english - a curse or boon? (essay)
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Answer:
More than half a century has passed since British rule ended in India but the language of those rulers has a much firmer hold on Indian society today than at the time they departed. This may not be a cause for concern. After all, English is the language in which most advances in the fields of science, technology, business, entertainment, etc. are expressed. It is the language of the most powerful and most developed nation on the earth. The greater the acceptance of English language in Indian society – the argument goes – the faster India would advance.
English, of course, is very important as a foreign language but in India, it is hardly treated as such. We teach English as if it were our mother tongue – blindly following the curriculum adopted during the Viceroy days. For example, students are asked to explain the meaning of English verses with-reference-to-the-context at a time when they are barely able to express their most simple thoughts in properly formed English sentences. What an odd and inefficient method of teaching students, with so little to show for their efforts.
This is not to say that we should not familiarize our students with literature of other languages.
Those who think India would be rudderless without the power of English seem unaware of its own history: About 500 years ago, English-speaking people were limited to a small island and no one outside knew or cared about the language. Even within England, Latin was the language of the scholars and amongst the ruling class, the favorite was Italian – the ‘daughter’ of Latin. However, these people soon grew away from their preference for foreign languages by translating all major books of the time – the Bible being the best known – into English. Based on foreign books and tales, they created their own literature, enriching and empowering their language. It is no coincidence that, at the same time, they started making great strides on many other fronts as well. We all well know the rest of the achievements of those people.
In today’s India, those who oppose the all-encompassing English influence are pooh-poohed as parochial and anti-progress. There is also a presumption that such people are merely showing their envy and frustration, not having the means or ability to learn English. Thus, it is impossible to launch any movement opposing English rule from within India. Just as struggle against British rule was, quite often, started by overseas Indians, a movement against English rule in India would have to be initiated by non-resident Indians, especially the ones here in the U.S. After all, no one can accuse us of being backward-minded or of being unable to speak English
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Answer:
More than half a century has passed since British rule ended in India but the language of those rulers has a much firmer hold on Indian society today than at the time they departed. This may not be a cause for concern. After all, English is the language in which most advances in the fields of science, technology, business, entertainment, etc. are expressed. It is the language of the most powerful and most developed nation on the earth. The greater the acceptance of English language in Indian society – the argument goes – the faster India would advance.
If this were true, India would already be more developed than East Asian nations where medium of instructions is non-English. In fact, quite the reverse is true, and how! It is not our fluent-in-English engineers who go and make cars and televisions in Korea. Rather, it is Korean engineers who by studying translated-from-English-to-Korean books somehow better absorb the knowledge and are able to make better use of it. One can give such examples in virtually any field of endeavor.
Could it be that mastery of the English language is not essential for progress? Japan has been demonstrating this for more than a century. Some may view this as an exception due to legendary industriousness of those people. But Taiwan and Korean have followed the same non-English path, with similar results and now China is growing by leaps and bounds to eclipse all other Asian nations, without mandating its citizens to learn English.
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