BJP chief claims English bad for India, triggers outrage

[damiendehorn]

That's true, it's already broken, later it will be devastated and we might be responsible.

So let's live it. The thread is already derailed, as we are feeding it.

Say 'it', not 'him'. As it's not worth saying 'him' or 'her'

In this case, more like a it, half way between I think. Ok I'll leave him for now

 

[Aka123]

In this case, more like a it, half way between I think. Ok I'll leave him for now

Right.... leave it! It'll get it's gift soon.

 

[Sugarcane]

Hmm.... Now i know why Indians speak hinghlish

 

[Omtatsat]

Are you familiar with Rajiv Malhotra's thoughts regarding non-translatable Indic concepts. He suggests that Sanskrit terms be used in English rather than attempting to translate. That has already happened to an extent, but much more can be done.

But the isolated words have no power by themselves. It is that the entire environment of the English language is hostile to Hindu concepts as it ought to be since it is the product of a totally dissimilar cultural milieu. Try as you may, English cannot be a vehicle for cultural advancement of India. Rather, it is a millstone .

 

[Omtatsat]

Hmm.... Now i know why Indians speak hinghlish

How are things in Pakistan on the language front?

 

[Sugarcane]

How are things in Pakistan on the language front?

 

[sankranti]

But the isolated words have no power by themselves. It is that the entire environment of the English language is hostile to Hindu concepts as it ought to be since it is the product of a totally dissimilar cultural milieu. Try as you may, English cannot be a vehicle for cultural advancement of India. Rather, it is a millstone .

English is not Hostile to Hindu concepts .....but many Hindu concepts are 'Alien' to english. That is the real problem.

The solution is to incorporate enough sanskrit into english .........that has always been the Indian approach. Tatsama is exactly that. Tatsama of english is what Rajiv Malhotra is talking about ...and it in line with our traditions too.

A lot of Hindu scriptures are translated to English by renowned Indian scholars. That has made more Indians understand Hinduism that ever before. Today more Indians understand the essence of Hinduism that people in the past who were more rigid in their position due to lack of knowledge. Today when the scriptures are translated, the awareness has grown manifold. That too is a part and reason for Hindu renaissance.

 

[Rig Vedic]

But the isolated words have no power by themselves. It is that the entire environment of the English language is hostile to Hindu concepts as it ought to be since it is the product of a totally dissimilar cultural milieu. Try as you may, English cannot be a vehicle for cultural advancement of India. Rather, it is a millstone .

You should make a language your slave, rather than your master. It depends upon the strength of your own thoughts, to an extent.

I am all for promoting Indic languages, but the international language for commerce and technology is English and that cannot be changed in the near future.

 

[BDforever]

Yucks ........ a bangladeshi has again come.............they truly have no shame. Looks like business was good and you have lots of change ......now go eat something and do not pollute me again.

RIP English

 

[sankranti]

I am all for promoting Indic languages, but the international language for commerce and technology is English and that cannot be changed in the near future.

No body is asking for replacing English for trade and commerce nor technology.

That is congress media play .....and gullible Indians swallow just about anything.

 

[dravidianhero]

There is language tree posted earlier. Look at it. Same base, not out of.

sorry .i just now checked the map in one of the books i have and it says both tamil and kannada were born out of proto south dravidian.according to that theory kannada was born out of proto south dravidian and not tamil.but my research also says tht tamil is the only language which is closest to even proto dravidian .so according to tht theory tamil is the mother of kannada since proto drav=tamil

 

[Omtatsat]

You should make a language your slave, rather than your master. It depends upon the strength of your own thoughts, to an extent.

I am all for promoting Indic languages, but the international language for commerce and technology is English and that cannot be changed in the near future.

No issues with that at all. The problem comes when English, instead of being just another language, transforms into a kind of superculture and a hierarchy of superior and inferior languages is created. This then creates an impression that English is the place to be in and whatever is not English is subaltern, a kind of second rate intellectual landscape peopled by persons who are forced to stay back as they are not skilled in English, a thinking which is similar to that expressed by many western commentators - that the only Indians staying back are those who tried but failed to make it to the West. Not sure about south India, but at least in Delhi, a person without good English skills is bound to feel awkward in any important social setting.

I do recognize that Knowledge of English is an asset for Technical / scientific work and has also helped a lot in the IT sector breakthrough. But we also have to admit that a very significant long term price has to be paid for this "convenience".

 

[sankranti]

sorry .i just now checked the map in one of the books i have and it says both tamil and kannada were born out of proto south dravidian.according to that theory kannada was born out of proto south dravidian and not tamil.but my research also says tht tamil is the only language which is closest to even proto dravidian .so according to tht theory tamil is the mother of kannada since proto drav=tamil

Actually you may be right. The problem is most of the 'linguistic studies' were done by Britishers and later the Indian 'scholars' blindly used the research and limited understanding by the british to demonstrate their 'scholarship'. Not many Indians have gone to original source and done original research.

I would advice everybody to take research on India by Non Indians with a huge bag of salt.

 

[sankranti]

No issues with that at all. The problem comes when English, instead of being just another language, transforms into a kind of superculture and a hierarchy of superior and inferior languages is created. This then creates an impression that English is the place to be in and whatever is not English is subaltern, a kind of second rate intellectual landscape peopled by persons who are forced to stay back as they are not skilled in English, a thinking which is similar to that expressed by many western commentators - that the only Indians staying back are those who tried but failed to make it to the West. Not sure about south India, but at least in Delhi, a person without good English skills is bound to feel awkward in any important social setting.

I do recognize that Knowledge of English is an asset for Technical / scientific work and has also helped a lot in the IT sector breakthrough. But we also have to admit that a very significant long term price has to be paid for this "convenience".

White worship by the Punjabi's cannot be wished away. You can see the number of punjabies emigrating to UK and Canada. That also extends to the language.

Second point is that most of the better educated men/women are well versed in English. They are usually more well read due to availability of WIDE range of topics in English. How can somebody who is well versed in Hindi hope to read such a wide body of works in Hindi ? naturally over a period of time it becomes apparent that English speakers have more knowledge and the stereotype gets propagated.

That is not to say intellectuals in regional languages are not knowledgeable, most of them have to rely on their own abilities and experiences to become knowledgeable unlike people comfortable with english who can jump onto the internet and access an almost infinite body of knowledge.

As english become more global .....the body of knowledge in english will continued to grow. It has already reached critical mass a long time ago ....and the change now is irreversible.

The real question is How to Reclaim our culture.................as I keep saying, make Sanskrit compulsory and make regional languages compulsory too. A minimum of 3 compulsory languages.

English, Sanskrit and regional language. Hindi can be the 4th language.

 

[faithfulguy]

If English is removed from India, than India has torn itself apart. As a Tamil colleague of mine once told me, Tamil would declared independence if its people are forced to learn Hindi. Of course, this guy speak only English and Tamil. Plus a few words of Mandarin that he picked up in Singapore.