India's demand for English language growing
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derp
Disciple
Duh!
.the challenge however is the preservation.
There are no takers for such challenges. We have better things to do.
derp
Disciple
I think by "We" you mean a bunch of highly ignorant individuals who would gobble down everything with a stamp of "Made in the West" written on it. For others, language conservation is of paramount importance. The government also has taken a note of this and has come up with many innovative conservation schemes/practices... And so has the rest of the world..
derp
Disciple
So was mine it seems...
My assumption was right all along the way.
blr_p
Skilled
Your argument is essentially against one language supplanting existing regional ones ?
in which case it does not matter which language, so long as it not be held up as superior.
There is a lot of history behind that. Spain & France were active competitors to the British for global supremacy. Both gave the British nightmares around the time of american independence. What were the Brits to do after losing the US. Turn their sights towards India. That plan worked and the British Indian army policed the region around it from the Suez to Singapore.
The idea of forcing one language in countries like France and even Italy, this rise of nationalism is it allows to have larger armies. if the guy in the foxhole as you comes from another part of the country there should be some common purpose for him to watch your back and you his. This means pushing one language to be able to better defend and even conquer others. Europe's trajectory in the early 20th century was very violent and culminated in two major wars. When Italy was founded just 3% could speak Italian as we know it today. A lot of regional languages and dialects. Similar with France before Napolean.
if nationalism were to rise then this diversity you speak of would be among the first casualties. Both we have plenty of people in the country and are not about to go to war on a mass scale any time soon. There are just too many variables in the Indian equation to hammer out one common denominator. So the only thing left is time, to come up with some sort of common whole. Some would argue just managing to survive this long in one piece is proof of success. Not many foreign watchers would have bet on that at the outset.
Its what countries do to increase their national and international prestige. Its either nationalists or communists who start the ball rolling if you consider numerous countries last century.
derp
Disciple
What's the tdlr of your arguments/points?
I am not speaking the points out of my imagination. This is the actual fallout of globalization. I am not against a particular language which is not Indian. However I am against the voluntary extinction of indigenous languages which is happening in most parts of the world. This is another way of colonization, if you ask me. You can't colonize/invade them with your military, so flood their streets with your culture, replacing theirs. I mean, is their any logic behind ghetto culture existing in our cities? Do they even know how ghetto-ism emerged and why they dress or talk a certain way? Nopes, just follow the fad without knowing the logic.
Also, allow me to point you towards mandarin which many westeners are now learning as it is pretty imperative for trade with China, which is absolutely mandatory in today's day and age. Thus, it is a fact that supremacy comes with a common denominator and language forms an integral part of that denominator. Read about the Chinese example in depth to understand what I am talking about
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Superbad
Skilled
Nothing like a biased English tv channel asking how much third world countries like their own mother tongue.
The orgasm the British get. Sigh.
As to languages. It is important to preserve languages,no matter if it's important or one gets opportunities with it, but languages also helps you unlock the literature with it.
Preservation helps future generations to read that literature and progress on it.
Take the case of Egypt. Built architectural wonders in the form of pyramids, but since the language used in the scriptures is extinct, one cannot read how much or to what level their intellect had progressed.
Same goes for the harappa civilization.
They were known to be using the most advanced scientific techniques used in planning of their civilization, but with ready reference for their language used not available, one couldn't build up on their progress, instead end up critical amount of time deciphering what those scriptures mean.
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You don't ride a bullock cart to work and every where else just because that's what your fore fathers used for travel all the time.
People who blindly try cling to something in the name of their culture and heritage (instead of learning) are like monkeys that proclaim they don't want to evolve any further.
What is the primary purpose of a language?
To let people communicate, collaborate and come together for common goals.
What is the end result of so many languages in India?
People fight with each other over which language is superior and abuse each other in their respective languages so that the others cannot understand. They divide themselves on basis of language and even on variations and slang. Definitely not what a language is meant for.
Why is English an official language of India?
Because India was ruled by the British for several centuries and people learnt the language of those who ruled them. It also enabled Indians to travel to other countries and speak to other people who also knew English.
India has over 1650 languages and even if the less spoken languages are excluded, there are still over 150 languages. If the purpose of a national language was to bring people together, then, English was the only language with speakers (not necessarily most speakers) in all parts of India at the time of independence and so was technically the most eligible one to be the national language of our country (Ignoring the fact that its not a native Indian language). Attempts were made to try and make Hindi as the national language (It was spoken only in northern and central parts of India at the time), but in the end, instead of any single national language, 22 Indian languages and English were designated as the official languages of India.
Is English superior to any Indian Language or vice-versa?
No
Does English have any other advantage over other languages?
Apart from India, the British conquered half the world and so English is also known to a lot of people across the world. More important is the fact that people from diverse backgrounds speak English as a second language if not as a primary.
So, if you know English, you can communicate, collaborate with a lot of people of various cultures and faiths across various countries and come together for common goals.
What is the purpose of language again?
To let people communicate, collaborate and come together for common goals.
So, does English serve the purpose of a language better than others?
In the present day context... probably yes,
But only because the circumstances led to this eventuality.
Under different circumstances, it could just as well have been Arabic, German, Chinese, Japanese or may be some other language that doesn't even exist today.
Who knows, it may be some other language in future after maybe a third world war.
Why couldn't Hindi, Telugu, Tamil or Bengali or other Indian languages be spoken by rest of the world?
Because people known as Indians today were so busy fighting each other within our own sub continent that they had no time to conquer the rest of the world or spread their languages in some other manner and so apart from Indians who migrated to other places, these languages are rarely spoken by anyone who is not of same origin. People could have, if the language were universally spoken.
