India and it's national language
Does India need a National language? or does it have one? Being a fanatic Telugu language lover, I'm often busted with arguments from few patriotic(?) ignorants, mercilessly pointing out to my impatience with local people speaking (inclusive of those ignorants) a National language, called Hindi. I sigh, and explain them the difference between National and Official Statuses for a language.
First of all, recognize the fact that India has only two official languages - English(subsidiary) & Hindi. It has NO National language.
After seeing a news article from TOI today, I think I now have a written evidence (wiki exists, but cannot be used as a reference) to defend my arguments against those who teach this wrong notion thoroughly across the schools of Andhra Pradesh(and other states too, I guess) and which is carried over by majority of students today. Kindly think about it before propagating such a wrong idea; It's not at all fair to impose a National language on a diverse society, a strongly diverse one, per se. It's very equal to saying Hinduism is the state religion and Brahmin/Kamma/Patel/Whatever is the state caste.
So, please stop preaching and spreading ignorant, pseudo-patriotic blah.
On the other hand, It's also sad to see politicians taking extreme measures to uplift their local language (ref: Marati for cab drivers in Mumbai).
The situations mentioned above are two extreme poles of a secular & tolerant society. Ofcourse, neither is healthy! When a society welcomes & tolerates the inflow of people across the cultures of India, one should recognize it as audaryam(ఔదార్యం) and not the weakness of the local culture (ref: Hyderabad, in context of having settlers from across the nation). This statement is not directed to the settlers, but few localites! I hope that everyone gets the essence and beauty of their own culture instead of migrating to and craving for the distant cultures (దూరపు కొండలు నునుపు అన్నట్టు).
But as one can see it, the future India will speak atleast two languages, one common across the states of India which is English. So, at that particular point of time, should there be a natural consequence which leads to acceptance of a National language for India, I will vote for English.
Comments
Aah, I was also ignorant of
Aah, I was also ignorant of the fact that India did not have a national language. Am glad to know it doesn't though. We are too diverse and too sensitive to have one :).
Also, just because someone speaks in English does not imply he/she does not respect their 'mother tongue'. It is more a case of comfort level. I am all for English being made more accessible to people from all walks because like it or not, one needs to know the lingua franca of the world to converse and language is just a medium. Should be treated as one :)
I understand that (comfort
I understand that (comfort levels). But I would appreciate it better, had there been any effort in improving and expanding your comfort zone in mother tongue, which, of course you love. I think it's the best way you can love it. Pardon me, I didn't/will not say that there aren't such efforts.
తెలుగు చదవడం వస్తే, అది చాలు నీ నుండి అలాంటి ప్రయత్నం ఉందని చెప్పడానికి :) నేను ఈ టపాలో చెప్పదలుచుకున్నదొక్కటే, హిందీ మన రాష్ట్రభాష కాదు, మనకి రాష్టభాష లేదు. అంతకు మించి నేను పేలను :)
Of course there has been an
Of course there has been an effort. Had I been born and brought up here my entire life, I would have spoken fluent Telugu. But, in spite of that I still take pride in the fact that I can read and write Telugu (atleast movie names :P). It took me some time to understand what you had written in telugu tho :), but I am getting better at it !!
గర్వించదగ్గ విషయం :) Drop me
గర్వించదగ్గ విషయం :)
Drop me a message if you need some help in it.
Why do one learn a language?
Why do one learn a language? To communicate..to communicate effectively. At the same time, it would be great to have one medium to express our feelings properly...Also a mother tongue is logically and emotionally linked to the culture of a land. So one should strive to learn it, if they want to protect their cultural identity. I found a lot of Telugus finding pride in speaking good English and Hindi ignoring the basic fact that they don't have a fluency in their mother tongue.
Go to Tamilnadu. They protect/cherish their identity through their language.(Of course extremities do exist...) I believe that it's mother tongue...Hindi/English, but not the other way round, since it's always tough and also people don't see great importance in learning their mother tongue when their tummies are filled with their knowledge of the global language.
Protect your identity, also let others protect theirs....
New learning abt the diff b/w
New learning abt the diff b/w National/Official Lang.
Though I guess any title given to any language hardly going to effect the popularity or change in the no. of people speaking it, the only thing they are good for is just another political issue to distinct and divide people.
The criteria of cast,creed and religion are old and much talked about, so they need something new to create a buzz.
The very fact that "the issues about the language division is in news not very long but since last decade though the languages have been there since centuries",says that all.
What is disappointing is that the educated class is still falling in the trap.
Being a linguistic students and having visited or lived in extremely distant states like UP, Guj./Raj., Sikkim/WB, AP/TN I have realised that it is not the language but the gesture which does most of the communication.
Truly speaking the idea of taking pride or despising any language is totally absurd because any language in itself is lifeless; What we should be proud of is the ideas of people( encoded in one language just for mere preservation). Truly IDEAS are our heritage not the language. Thinking language from a Computer Scientist point of view is just another encryption/decryption method so what is of real value, is the data.
Take eg. of a pot wheather made of red soil or black soil, serves the purpose of storing.
Than does it mean that I should not preserve my mother tongue ?? No, Mother tongue is precious in the way that is related to our identity as it is the lang. our ancestors knew best and the best they gave us. But making language an issue to incur violence or discrimination is not at all justified.
Well put! I totally agree
Well put! I totally agree with you, Sambhav.
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