with Hindi… people of India want better from u guys than people of England.. we can’t speak fluent english even after learning it for 20 years, but nobody can out speak us when it comes to Hindi or our mother tongues..
You want us to waste 100s of hours and learn Hindi so that you’d have a comfortable stay when you come to the south of India? Can you not see how very selfish and self-centered that is? We learn english, because it has clear economic benefits and advantages that hindi doesn’t offer. If you want to talk to us, then speak to us in English or make an effort to learn the local language if your stay is for longer than a year. Expecting us to know hindi and roll down the red carpet awaiting your arrival would be pushing the limits of optimism!
Speaking for TN, all signs in offices, buses, trains and directional signboards are both in Tamil and English. If that doesn’t suffice then we can’t help you. Just pray you meet someone who speaks Hindi. And English was never shoved down our throats. We saw that advantage it offers and gracefully accepted it, and benefited from it. Hindi, on the other hand, offers us ZERO benefits, but was wantonly shoved down our throats. We protested, fought and won against Hindi imperialism, and we aren’t going to accept it anytime in the foreseeable future. Hindi is your mother tongue. Not mine. And it will never ever be.
And you want 40% of the population to supposedly “waste their time” (your words) learning Tamil? Which is spoken by only one of 4 (okay, 5) South Indian states (3 of which already have substantial understanding of Hindi?) I suppose that is in no way selfish at all.
Admit your stance for what it is – a separatist mindset, an exclusionary principle and a severe anti-Hindu ideology (borne by the frequently-cited and discredited Aryan race theory) with nonsensical arguments of supply-demand which has been thoroughly debunked by the precedent of countless other nations. I’m Bengali, and I’m perfectly fine with the idea of our national language being Sanskrit or something, as long as the system mandates that Sanskrit be paired with mother tongues. This is NOT status quo by any means, but it’s preferable.
No. We don’t want you to learn Tamil, unless you want to. And we have no dreams of making Tamil the national language. So stop assuming things. You could have saved me a lot of time by reading through the rest of my comments in this article. And ROFL!! Less than 15% of southern India can speak in Hindi, while 35-40% can speak in English.
http : // qz . com/239073/these-four-charts-break-down-indias-complex-relationship-with-hindi/
I am neither a separatist, not anti-Hindu (LMAO!! I am a Hindu Brahmin, you dumb@$$). And supply and demand is economics. It isn’t a theory. You be perfectly fine with whatever. We don’t give a flying rat’s backside about it. Us southerners are very clear as to what we want, if there ever is going to be a national language. Us one of the following three options:
1. All of the Indian languages (or)
2. English (or)
3. None of the Indian languages or English * (i.e.) Status quo, in which English will eventually take precedence. Not because we want it to. But because of demand-supply!! :P :D
Any other option would lead to wide spread civil unrest as before. In any case, you cannot make Hindi a national language, we’ve ensured that that will never happen. As far as Sanskrit is concerned, as much as I want India to preserve, protect and promote the language, making it the national language is impractical, and just as impractical as making Hindi the national language. We won’t stand for it.
Mr. Joshi,
Kart, has already countered to your arguments so I will refrain from going there. IF you have read my comment correctly, one would understand that I am not against Hindi or learning Hindi. All I am against is the fact that Hindi is being thrust upon people who have no intents and purposes to learn the language. I am against the fact that Hindi is being given preference over my mother tongue. You may talk all you want about this issue being politicized, and you may be right. But, as a citizen of India I am ashamed at the fact that people from 4 states in the union have to fight for their right to practice and preserve their language.
It is hurting when a fellow country man says, ‘people of India want better from u guys.’ Do you mean to suggest we will be a part of the Indian Union only if we speak Hindi?
To correct your facts, we can speak fluent English. We have the second largest English speaking population in the world, only behind United states.
And yet for all brouhaha over English fluency and second largest speakers, we are, but average.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EF_English_Proficiency_Index
Just as English is shoved down on us Northies, It’s the same case of Hindi with Southies. Think from their perspective once.
As for your visiting S.India, you must learn their language rather than you expecting them to bend over backward to accommodate your language. It doesn’t works that way pal.
a possible solution- 1) hindi as national/ primary language 2) secondary language to be chosen as per the area
So basically status quo with labels!! LMAO! I think we are fine with Hindi and English as official languages of the center… and Each state having its own official language. And FYI, Hindi can never become the national language, as long as the non-Hindi speaking states are against it. It says so in the constitution. So it will NEVER happen!
naa bhai ji.. its not about status quo… i think one should not hesitate in learning something new… i have seen many of my south indian frnds understand and speak hindi very well. the problem remains common to all of us.. the feeling of alienation :) like i have seen in some places where even the govt. info. boards are only in regional langauge.. that is a big problem.. we all should learn about each others culture while preserving our own. nothing should be imposed but finding a common link to all is also important.
No one said that there is anything wrong with learning anything new… But the choice of what we learn should be ours, not yours… If I want to learn French or German or Spanish or Cantonese or Mandarin instead of Hindi, the choice is mine… And in a democracy, people are allowed the right to do what they want to do…
Also, you want us to learn Hindi so that you feel connected… Actually, that is a very selfish proposition… If you want to connect with us, you should attempt it by speaking a language that we both can speak… English for example, like we are doing now.. Or learn a regional language, if you wish to really connect with us…. Why should you want me to waste my time learning a new language, so you feel connected to us??
Most govt info boards are in the state’s language and in English… At least that is the case in TN… I agree that we all have to learn each other’s cultures and preserve our own… And that can happen when there is mutual respect… Not when there is an one-sided expectation of respect..
Frankly, we are all OK with English being the link language… We need it for economic purposes… And you need it to… So why not make it easier for the both of us, and make it the link language, rather than expecting us to waste our time to learn a new language (which is of no use to us) just so that you feel this country is now finally united??
no plz don’t feel that i am in favor of the above stated motion. just sharing and trying to understand everyone’s view on this matter. i am not suggesting hindi for those who don’t know it or don’t want to. i emphasize on the need to connect. maybe it should be made mandatory to use local lingo+ hindi or english. because really i have seen atleast in punjab..the sole use of punjabi script on most buses and boards. i went to TN almost 15 yrs back so i believe as u said.. atleast we have english as an alternative over there.
