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
c. Ring Around the Rosie
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
