Think About It: Culture and languages

Resolving the Dilemma- Part 2

When I travel, I like to meet local people to understand the place better. I chat with cab drivers, autorickshaw drivers, as well as hotel staff. Every time I travel to different states in India, I make it a point to find out the current state of local languages as a medium of instruction especially from K through 7. Last time I was in Bhubaneshwar. We became very friendly with one of the staff members. He was a young chap in his mid-20s. He used to give us tips on places to visit etc. One evening I started my favorite topic and asked him about the state of local languages. He was sad to talk about it. “No sir, no one goes to vernacular medium schools. From the middle-class families to autorickshaw drivers and labor class, everyone sends their children to English medium school.” It was no surprise. It is the same story in all urban areas in India. The question is what is the impact of such a transition to English medium schools on local languages and the local culture?

Strong Urge to Give the Best to Children:

The majority of low-income working-class people do not know English. Yet they send their children to an English medium school. This makes it impossible for parents to take a personal interest in children’s education, guide them by clearing any doubts, or help them complete school-assigned homework. As a result, children remain weak in foundation subjects.

The nursery rhymes that these children sing have no relevance to the local culture. They end up learning “ Ring around the roses, pocket full of poses, ashes, ashes we all fall down!” without knowing what it means. Many of the readers will be surprised to know the meaning of it. The words ‘ashes-ashes’ refer to cremation. The song was written during the Great Plague in 1665 in England. How can this be a children’s song? Isn't it more appropriate to teach them songs close to the culture they live in?

Many Indian languages have children's songs related to nature such as rain, the sun, and the moon. For example:

Hindi: ‘Chadamama door ke’, ‘Chanda hai tu Mera Suraj hai tu’, ‘Nanhi Kali sone chali hawa dhire aana’.

Marathi: ‘yere yere pawsa, ‘Chandomama, Chandomama, bhaglas ka’ etc.

Bengali: ‘ ‘Shuptopurir sheshe rate, bhalobasha diye ghumaia, Amar boshonto ashe phuler mala dharaia’.

Tamil: “kaakka kannukku mai kondu vaa, kuruvi kondaikku poo kondu vaa, kokkae kuzhandhaikku paal kondu vaa, kizhiyae kuzhandhaikku thaen kondu vaa”.

Gujarati: “Ḍhīṅgalīnē mārī hālāṁ hālāṁ hālāṁ hālāṁ rē, ḍhīṅgalīnē mārī hālāṁ vādaḷanuṁ tō pāraṇuṁ bāndhyuṁ nētārānī hīn̄cakā dōrī cāndāmāmā lāḍa laḍāvē parī rāṇī...”

The list goes on.

The Beauty of Certain Words in Different Languages:

Certain words in different languages do not have any one-word equivalent in English or any other language. This is due to the culture getting wrapped up in words and languages. We term those words as untranslatable words.

All of us have seen the moon’s reflection in water. It is not that perfect reflection round in shape. It is the one that looks like a long golden road. This reflection has one succinct word in the Swedish language. It is called ‘Mangata’. Its pronunciation is more like ‘mon gata’ where the ‘mon’ means the moon and the ‘gata’ means the road.

Occasionally someone would sit down, relax, and gaze at the horizon. Their mind is just plain blank. The person does not have any thoughts in mind at all. Even such a state has one word in Japanese. The word is ‘Boketto’.

When one visits a foreign country or unfamiliar environment, one feels a cultural shock. One feels completely out of place. Such a feeling is called Dépaysement in French.

Those who are spiritually oriented may at times feel a deep spiritual anguish without knowing its reason. It is called ‘Toska’ in Russian.

When one puts their heart into their work or even beyond that if they are putting a piece of oneself, one's soul, love, and creativity then it is called ‘Meraki’ in Greek.

After the loss of a loved one, it is natural to feel a profound sense of longing to meet the person. However, it is not possible. Thus, one goes into a deep emotional state of nostalgia. One word for that in Portuguese is ‘Saudade’.

A word signifying a sense of community, togetherness, and mutual caring for all is ‘Ubuntu’ from South Africa.

What do these words tell us? The words have a latent culture built in it. We have just scratched the surface of the vast topic of literature. Many languages, such as English, French, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese, have a long tradition of poetry, drama, and novels as a part of their culture. In India, Bengali, Hindi, and Marathi take the lead in producing good literature. Pushing these languages into extinction is like pushing the vast literature along with it.

If you think that what matters in life is getting a job in a technology company and thus one should only learn English then as a society you are making a grave mistake. If everyone learns only English then soon all other languages will be on the verge of extinction. Take literature and languages away and you take the diversity and the culture away.

Resolution of the Dilemma:

This brings us to a major point of bifurcation. Should we strictly teach in local languages? Are we the only country facing such a problem? When 81% of the people do not know English in the world, there has to be a better way of handling it.

After some search, we found countries that teach in local languages and they also put a strong emphasis on English as a subject. Sweden was the first country in the world to start a publicly funded mother tongue instruction program for immigrants in 1977. The Swedish government puts a lot of emphasis on teaching in the mother tongue to even immigrant children. It speaks volumes for teaching in the mother tongue at a young age. Other countries such as Finland, Denmark, and Iceland also follow a similar pattern of education as Sweden. In schools, the medium of instruction is a mother tongue. In Sweden, they teach English at an early age. However, the medium of instruction remains the mother tongue of a child.

Denmark and Iceland also start teaching English at an early age but the emphasis is always on the local language. Proficiency is achieved by special language laboratories as well as exposure to English through media, movies, etc. The native language is always promoted and protected. All government services as well as official documents remain in the local language. The cultural identity is preserved and promoted through the creation of local language literature, arts, and media productions. Cultural identity associated with local language identity forms a part of the national identity. These countries face the challenges created by globalization and the English language dominance. Such issues are addressed at the government level by creating language revitalization programs and support for language learning.