I recommend a simple formula… Mother tongue + English… Anything else, can be a matter of choice… English is needed for jobs, better quality of life, information, and it is the easiest way to feel connected to the world… So we really cannot do away with it… And as I said, you need it just as much as I do!
I feel all languages should be made available equally across the length and breadth of this country… We should be like a mini-Europe, and not trying to emulate Russia or China!
yes even i agree. this solution suits the majority.
English is needed (was needed) because you made it one. It’s purely a function of economics and demand. How I find funny (and miserable) that an MNC will ask for EXCELLENT english skills in India (and not the skills in the regional language) but the same MNC in Europe will ask for fluent skills of that country – German, Dutch, Danish, French, Finnish etc.
Yes. And we are quite proud of it. This is what you get when you decide to give prominence to one language at the cost of all other languages. You will be denied!
And I find it funny, that you need english and I need english, but I don’t need hindi. Even after nearly 70yrs of independence! In hindsight, I think we made the right choice!
Hmm, so you are quite proud of the fact that Michelin( for e.g. in TN) asks for excellent English and French skills in INDIA and no Tamizh skills, whereas the same Michelin in Brazil asks for excellent Portuguese, in Denmark, excellent Danish and so on.
Proud!!
No we are quite proud of the fact that Michelin doesn’t ask us for excellent Hindi skills. We made that happen. In any case, since most of the auto sector is concentrated in TN, I can tell you that they usually ask for Tamil and English, which we are fine with.
If they as for Tamil then it’s a good thing, I rest my case then. Fwiw, when I participated in Michelin campus recruitment couple of years ago they didnt ask. Maybe they would have started doing it now.
Good!. I dont mind not asking for Hindi proficiency in TN. Thats a mismatch in today’s world.
maybe translation in major spoken languages should be made available at all places for majority of things. as much as possible. because it not about you and me. seeing from every one’s perspective its about connecting, not about whether you should learn hindi or i should learn tamil ;) if we are together we should think about each other. i am not i favour of domination or imposition.
Oh I agree… Just like our rupee notes… Write all signs and directions in all languages across the length and breadth of this country… No problems with that at all… Infact, I’d support such an initiative!
Why it should be only Hindi common link language of North. Why it can’t be Tamil of South. If you do learn. It might be possible to link with all. Why should we always learn n Why can’t you guys. If you can’t I am sure we may lose integrity and may get divided.. Damn..
atleast mr. kart had some good points, but you look like a guy with divisive mentality. no body is murdering you for not knowing/ learning hindi. the need for national language arises only because of the need to find a common link between all. this discussion has already been concluded. atleast i understand the importance of regional languages, and stand against the concept of one language for all. again i wud say, its not about u or me, u r just thinking about yourself ,think about someone from manipur, will learning tamil or even hindi will help him?? its about the language of majority and not about hindi or tamil. all languages have their own importance, none should get lost in time! i like the concept of regional language as first preference and majority language of india as the second one (be it hindi/ tamil or english). your comment really sounds as if you are threatening about division under the feeling of insecurity. Sir, learn to rise above you or me, its about us/we! we all are indians, and speaking a single language will not define us, unity in diversity will ! we should embrace each others culture with love and respect and not discriminate! thank you and now i would like to end this debate from my side
it is not about imposing hindi, its about chosing the language of majority as the national language. just do away with the dependency on english for official purpose. all other countries respect and accept their languages
We are saying exactly the same thing.. We will chose if we want to learn hindi or not… making it the national language is IMPOSING it upon us… Don’t force us to learn something that we consider as useless to us!
but it is spoken in majority.. don’t learn it, but atleast after making it our national language, we can use it for official purposes too.. isn’t it good that having every written material in India to be in a more easily spoken language..?? why can’t be software in India be made in Sanskrit, the language with best and largest grammar.. why are we not having a single language recognized by UN, when no other country in the world has this much diversity in languages.. obviously we have to chose 1 language to represent the country,and hindi is 4th most widely spoken language on earth.. and then comes bengali on 9th.. there is no tamil in top 10.. so we can’t set a dravidian language as national language.. by my points I wanted to make u understand the importance of having a national language.. u can see China and Japan for example..
No. It doesn’t work that way. Making it the national language will make it mandatory for jobs in the central govt. Which would put us at a disadvantage. And no, it isn’t good having all written material in India written in what is an alien language for us. Why can’t software be made in all languages. I don’t recognise Sanskrit having the best and the largest grammar. This is probably a hoax. And what do you mean UN hasn’t recognised any of our languages?
If we have to choose one language, let it be English. Why choose the 4th when we can have the most widely spoken language in the world. If we know english there are clear economic benefits: we get jobs, better quality of life, connect with the world at large etc. Hindi doesn’t have any of these benefits for us. We don’t want Tamil or other Dravidian language as the sole national language.
Our proposal is this: either make all the languages in the country as national languages and promote all of them equally or let the country have no national language. And maybe you are forgetting about countries like Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, Singapore etc. that have multiple national languages.
Indonesia has one national language and several other regional languages.
Again, why do we need to follow Indonesia? Why not Switzerland or Singapore? Having multiple national languages would solve the issue for everyone of us. If not, we aren’t going to bend over and accept any proposition that doesn’t suit us. If you aren’t satisfied, let’s continue with status quo.
Let;s also continue with our poor educational model and low PISA rankings, low HDI and so on.
How does any of those depend on having a national language. TN probably stands out from the rest of the country, because we don’t subscribe to this BS. But we are one of the most developed states in the country. We all know where the Hindi-speaking BIMARU states stand on that scale.
TN stands out because of their aggresive language policies, plus it was always somewhat richer and more developed than north.
In General, South is better than North in almost every index of growth and development.
If I’d have my way, I would have made all regional langauges compulsary for primary education at least.
Would be too much of a burden on children. My proposal has always been the same. Mother tongue + English. Leave the rest up to choice.
Yes, mother language and English should be the way. I don’t mind if Hindi is made a recognizable language in UN, as long as it is not imposed on us. People who travel to different states for a living should make a sincere effort to learn the local language. I work in a IT industry in bangalore and I know many of my colleagues who are settled here for more than 7-8 years can’t speak a sentence in Kannada, they expect us to speak Hindi. This is not acceptable. I understand a common language for India is good (but not necessary) which helps people who travel to different states help to communicate but this should not become a threat to local languages.
Frankly, English is soon becoming that common language. As much as you may hate to admit it, you know that it is the truth.