What about Sanskrit then. It is the language of the Gods.
What about it? Let it remain the language of the gods because nobody on earth speaks it anymore and hence does not fit the purpose of a language for communication today. However, there are many languages that derive from Sanskrit and English also derives vocabulary if not the language traits.
But...But...some people said that Sanskrit is the best language for computer programming and representation.
Sorry. It doesn't work that way. It may be the best fit language for the purpose, but there are also other factors that influence its survival and usability for said purpose.
So, should all these Yester-year languages and present local languages be abandoned and forgotten in favor of a common language?
Absolutely not. All our past and present literature is written in these languages. If nothing else, in order to benefit from this literature, knowledge of languages should not die. Not everyone may need to absolutely learn these languages to communicate with others, but not every one needs to forget or abandon either.
Should people blindly cling to languages and forcefully keep them alive in the name of preserving culture or heritage?
People should not blindly cling to something (applies for languages too) in the name of culture or heritage just to stoke their own ego or out of mere stupidity. The true essence of culture and heritage is to learn from the experiences of our fore fathers and use that knowledge to discard whatever they did wrong or is no longer relevant and retain and evolve the good things further. So yeah, there is no need to abandon your language, but there is no need to blindly cling to it either. Learn your native language(s) and learn English as well and speak all of them, There is absolutely nothing wrong in English becoming more popular and more used than some other language that's considered to be native. Remember that language is a tool to help people communicate.
People who blindly try cling to something in the name of their culture and heritage (instead of learning) are like monkeys that proclaim they don't want to evolve any further.
What is the primary purpose of a language?
To let people communicate, collaborate and come together for common goals.
What is the end result of so many languages in India?
People fight with each other over which language is superior and abuse each other in their respective languages so that the others cannot understand. They divide themselves on basis of language and even on variations and slang. Definitely not what a language is meant for.
Why is English an official language of India?
Because India was ruled by the British for several centuries and people learnt the language of those who ruled them. It also enabled Indians to travel to other countries and speak to other people who also knew English.
India has over 1650 languages and even if the less spoken languages are excluded, there are still over 150 languages. If the purpose of a national language was to bring people together, then, English was the only language with speakers (not necessarily most speakers) in all parts of India at the time of independence and so was technically the most eligible one to be the national language of our country (Ignoring the fact that its not a native Indian language). Attempts were made to try and make Hindi as the national language (It was spoken only in northern and central parts of India at the time), but in the end, instead of any single national language, 22 Indian languages and English were designated as the official languages of India.
Is English superior to any Indian Language or vice-versa?
No
Does English have any other advantage over other languages?
Apart from India, the British conquered half the world and so English is also known to a lot of people across the world. More important is the fact that people from diverse backgrounds speak English as a second language if not as a primary.
So, if you know English, you can communicate, collaborate with a lot of people of various cultures and faiths across various countries and come together for common goals.
What is the purpose of language again?
To let people communicate, collaborate and come together for common goals.
So, does English serve the purpose of a language better than others?
In the present day context... probably yes,
But only because the circumstances led to this eventuality.
Under different circumstances, it could just as well have been Arabic, German, Chinese, Japanese or may be some other language that doesn't even exist today.
Who knows, it may be some other language in future after maybe a third world war.
Why couldn't Hindi, Telugu, Tamil or Bengali or other Indian languages be spoken by rest of the world?
Because people known as Indians today were so busy fighting each other within our own sub continent that they had no time to conquer the rest of the world or spread their languages in some other manner and so apart from Indians who migrated to other places, these languages are rarely spoken by anyone who is not of same origin. People could have, if the language were universally spoken.
What about Sanskrit then. It is the language of the Gods.
What about it? Let it remain the language of the gods because nobody on earth speaks it anymore and hence does not fit the purpose of a language for communication today. However, there are many languages that derive from Sanskrit and English also derives vocabulary if not the language traits.
But...But...some people said that Sanskrit is the best language for computer programming and representation.
Sorry. It doesn't work that way. It may be the best fit language for the purpose, but there are also other factors that influence its survival and usability for said purpose.
So, should all these Yester-year languages and present local languages be abandoned and forgotten in favor of a common language?
Absolutely not. All our past and present literature is written in these languages. If nothing else, in order to benefit from this literature, knowledge of languages should not die. Not everyone may need to absolutely learn these languages to communicate with others, but not every one needs to forget or abandon either.
Should people blindly cling to languages and forcefully keep them alive in the name of preserving culture or heritage?
People should not blindly cling to something (applies for languages too) in the name of culture or heritage just to stoke their own ego or out of mere stupidity. The true essence of culture and heritage is to learn from the experiences of our fore fathers and use that knowledge to discard whatever they did wrong or is no longer relevant and retain and evolve the good things further. So yeah, there is no need to abandon your language, but there is no need to blindly cling to it either. Learn your native language(s) and learn English as well and speak all of them, There is absolutely nothing wrong in English becoming more popular and more used than some other language that's considered to be native. Remember that language is a tool to help people communicate.
This reminds me of a joke.
"Are you a teacher?"
"Yes I are".
@booo i thought that you were talking to yourself. After going through them multiple times i noticed that the posts have been deleted lol. What did the other person say? . Nevermind.
"Are you a teacher?"
"Yes I are".
Sarcasm lol
@booo i thought that you were talking to yourself. After going through them multiple times i noticed that the posts have been
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Kesava
Recruit
Its just survival of the fittest. While its sad to see indigenous languages disappearing, the English language is not at fault. If someone or a group of someones wants to save a language, they just need to put in some effort. And English has been the official or unofficial world language ever since the British Empire ruled.