Language and technological excellence are mutually exclusive. During the man on the moon mission, it was common to have scientists and engineers from all over the world working together with a common scientific and engineering goal. It was said that the language of a scientist is broken English. We can learn in local language in schools, learn good English, and do good science too. That is truly celebrating diversity.

References:

a. The 50 Most Difficult Words to Translate into English

https://www.translationservices.com/difficult-words-to-translate

b. Boketto: The importance of non-doing

https://extension.umn.edu/two-you-video-series/boketto-importance-non-doing#:~:text=Boketto%20(noun)%3A,with%20being%20indolent%20or%20passive.

c. Ring Around the Rosie

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses#:~:text=The%20invariable%20sneezing%20and%20falling,the%20smell%20of%20the%20disease

d. Everything You Need to Know about the Swedish Education System

https://www.simplylearningtuition.co.uk/advice-for-parents/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-swedish-education-system/

e. Sweden: Education, Schools, Universities

https://www.britannica.com/place/Sweden/Education

f. Education in Sweden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Sweden

g. The Swedish school system: Education is the key.

https://sweden.se/life/society/the-swedish-school-system

Subtle Erosion of Culture, Part 1

During one of my trips to Paris, I went to a McDonalds. I went to the counter to order food. I said hello to the girl at the counter. Her response was ‘Bonjour’. I wasn’t sure whether or not she heard me. I said, “Hello”. She responded by saying,” Bonjour”. I was puzzled and just smiled. She again repeated, “Bonjour”. I thought that perhaps she was expecting me to say Bonjour. So, I did. At that point she said in fluent English,” How can I help you, Sir?” There are many stories about the French and their pride in their language. Such incidences are nowhere to be found in urban India.

Today, we are aware of the impact of our past actions on the environment. Over 150 species become extinct every day. The eroding forest areas are quite visible from the satellite images. The slow temperature rise is being felt all over the world. Today, we are also aware of glacier erosion, melting chunks of ice getting washed away in the ocean and never being seen as ice again. With the global rise in temperature, the day is not far away when a big tidal wave hitting the shores could slowly submerge the present coastline under water. Alas, how we wish that we had taken some measures to never get to this situation. If only we had thought about and agreed a century ago to specific measures , we wouldn’t have been in the sorry state of affairs. The lesson to learn from this is to be more aware of the long-term impact of today’s actions and not be myopic and chase short-term goals.

There is another erosion, albeit subtle, taking place every day in urban India. This time it is the erosion of local languages.

What is culture?

Culture is a combination of our language, traditions, customs, and beliefs. It forms the foundation of a society and it gives it a distinct identity.

A culture is like a long epic. The cultural epic is filled with the glory of the past, ancestral wisdom, grandma’s recipes, her songs for children, and her principles of home management. The cultural Epic tells the dos and don’ts for a successful life, songs to help meditate and deal with the ups and downs of life, and ballads about the heroic deeds of our ancestors. Each cultural epic is written in their local language and the ballads are sung in the same language. The language is a bridge that connects us to the past and makes us understand our culture.

Every culture has been well-tested over centuries. As generations pass, some ways of doing things change. Thus, some traditions are dropped while some new cultural norms are accepted. Culture is filtered and then mixed with the changes adopted as time goes by. Culture is not static. However, the cultural changes do not mean the complete wiping out of it and making room for new ones. Such a process of cultural annihilation is equivalent to making it extinct.

Globalization of everything

The world is shrinking every day. Science and Technology have spread universally and it is hard to find anyone who has remained untouched by the technological pervasion in their personal lives. The majority of the scientific journals are in English language. English has become the universal language of technical communication. It is now widespread to such an extent that it is hard to think about switching to any other language while discussing technical matters. There is no debate about it. However, one needs to keep in mind that despite such a large universal technological dominance, it is not the language of the masses. Only 18.8 % of the world’s population can speak English. The majority, 81.2% of people do not speak English.

Language reflects cultural differences

Every language is an impression of the prevalent culture in the region. Subjects are taught by using words that are commonly used by students who grow in that region. The idea is to make it simple for students to understand.

When I was in engineering, I was taught that the armature in an electric motor is 'donut-shaped’. We mugged up the word ‘donut’ without knowing the meaning. We had no idea what a donut was until I went to the US. I wish they had told us that an armature is shaped like a ‘medu wada’!

Language is an impression of what is important to the community. In Indian languages, family relationships are valued a lot. Thus, there is a separate word for direct brothers and sisters, your father’s brother’s children are also your brothers and sisters with a prefix to indicate the lineage. Similarly, your father’s sister’s children, your mother’s brother’s children, and your mother's sisters’ children each have a unique prefix. However, in English, everyone is a cousin. Whereas, in English, about 12 words indicate different forms of snow such as snow, hail, sleet, ice, Icicle, slush, and snowflakes. In many Indian languages, there is only one word and it means ice as well as snow.

The Sami people, who live in the northern tip of Scandinavia and Russia, have 180 words related to snow and ice. In their language, they have around 1000 words for reindeer! Some of the Eskimo words for snow differentiate between snowflakes, frost, fine snow, snow on the ground, soft deep snow, fresh snow, blizzard, and a snowbank. Inuit people from Canada have 50 words for snow. Interestingly, they have a separate word for softly falling snow, and for the snow that is good for driving a sled.

All of us over the world cherish cultural diversity. It makes a perfect rainbow. Giving up one culture and adopting another is as good as making everything plain and the same everywhere. Most of us like to try local food when we go to a different country. Finding yet another McDonald's is not very appealing.

....... continued in part 2......