I have a suggestion: Make Kannada mandatory (or jack up it’s requirements) during hiring in IT sector. People will moan at first, but would quickly come tumbling down in droves and do whatever it takes to learn Kannada up and running.
You have all the advantage. Play the English way.
That’s because, as I have written in other comments, our method of teaching languages is flawed. Contrary to how we study, one doesn’t have to study for 10+ years, unnecessary long English classes and useless English literature to get a hang of it.
Europeans, as I have observed, devote a fraction of their academik time to study English and I can bet that on an average, an European has, in general, better English skills than an India.
The difference of teaching a language is all that does the trick.
For more info, please read their language framework
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages
Believe me, it’s not as hard as a burden we make it out. In fact, 2 languages (Native+English is good too), is quite better if we follow the above EU framework. That would leave lot of time to study important subjects like Sciences and mAths.
I am with you on this… We need a more standardized framework… And we need to implement it across the country for all the languages. But yes, mother tongue + English + optional third language (which may be either Indian or foreign) would be the way forward.
What we need to create is the demand for learning local languages, and the only way to do that would be to develop our country, economy, markets, trade and other things at the earliest.
The first serious step would be to revamp our primary and secondary education system, especially primary where it should be ensured that medium should be the native langauge of the region.
Once you have the basic skillset ready it’s not difficult to get another language running. But let it run as a language, not more. You would be suprised as to how flexible you’d become if your basic education is done in native languages (which enables an effectiv learning)
I have two examples to show that
1. My entire education happened in Hindi medium UP board. However our school was ICSE board and we were the last batches and our school was phasing out UP board batch. It was somewhat difficult initially for us but all it took was one year of extra classes where we got instructions in English medium. And this happened before High school. It didn’t take much time for us to get our written skills in order. Conversational was a different beast, though.
2. 2 years ago, I was participating in a course at my university. In a class of 13 students, I was the only foreigner. As a result, some of our lectures happened in English, while some in Danish and separate assistance to me. It wasn’t difficult at all for Danes to switch between different languages. Reports could be handed in either Danish or English. I wonder if any Indian would be able to do this.
Basically, the goal should be to introduce flexibility in students by teaching languages in a better way. An important difference I have found in way we are taught languages vs Europeans is that the latter measure language course in Levels and number of hours required.
We, otoh, resort to 10-12 long years of learning which do no good. Some become fluent by this time, but most of them are still not good in communication, whether written or spoken.
Then, by proficiency, Europeans means skills in reading, listening, speaking and writing. We, otoh, pay little attention to speaking part. And then when student don’t converse in English in schools, we recruit hypocritic bodies like SET (Spoken English tak) force to fine students.
I discovered this in GDs during campus placements, where people, with good writing and technical skills, suffered because they weren’t good in speaking.
Maybe it’s time we improve our methods
And TN is not naturally richer. If you speak in terms of agriculture, the Himalayan plains are richer, have more minerals and metals. We don’t even have enough water, neither for agriculture nor for consumption. The only mineral that we do seem to have is lignite. And most of our manufacturing industries have shut shop. But our service and auto industries are thriving. We worked towards development, and had reasonably OK to good political leaders, compared to the north.
There really isn’t any need to create one more thing to divide us Indians. Capable of speaking hindi can never be a criteria for being an Indian. The entire idea of India is to celebrate the immense diversity that we are. Lets celebrate that, and be one, under positive values that this country stands rather than fighting over petty issues like this.
Are you frustrating in Hindi version also? please give link…
I don’t understand.. How can imposing a one language as national language represent the linguistic diversity of India?
Those who want to learn Hindi are learning on their own. No one is stopping them. Is there a rule that one should not learn Hindi? But creating a rule to make Hindi a common national language is forcing everyone to learn it which is blalant partiality and it is only going to shit on our “Unity in Diversity” motto. Why should I be forced to learn a language just because you know it? Will you learn Tamil if the capital of India was in TN and we declare it as national language? See from others perspective also.. Is whole India in a mass paralysis just because we don’t have a common national language?
No.. Native languages are NOT dying a slow death.. Atleast not in Southern states..They are dying everywhere else because of the spread of Hindi.We already know how it impacts ppl culturally. Why is the there a Bollywood monopoly on most of the North states? Why are Marathi films fighting for theatres in their own state? Other than south states the film industry everywhere else is smothered by one big blob of Bollywood. Can we expect a high budget movie like Baahubali from any North Indian state other than Bollywood? No, because their market is already monopolized.
I am no supporter of Dravidian anti Hindi agitations but I am realizing now it definitely helped TN in maintaining an identity of its own. Let people choose what they want to speak.
Best points ever
so u r toking in english…i hope ur great grandfathers would have been fluent in it…?? well if not, than I think govt imposed it on you..?? wait, nobody imposed it..!! u learned it cuz u loved it…!! similarly, Sanskrit and Tamil (the two oldest languages existing today) can be learned and adored by us.. what do u say..?? A little dignity on our history won’t hurt u…!! see being the oldest and unaltered by any modern language,, Sanskrit has still the largest word pool, and the most proficient grammar.. I dnt knw abt Tamil, but its believed that both evolved simultaneously, so it would be rich in grammar too.. so try to take pride in ur culture, ur mother tongue.. u probably dnt knw what Sanskrit has delivered to the world.. the number system was first explained by Indians and the nos. were in Sanskrit.. the planets had a Sanskrit name first.. but still we proudly use english for nos. and planets.. also the largest epic of all time “Mahabharata” had 100,000 shlokas.. even the encyclopedia will lose the battle here… oxford releases 1 book.. I have got 7 volumes of huge sized books as Sanskrit dictionary.. so don’t get all “I Don’t Care”, get more of a “I CAN Make A Difference”…
and now for ur question – “Is whole India in a mass paralysis just because we don’t have a common national language?”
I must say when people from north India visit Chennai or Cochin or other south Indian states, they just think of it as a foreign country.. cuz most of them don’t know neither english nor Hindi… u know, we can’t ask for an address, cuz what they say, nobody can get.. so please co-operate with people of India, and stop prejudicing states over country..
It is no surprise today that English is a bread earner for *cough ‘decent’ jobs cough*. Every MNC, and even indian companies ask for proficiency in English. Given the already insane competition, no parent would want their children to be left behind and thus would try everything that it takes to rise up the socioeconomic ladder. So if English does the job, so be it.
