For a
distinguished teacher of English in
old Bihar please visit
http://drvidyarthy.hypermart.net
- M. Verma - July 9, 2008
The
medium of education in Bihar always
used to be English till 1967 when
the then newly appointed Education
Minister Karpoori Thakur made
English Language non-compulsory and
hence thereafter the quality of
English learning witnessed a sharp
fall.
Perhaps it was among the few
decisions that ultimately backfired
and stalled the very progress of
English (the global language)
education in Bihar. - Prerna -
July 11, 2008
I
appreciate your effort. A good
article all together. - Manish
Kumar, Gurgaon - July 11, 2008
English syllabus has been revised by
the SCERT recently and new panel of
experts have been working to bring
new changes in English for Bihar.
The last English book was written in
1977 and that was the basis for
English learning in Bihar for 30
years. It was simple and was made in
such way that any Bihari could read
and understand the language easily.
The English language can influence
our cultural, social, political, and
economic life at large.
So to strengthen Bihar, there is an
urgent need to make this subject
compulsory and students should be
allowed to do more speaking and
listening and exposed to other types
of English spoken in Gulf and South
Asian countries. - Dr. Sanjeev
Dhari Sinha, Germany - July 15, 2008
It
is true that Biharis do find it
difficult speaking in English.
However, the reason which I see
behind this is more related to
psychological aspect of the issue.
Biharis have a definite accent while
speaking and this accent is often
mocked at by media, films, and
people outside Bihar who consider
themselves more polished and
refined, and capable of speaking
English with proper accent.
This unnecessarily creates the
feeling of inferiority complex in
the minds of a common Bihari who has
good knowledge of English but
hesitates while speaking. Hence, too
much emphasis on speaking with
proper accent is inappropriate.
When a South Indian can be accepted
with his accent, or a Bengali can be
accepted with his heavily accented
English, then even a Bihari must be
accepted with equal respect. It is
we Biharis who first need to realise
that we must not be ashamed or
hesitant of our accent, till we are
speaking correctly. I have heard
Lalu Yadav speak English with a true
Bihari accent, and he has never
failed to impress. What is required
is breaking the psychological
barrier which English has created in
our minds. English as a language is
as simple and beautiful as any other
language, but nothing more. Speaking
English should not be a status
symbol, as is the mindset of our
generation. That too, speaking with
the 'proper' accent is something
which not only should not be
promoted, but it is also dangerous
to our societal fabric and our
native languages. It will corrode
our respect for our own languages,
and we will begin to believe that it
is the accent which we adopted from
our mother tongue which is the
culprit behind our improperly
accented English.
Yes, knowing how to speak good
English is definitely a bonus, since
knowledge of more languages makes
one versatile and helps in career
advancement. But this knowledge must
not be considered as a means of
gaining more respect and status in
the society. One should speak
English with confidence, one should
speak with good knowledge, wherever
needed; but one should not speak
only to avoid feeling inferior or
outcast, or to gain greater respect
in society.
A Frenchman speaks French with full
pride, and speaks English only when
required; the Chinese treat
knowledge of English as a necessary
evil; it is only we Indians who are
the victim of the colonial legacy
and linguistic subjugation that we
treat English as a language of the
elite and successful. If we need to
change something, then it is this
mindset we need to change. It is
only then that English will be put
at its proper place in the colorful
and glorious pot of Indian languages
and civilisation. Jai Hind! -
Prem Shankar - July 15, 2008
English is the lingua franca - a
passport to service and good things
of life. But one should not neglect
the national language. When Mrs.
Pandit - the Indian ambassador to
Russia - presented her credentials
to Stalin in English, the Russia's
strongman is alleged to have asked
his aide, "Don't these people have
their own language?" Thank you. -
Satya - July 15, 2008
I very much agree with Mr. Prem and
Mr. Satya. It should be an eye
opener to all of us. I refer to an
article written by me for
PatnaDaily.Com. The state government
must give Bihari languages (Magadhi,
Bhojpuri, Maithili), the due
recognition and importance they
deserve. Students should have an
option to learn these languages in
schools and colleges in Bihar, just
like Urdu and Bengali, which is
taught in Bihari schools and
colleges. The government should use
these languages to communicate with
the local people in the respective
regions, so that they don't feel
awkward when they are not able to
understand or speak correct Hindi
and the basic institutions of the
government reach the common people.
I refer to
another article on
PatnaDaily.Com. Are not we aware
that Bihari languages don't make a
difference between Hua and Hui while
Hindi does? How do I remember
saying, "Loktantra ki Jeet Hui",
when I don't have such concepts of
Hua and Hui in my mother tongue?
There are so many words, each
associated with either Hua or Hui,
which is so inconvenient for Biharis
to remember, because this Hindi
grammatical rule conflicts with that
of our mothertongue's rule. These
prejudices will not vanish until the
state government gives importance to
Bihari languages on a political
level and people are made aware of
it. I hope everyone is aware that
Bihari languages, after 50 years of
independence, have been accepted as
independent languages like Tamil or
Oriya, unlike the previous belief
that they were dialects of Hindi.
Doesn't that mean that the central
government had knowingly forced to
believe Biharis till now that Bihari
languages were dialects of Hindi,
and so isn't this the reason for the
present pathetic condition of these
languages? And where was the state
government? At least now the
government should understand the
needs of it's people and work and
fight for them. - Manoj Kumar,
Mumbai - July 17, 2008
Linguistic chauvinism of any kind is
deplorable. Languages are part of a
culture and cultures need to be
evolved and adapted to the
contemporary
world. They need conservation only
if they are obsolete and archaic
(e.g. Latin, Sanskrit). Prakrit
evolved from Sanskrit, Khari-Boli
from Prakrit, and Hindi (Urdu) from
Khari-Boli.
State-wide statistical comparisons
are inevitable however, they are
spoken in political circles more
often.
Language skills are a prerequisite
to communicate well. But, if we are
too cautious about the accent, it
only shows that we do not find
dignity in our cultural identity. I
am not sure who should take the
blame for that; not I for sure. :) -
Kumod Jha - July 18, 2008
According to the census of India,
2001, the total population of Bihar
in 2001 was 82,998,509. Rural
population was 74,316,709. That
means that 90% of the people in
Bihar lived in villages in 2001.
Almost every one in rural Bihar
speaks local languages and not
Hindi. Even if we assume that 20% of
the rural population speak either
Urdu or Hindi as their 1st language,
which sounds unrealistic, still we
can very safely conclude that more
then 65-70% of the total population
of Bihar speaks local languages.
That is why these languages deserve
recognition from the central and
state government. These languages
don't need any conservation. We need
to understand that these languages
are the modern languages of Bihar
and are the key to the development
of the human resources in rural
Bihar. Until the state recognizes
these languages and use them to
communicate and educate the rural
population, these people will live
like 2nd grade citizens, spending
their energy to learn English or
trying to speak correct Hindi, so as
to join the mainstream. - Manoj
Kumar - July 22, 2008 |