This is a sad truth, but as a service-industry we are bound to play the rules set by others. Language is one of them.
So till this differential in the society exist, people will keep learning english, at the cost of their native languages.
Speak in english and you will get your directions!
I am a Hindi speaker and agree with the point that why should two Indians need a foreign language to communicate but you should also ponder on following points:
1) Untill and unless the native Hindi speakers don’t respect their language, how can you expect others to accept it when they have their own very rich and uncontaminated mother toungue. Even in Hindi speaking areas, speaking English is considered a matter of proud and superiority.
2) It is a well known fact that by learning English , you have ability to get excellent , reputed and high paying jobs. IT industry in India which is most job offering industry is totally running on English while there is no such thing related with Hindi. If a non-Hindi speaker learns Hindi, what is he gaining that will help him to get a job?
3) When a non-Hindi speaker kid is already learning 2 languages(his native and English), adding Hindi to his syllabus is an extra and unnecessary burden(justification given in point no. 2) and why should not he oppose it?
4) Last and least, even Hindi film industry doesn’t not give that much respect to Hindi as the south Indian film Industries to their native languages. Also no one would disagrees that Bollywood is full of bogus, scrap and valueless movies of khans and hence it does not add value to Hindi so that anyone would think of learning it.
*APPLAUSE* for this gentleman here!! Couldn’t have put it any better myself Mr Dubey! :D
2nd point is really good. thought provoking
Short and sweet – we are slaves. We have been for last 1000 years and continue to be in one or the other way till we do something about it.
Rest, a country whose constitution is written in a foreign language, the less said the better.
this was what I wanted to convey..stop writing “Hindi is imposed” in “ENGLISH”… u learnt english too, we are not talking abt learning one more language, we are talking abt replacing english with hindi, so that everyone will be able to communicate easily within India.. good job dubey ji… :-P
Replacing ‘English’ with ‘Hindi’?? Do you even know what are you suggesting?
English is useful. Hindi is not. This is a fact of life. Would suggest you get used to it. You seem like a family man. Would you send your kids to English medium schools or Hindi medium ones?
Would you like to send your children to Tamil medium or Engrish medium?
English medium. And we’ve no qualms about admitting that. I wonder about all these guys beating their chests about Hindi. Wonder which schools will they want their kids to go to.
Glad you accept the truth. I studied in Hindi medium. But it didn’t take me long to learn English and other foreign languages.
There must be something wrong with our education system then.
But I would now like to ask a better question – given a choice, would you like to send your kids to Tamil medium and English medium?
Please note that these two questions are different.
Tamil medium. If that choice is available at the standard that I seek.
Good to know this!
So basically you acknowledge the damage that English did to other INdian languages. Think over it.
No I am not acknowledging any such thing. I love my language (it isn’t even my mother tongue, but it doesn’t matter). And I want it to flourish. We cannot do away with English, but we will definitely want the growth of Tamil to be at par or above English.
Why can’t we do away with English? Do away as in all legal, administrative and educational systems but be in form of kulture and entertainment.
Because it is a global language, and the de facto language of business., at least in the service side, where a large chunk of our GDP comes from. It is the primary source of information. Any scientific research is usually done or is translated first into English. Information travels faster in this medium. And it provides for better entertainment. Other than this, we have better jobs, quality of life and other advantages.
And certainly not in legal and administration, unless all of it is done in all Indian languages. Not just Hindi.
I have hardly seen a Japanese speaking English, a German speaking English (in lesser degree than Japanese) and French speaking English (in lesser degree than German).
Any language should be a medium of communication, that’s it. The role should start there and end there.
But the way it has proliferated into our lives.
– our GDP is dependent on a foreign language (No bigger sham could be than this!), primary source of Information (Didn’t hear Europeans saying that), Why can’t we have scientific education in our languages. Better entertainment (A personal choice so won’t comment on that).
At the end of the day, you can herald all examples of a foreign language but please not that not majority of indians speak English, and therefore English too is considered to be thrusted upon them, especially when it comes to the matter of employment.
So much for the global langauge idea. It is this slavish mentality that I vehemently detest. We have always been slaves, and continue to be one, because of small and simple things like these.
Well they have their own way of doing things. By circumstance of fate, us Indians have been dealt a different card. Now you want to go back and fix mistakes. I want to see how well we can progress from where we are at, instead of imagining what could’ve, should’ve or would’ve.
No matter how much you wish to downplay the importance of English in this world, you just cannot. It is needed, and it cannot be avoided. You and I are able to discuss this matter because of our knowledge of this common language, so let’s not undermine its importance. And there is really no shame in admitting anything. As you said, everything is a matter of supply and demand. We have an over large demand for it, because it is needed in this day and age for a better life. And it is all good to speak idealistically, but implementation is another matter altogether. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and English didn’t acquire its strength yesterday. A language like Hindi, which has been in existence for well over 500years and is the fourth largest spoken language in the world has relatively little economic use. So let’s not scoff at the achievements of English, and it is not something that can be easily emulated. Ppl wonder whether Mandarin would be able to take over the position. I don’t think it can. English is the only truly global language, and Spanish is possibly the next such global language.
English too is considered to be thrusted upon them?? I am sorry. But this is laughable. Do you mean to say English is thrust because the job environment dictates it? Then it is not thrusting, it is merely a requirement. You either compete or you stay out of the race. Frankly, speaking the day is not far when majority in this country will be able to speak English. I think that will happen a lot sooner than you and I think it would. It isn’t slavish mentality, it is the price we are paying for our wrong decisions and laziness. Nobody has forced us to learn English. We learn it, because we need it. We can choose not to. And since that choice is available, you cannot really call it a slavish mentality.
And let’s also be honest. Entertainment in English is miles better than entertainment in ANY indian language. I would rather watch Christian Bale strut his stuff than watch SRK or another Ekta Kapoor serial. I would rather laugh to jokes of George Carlin rather than comedy nights with Kapil guy. And I am sure most ppl in urban centers would agree with this assessment.
‘Well they have their own way of doing things. By circumstance of fate, us Indians have been dealt a different card’
No, we are no different from Indonesia (It is more linguistically diversed than India). So if they can do, we could have done as well. Please don’t provide excuse for our lethargy and inaction.
I consider it shameful that I need a foreign language to talk to a fellow Indian. That said, I leave it entirely to you as to how you percieve the exchange. We have a demand because we created it (and it doesn’t takes a sherlock to trace it all back to Anti-Hindi agitations in South).
Yes, English is the undisputed leader but I have seen more and more people learning Mandarin. Had they have had leaders like us, they would too have been supplying Half english speaking bodyshoppers like us.
Ultimately, it depends as to how we project our soft power and of late, we have been pretty bad in doing that. English is thrusted is many ways that you can imagine- people are made to feel like shit if they don’t know English. Not getting a good job is just another way. If you say need, it is very well a case of being subservient. It is slavish when I can’t get a good job in my country becuase I don’t speak a foreign language. That my friend is not a need but sign of slavery.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Right, and so is the case with language which requires lot of promotion, projection of soft power and support. Enforcing is stupid and I don’t agree with government on this. Had they been a bit careful, they wouldn’t have been doing this.
Speaking of entertainment, it’s a subjektive case but I don’t rest my entire domain in English or Hindi. I watch stuff from Telugu (a langauge which I personally admire), Japanese, German and Danish.
English humor is bland for my taste and Kapil is way better than George kalin. My assesmnet says that if I go out on street, almost everyone will agree that Kapil is better while few will have heard of Carlin’s name, let alone heard his work. English is not the only hallmarrk of pristine presentation. It’s just the lack of your more cultural awareness and a bit of prejudice which blinds you. Speaking of prejudice, I am too because of excessive intrusion of English.
I am not saying we shouldn’t, but I am not saying we should either. I think we’ve to chart our own course. Even if it is with English. And we are, as I have said earlier, mighty proud of the fact that we brought down chauvinistic Hindiwallahs to their knees, and ensured that Hindi will never be the national language. One of our finest victories. But the demand wasn’t created by us, it was created by the fate of the world. By trade and business. By the brains of the people in the US, UK and the rest of the English-speaking world. No matter how much you berate us for knowing and speaking English, rather than an Indian language (which btw you are wrong about. I speak only in Tamil with my friends, family and colleagues. Obviously I resort to English with those who can’t speak the language. And I have no problems with this status quo) you really can’t wish it way. Your use of bodyshoppers, slaves, subservience etc. has little to no effect on us or the world at large.
And the reason why Mandarin will not have the same reach as English is because the language is quite localised, and now that China is moving back to an economy based on domestic consumption, it will only become more so. You’re right about tastes being subjective, and LOL! Kapil better than Carlin is the best comedy I’ve heard recently. A no-good, slapstick bunghole compared with the best standup comedian the world has ever seen. But it doesn’t matter. Not many ppl have the grey cells to appreciate good humor.
Learning Mandarin has more to do with lapping up the soft power which China exudes, and little to do with utility per se (the latter is increasing though. How much is debatable).
Our languages fail on both front. Maybe few centuries ago when South India was strong and traded with South East Asia, it’s languages made an impact there. That is not much present today.
You can possibly feel good of yourself of having taken down Hindi chauvinists (and Tamil too is equally, if not more, chauvinist.) But that’s not the agenda I discuss here. You may feel having won by trumping one language in favor of another, but unless you have seriously done something to rejunvinate your language and made it the main language across admin, law, education (in that case, very good) etc, they you are failed too. There’s no pride in that, in my opinion. Maybe, we can agree to disagree here the way we evaluate the situation.
As again, demand wasn’t created by West, we chose the easy way. The good way to put this is that sooner or later, we have taken up English. However, only as a language of communication, nothing more.
As for me telling about bodyshoppers, slaves etc, it does have impact. We don’t have a unique national narrative. MNCs, and now Indian companies are more than happy to make stringent demands of English proficiency (read, forcing English). This forms a closed perpetual cycle, which halts the growth of Indian languages. Think over it how. This is something which I detest.
As for Carlin, to each his own. I don’t particularly like English humor which is quite bland to my taste. I have appreciated English for their other genres, but in my opinion, they score low in humor department. As for my grey cells, thanks for subtle villification, but my preferences are contexual. And I am yet to come across someone who considers English humor as something grand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-_and_low-context_cultures
I am okay with English as far as it is treated as a language. Helps me to connect with people and enjoy literature and culture.
What I am not okay with is
– that my economic future decided by a foreign language
– that English is used for legal, admin, educational purposes
– As Kannadiga, I don’t find forms written in Kannada in Bangalore
and so on.
Tamils are understandably more protective of our language. But we don’t impose it others. And yes, the doyens of Tamil literature ensure that we keep in step with modernity. We have online scripts, an organization responsible for developing the vocabulary to keep in tune with the changing world, and Tamil is used extensively across the length and breath of the state in administration, law, and in state board education. So yes, we have pride, and we have done the job to back it up. We need to do more, but we certainly are the forefront compared to other Indian languages, including Hindi.
The demand wasn’t created by the west, but the conditions of the demand were. And we are more than willing to adapt it as it offered us a lot of advantages. Again, none of us is embarassed by it. We’ve not given up on our mother tongue. We’ve just taken up a language that offers us various advantages, like prudent people should. So none of the name-calling by you is having even the slightest of impacts. We both agree that our languages have to grow, but what I don’t agree with is that it has to grow at the cost of English. No. It doesn’t work that way.
And as far as humor is concerned, you probably haven’t met many people. British dry wit and sarcasm is considered the epitomy of good humor, and frankly, Hindi humor is mostly slapstick and insulting. Even hindi movie humour is crass, and not funny. I love humor in Tamil movies, and honestly believe there is no comedian who can measure up to the like ot Goundamani. BUt I love British and American comedies just as much.
As far as economy is concerned, you need to come up with a better alternative. The market is its own beast and it keeps on churning. It isn’t going to stop for u or me to recaliberate. I am OK with English being used in legal, admin and educational purposes. It already serves as an unofficial link language across the country. Might as well make it official, and be done with it. In TN, all forms are written in Tamil and English. So I don’t feel we lose much.
Good if you are able to promote your language. I am all for it and this is something that I appreicate Tamilian.
As for Hindi humor being insulting, you are clearly being prejudiced, uninformed or perhaps both.
I have lived in almost 4 countries now (India included) and thus have met quite a lot of people who wouldn’t certainly agree with British wit or the like. That, however doesn’t imply that they don’t appreciate English culture. For different people, it carries different meaning. Humor is something which I haven’t found many takers for that.
Let’s agree to disagree here without you showing disdain for Hindi. I know zilch about Tamizh humor to make an informed opinion about it (All I know about them are random stereotypes which I don’t think all are true). They do make some good movies, though. You can continue with your English love and it’s fine by me, but you know nothing baout me to judge my taste. Period.
As for economy, not YOU but WE have to come up with better alternatives. Service industry, as it is not a industry in a true sense. You are just dependent on others.
India has been losing out to South East Asian countries and East European countries which are better skills (language and technical) and share more cultural empathy with West. Unless we pull our pants fast enough to get manufacturing sector rolling, the competition is going to hit us hard, very hard.
At that time your English love isn’t going to get us anywhere.
But as I said before, it’s a good thing that we make this transistion becuase after a period of time, when we are economically strong due to manufacturing, theatrics such as language love or soft power will find their way. Till then Bollywood will keep doing its work. More and more people in India will learn Hindi, either by need or migration. All I want is that this learning should be marked oriented and natural, not government forced. I see a sole Tamilian sitting among a group of fellow Indians learning Hindi to gel with others, just as any other person learning Tamil in TN amongst his colleagues to enter the social circle.
I have seen enough Hindi humour to know that it really doesn’t measure up. Mostly it is in the form of slapstick, which is why a hack like johnny lever could make it big in the industry for such a long time. As far as the economy is concerned, I agree with you and we’ll have to see how well Modi’s plan to revive manufacturing does. I personally think English is here to stay. I know we differ on this point. But I have come to see the current situation as irreversible, and we don’t have the will to change it at present.
Whether we make this transition or not remains to be seen. Judging by the past alone, I highly doubt it that any sort of a consensus can be reached, unless all languages are equally promoted. Frankly, I and most Tamilians don’t give two hoots about Bollywood or Hindi, and it will continue to find difficult to penetrate this region. But yes, setting up the conditions for mutual respect and learning may be the first step in attempting to break this barrier. Also, learning Hindi needs to be incentivized. Tamil people have love only for the Tamil language, and learn other languages either out of love or because it is useful for them. There is certainly not much of the former, so the latter needs to be created. Again, I am skeptical about this possibility, as after 600 years of existence, the use of Hindi is pretty negligible.
As you have seen Hindi humor and have made an informed opinion about it, I leave that to you. I would not question that :).
I do like a bit of Telugu comedy but because I don’t understand the language, I loose on the fine nuances of the langauge. English, and now Danish is the only languages where I can make an informed view. So it really depends on language skills and cultural exposure to understand things. Non-English, non-Indian exposure gives me enough data points to triangulate my viewpoints.
Status quo is easy to maintain unless we do things about it, just like Newton’s first law of motion.
English would stay and I don’t deny that. All I wish is that it is given it’s rightful position in Indian society, a SHOE. You can wear it to interact it with outside world and elsewhere and leave it outside your house on doormat.
All language promotion is one step before reaching a konsensus of a common language policy (which I believe now is some story of far future). First let us learn to respect and study our languages. That, in itself is a long drawn out task. English will, as you said, will stay.
Essentially, the takeaway is the promotion of Indian languages.
I have stated that we am clearly against any common language policy, unless the common language is English. And frankly, we need to give it a lot more respect as we our work and social life do depend on our knowledge of it. Maybe if your idea of a mishmash of every language into one comes to fruition, we’ll think about another alternative to English. But as of now, there is no other alternative. Agreed with the promotion of Indian languages.
Your work and social life is dependent on English because you made it out thatway.T see citizens other than Indians making such a loosing comment.
As for common language. Let the future dictate it. I have reasons to believe that once we become economically strong to the point that our reliance on services (IT) come down, we can get rid of colonial mindset of aggresively pursusing English. I would at least want English to disappear from North from key important areas which I mentioned before. No harm it being in kulture and other related areas.
Let us treate English the way it should be, as a SHOE.
Meanwhile, you can continue to praise English if that makes you happy. If we come to TN, we will learn your language. If you come up North, you learn ours. Don’t expect then the exchange to happen in English :).
Suit yourself mate! :)
To each his own.
Why is English a foreign language now ? So many people in India speak it. It is the lingua franca for business giving Indians a tremendous leg up in global affairs and technology. The British may have brought it but so did other invaders before them brought their languages e.g. persian which gave rise to urdu etc. Lets focus on the real things and not on these nonsensical topics which just divide us.
Because it is not original indigenous toungue of India. It was forced upon us by Britishers as a symbol of slavery.
They also brought us railway system to India so how about we get rid of the that ? Almost every station in India was made by them. Why are these Rly stations not a symbol of slavery ?
This is just jingoism and nothing else.
First, you prove that you know any other language in India, apart from Hindi, especially from the South or from the East. If you do know, then what percentage of people in North India know any other language – Kannada, Tamil, Manipuri, Odisha, or any other such language?
The point is not against Hindi, but against Hindi monopoly, domination and imposition, while giving step-motherly treatment to other languages.
So by and large, most comments in this article are against the author’s viewpoint. Am proud of my countrymen! Kudos to u all!! :)
English is important for two things – Job and show off and later one is diminishing as it is becoming harder and harder to find someone who does not know it. Hindi (not sure about other desi languages) is still strong. I don’t see people talking in English in North a lot. 20 to 30 percentage of English is fine but if you make it 100%, you are special (not in a good way… it’s just strange deutschbag-ish). I think the real danger to our languages is that of lack of content. Sanskrit is not great because of alphabets and grammar – it is because of Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, Yoga, Ayurveda, Math and Philosophy books. That is not happening for our regional languages. We are not much on Wikipedia. Softwares are not in our languages. Technical books and help materials are non-existent. This particular aspect is the real threat. The only thing that is flourishing in indian languages is media and entertainment (movies, TV serials and news channels). So if we want our see languages prosper, I think we need to make learning them meaningful, helpful and profitable otherwise they will fall prey to Natural Selection.
For the first 15 years of our independence, we were busy plucking the low hanging fruits- i.e. promoting English. No work to create technical, legal or administrative lexicon.
Why it should be only Hindi common link language of North. Why it can’t be Tamil of South. If you do learn. It might be possible to link with all. Why should we always learn n Why can’t you guys. If you can’t I am sure we may lose integrity and may get divided.. Damn.. Shit and why should we learn the nonsense when Hindi speaking States have more crimes and more under developed.#StopHindiImposition
Hindi is not exactly native to people in North. Many of them have their own language – Maithli, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Haryanvi, Rajasthani etc.
what a sick mentality u got there.. just because a language, u r dividing the country in states..??? states are made to make the ruling easy.. not to divide people.. and what do u mean hindi speaking states have more crimes and more under developed..??? obviously its not true, but still if it was true, u should be doing something abt it.. we are ur own people, ur own countrymen, this simple thing doesn’t get in ur minds.. don’t u learn humanity and brotherhood in ur language..?? stop cursing ur countrymen and stop fighting over petty over-politicized debates..
I find it funny how anti-Hindi proponents come forward to bash Hindi and talk about diversity of the nation (and then adopting English once back home). I have no issue with Bengali, Oriya, or Gujarati, Telugu being a common language. They are after all, one of our languages.
China managed to come up with a standard language despite so many languages and dialects. Why couldn’t we have done the same? The truth is, we are lazy and just want some jugaad. And hanging onto our colonists language was one such jugaad which we have been clinging even till today.
A better example will be Indonesia, which despite being more linguistically diverse than India, has her own national language – Bahasa Indonesia (Note the strong Sanskritic influence here). Indonesia didn’t choose the easy path of adopting Dutch , their colonists language.
Your forebears should have thought of this before they started pushing for Hindi and Sanskrit. Giving equal importance to all languages might’ve given all Indian languages the prominence they deserve. Instead due to their selfish, narrow-mindedness, they have now made sure that most of us southerners will never ever go for anything other than english. BTW Singapore, Belgium, Finland, Switzerland are all multilingual countries with more than one national language. When they can do it, why can’t we??
This is what I always maintained, Hindi should have been promoted, not forced! That’s a huge difference between the two. Language growth should always been organic and a function of demand and market. Unfortunately, during those 15 years, the politicians did the exact opposite of what they should have been doing. At the same time, Dravid parties in TN played the worst spoilsport of their time (and they continue with their idiotic policies even today with debunked Aryan theories)
Hindi is not my native language but I’d take that anyday over English, a foreign language. Same also applies to Mizo or Tamil, I’d have no issues if our common languages is one of these languages.
These countries are multilingual because 1) They already have high HDI 2) langauges there are promoted not enforced 3) Unlike us, They know how to learn langauges. This is something I have seen from close quarters.
Meanwhile, You haven’t answered my question – If Indonesia and China could have pulled off, why couldn’t we. And Indonesia was a colony too.
The Dravidan parties did what was best for us, and we are happy about what they did. And no, they aren’t doing anything these days, other than opposing Hindi imposition, which happens till date.
Good for you on choosing Hindi over English. We, on the other hand, will opt for something that is more useful. Forgive us if we don’t share with you on your jingoistic nationalism. You were right when you first said it. Everything gets dictated by demand and supply. Hindi doesn’t have any demand down here, English certainly does. So let’s just let the market forces guide us.
These countries are multilingual because they respect the population within their borders, and understand that the country belongs to them just as much as it does to others. Imposing one language upon them or promoting one at the cost of others would be disrespecting them, which they thankfully avoided, as they had both foresight and wisdom.
Why should we follow Indonesia or China is my question? Why not Singapore or Belgium or Switzerland?
I am just saying that when Hindi had it’s time it didn’t because wrong methods were used for promotion. And Hindi itself is not a langauge, It is a grand mishmash of several languages in North, East and central part of India and has heavily borrowed for several languages (including Sanskrit). Which is why I believe that it does the better work of common language than English).
You probably then don’t understand how languages work. There is high language chauvinism in Belgium too (Flemish gets degraded at the hands of French, GErman and Dutch).
Why China or Indonesia and not Singapore or Switzerland.
Thats because India couldn’t be coompared to those tiny small countries, Indonesia and China serve a better comparison example vis a vis size, population and HDIs
Hindi has influences from Sanskrit, Urdu and Persian primarily. Rest of the influence make up for diddly squat. So let’s not assume universal subscription or sourcing when there is none. The Tibeto-Burman and Dravidian languages are very different. So it doesn’t make one iota of difference. It just won’t be allowed. Not now, not in a million years. Until the time we have a say.
It doesn’t matter whether Flemish gets degraded or not. The state has recognized all these languages equally. That, at the end of the day, is what I am concerned with. India probably has more languages than all these countries combines. So comparing it to bilingual China doesn’t hold any water. And Bahsa Indonesia is basically Malay. A language that was adopted from outside. So why not do the same with English! ;)
Bahasa Indonesia was similar to Malay but was used in Archipelego since ages during trading. So it’s not from the outside. And China has almost 300 languages (Some of them are dead now). The point is that the country has multiple langauges (and dialects).
This is what I believe that politicians did wrong, they should have borrowed heavily from South Idnian langauges and other langauges during those 15 years, which they failed.
And we fail by taking a foreign language to bind us. English does more harm than any other language. A language dying is still okay. But a language restricted in growth is terrible, this is what it has happened for Indian languages, And it will continue.
Till the time government comes forward and takes note to promote all major Indian languages organically.
I will definitely be for an initiative which doesn’t provide a pedestal to one or two languages and promotes all languages equally. Make all as national languages or make English alone or make none of them and continue with status quo. I am happy with either of these propositions. But making Hindi and / or Sanskrit alone as national languages would be vehemently fought against. Today, and forever. This is the stance of a Tamilians.
In any case, any proposal to make Hindi the national language must be ratified in all state legislatures before going up for vote at the center. And you seem intelligent enough to know that this will never happen, because no matter what happens with the rest of the states, TN will never ever go for it.
This is the easy way you propose. I suggest what Indonesia did, develop a language which borrows from all Indian languages and let it develop in form of Pidgin, which leads to Creole system.
But because we are inherently lazy race and don’t have balls to do something. It is not possible.
As I mentioned before, our teaching system sucks which 1( among other things 2) doesnt know how to teach a language properly.
And ironically, for all the drama, we are but just average in English and poor in our regional languages.
Well that’s a very different proposal than what has been suggested previously. The practicality and ease of it need to be taken into account, and also we would be very skeptical about such an undertaking. But we probably wouldn’t say no, off the bat. Or an enthusiastic yes either.
Unconventional suggestions are never easy to accept. Guess that what happened in Indonesia. Javanese, with maximum speakers was sidelined to have Bahasa Indonesia as a national language, and it was aggressively developed to be adopted by all.
Now most of primary education there happens in their regional language and higher education in Bahasa. English reached to them recently through Pop culture
And English also reached many other countries because of business and pop, but that didn’t mean that all those countries switched their entire system off and started with English.
The only credible business role we have with English (that brings us hard moolah) is services. And thanks to our poor educational system, we are loosing that to other south East asian countries.
But that also is a good thing in some way. It’s a transition where we start with the real employment – industries and manufacturing. If Modi’s make.in.india becomes successful we won’t exactly need English much (Unless someone is desperately decided to have clinged to it)
This is the time that we aggressively invest in our primary education and revamp our languages to prepare for the manufacturing boom in India. English only wont help there, but better primary and secondary education will, in addition to vocational skills. One tend to learn faster in native languages and I have seen that firsthand, when I learnt English rather quickly after coming from Hindi education system. And this also helped me to learn other foreign languages.
Else, if we fail to make make.in.India happen, we will remain with our service option and sooner or later, we would get sucked in there too.
In theory it doesn’t seem like a bad idea. But practicality is another matter altogether. Tamilians will never forgo Tamil, and any new bastardized language will be given secondary importance. But if you are able to tie it up with similar kind of economic benefits that English enjoys today, who knows you might have a product that we may consider buying. Ofcourse, the chances of all this happening is very remote. So I am merely entertaining this notion of yours. Also because, it is an interesting notion, unlike the usually boring hindi chauvinists droning on and on about numerical superiority.
And I have discussed the importance of English in the other comment. So I am not going to repeat myself here. First we need to improve our education system. Then let’s decide upon the language of implementation. We certainly need to revamp all our languages and increase their spread and usage. Also, we need to modernise all our languages come up with a good POA before deploying it in the ground. And being a service oriented economy isn’t all that bad as you make it out to be, but yes, we need to improve our manufacturing sector.
Any bastardized langauge gets a secondary status is okay by me too.In fact, this is the TRUE way of treating them.
As for me having a ‘language produkt’ selling up you, sorry, but it’s something that each of us have to contribute for it to find acceptance and make it work.
We are not dealing here like client and vendor.
As it is not a conventional idea and requires lot of hardwork, something which we lack as a nation, I too am skeptical of it to work. Since I no longer live in India, I am okay with the status -quo.
Native languages should be given the utmost importance above anything else. Registers should be worked upon and lexicon be refreshed to adapt to the modern world. That should happen with every major Indian language (better if this could be extended to EVERY language but it’s just a wishful thinking).
Finally when we are more educated from now and have core industries get going, it’s then time to think about languages.
At the end, English can provide you money or life, but it will also dig into your culture and restrict it’s growth. Given that our languages have high speaker base so they are not in the danger of dying, but they will also not grow, if we keep giving undue importance to a foreign language.
Till, then I would expect that our government can minimize English, and maximize the usage of local languages, it would be a good start. It would be an extreme hypocrisy on part of North India and the government at Delhi if it forces Hindi on everyone yet continue to do it’s major exchanges in English. Respect, as I have learnt, is mutual.
Then why bother mate? I am happy with status quo and so are you. I have already agreed with the need to revamp all regional languages. And I agree with the rest of your argument. The govt has to promote all languages equally, and provide avenues for job for those who specialise in them. Forcing one or two languages will be met up with an even bigger force, as has been shown in the past.
To begin with, all government websites should be made available in all major Indian languages and not just English/hindi.
As a nation with plentiful IT Engineers, I don’t think getting softwares made to enable our hardware compatible with indian languages should be a major challange.
North Indians should have South And other regional cinema released with Subtitles (and not dubbing). Romanians are usually fluent in 3-4 European languages and one of the reason for their good language skills is watching subtitled movies instead of the dubbed ones. Of late, Romanians have been giving us serious compeition from services emerging from European market.
Learning about each other’s language and culture would do more good. This should be a long term strategy of any central government.
If they are serious about Hindi promotion or the like, the first step should be minimizing their use of English and promotion of Indian languages.
I agree with almost all the points apart from Hindi promotion and English minimization. We don’t need to promote Hindi alone, and we don’t need to do any promotion at the cost of losing English.
By English minimization I mean, it’s minimization in Acads, Law, Administration and economics (The so called important areas).
I am fine with it being in our social and cultural lives.
We won’t loose out English (just as we don’t lose our languages). Just think over this logic in reverse and it will be clear.
As for now, English is our core competency and loosing it would backfire. It should be a policy to be implemented gradually.
Don’t think that is possible in a diverse country such as ours. Especially in Law and Administration, maybe even Education. I would not agree with phasing out the language completely, but I would be for improving scientific education and teaching of subjects in our own mother tongues. English is still needed I think to bridge this country. At least for the foreseeable future. A person with a degree up north will otherwise find it difficult to seek employment down south, and vice versa.
I will stick to what I’ve said earlier. Mother tongue + English. Teach all subjects in the mother tongue, and learn english, with the same technical education that was taught using mother tongue.
Once again, I give an example of Indonesia. If they could, we can too. It requies immense political grit and konsensus to implement that. However, the change would be slow. It can’t be done overnight. As you said, we would require English to bridge the gap overnight.
All state governments should be responsible to develop their specific lexicon in various areas- Education, law etc. as a long term strategy.
Once a person has strong primary and secondary educational base, it’s not that difficult to get language learning, provided it is done in a scientific way (The way it is done in Europe. It’s no harm in learning a good proven method.) The hard truth about languages that we are afraid of is the extra burden that we percieve.
It’s not that difficult.
A person coming from North down to South for long term shouldn’t and won’t mind learning the extra language. It would bolster a professional skill, besides improving his/her social experience.
Using an Indian language will enrich them.
As idealistic as this sounds, I have always been a skeptic. Let’ see. For now, nothing is going to change. We will just have to trudge along the same path until the leaders decide otherwise. At present, I am more concerned about our education system rather than the language used to impart the education. Let us fix that first, as that need is more dire. It doesn’t matter if English carries on for anther 10-20 years.
Me too, our education system is pretty bad and more so in North. Let us get our basics in order first.
English is already spoken across the country, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel by inventing a new language just for the heck of it. China is ahead of India today in everything but fluency in English, they’re now teaching their schoolkids while we want to throw it away because something something imperialism.
It is the common language around the world, the language in which scientific papers are circulated, do we now start authoring engineering textbooks or conducting programming classes in Tulu or Bhojpuri just because?