Why is English given so much importance in the subcontinent ??

[scorpionx]

But why didn't India choose a native dialect as their National language instead? Like Sanskrit.

In Indian history,there was never a common dialect. This was simply impossible in a vast diversified country like India. Sanskrit was never a common people's language. It was restricted within the walls of Bramhinical society for prayers and chanting hymns only.

 

[Indischer]

Most tourist destinations in Europe are moving to be bilingual or even trilingual.

Learning the language of your host country is a great quality.

But

so is the ability to cater to your guest's language.

I hope you see both sides of the coin.

Thank you



Many Indians may not know (or perhaps know)

that before the Brits, official language in most of the settled parts of the subcontinent was????


????


????

drum roll



it was ??????


Persian.

Yup...though, I might add that it's influence over most of India had already waned for nearly a century before the British replaced it in 1832. This was directly tied to the decline of the Mughals.

Right from the end of Aurangzeb's reign, the empire had begun to disintegrate. By the time of the last three rulers, the Mughal empire had no control outside Delhi itself.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

i am pretty experience dealing with chines and Japanis client ,communication is one of the major barrier.........some time highly irritating too,

i am not talking about lower level ,even high official can't communicate properly in English , even small thing ,took so much time to explain

Well then, learn some Chinese and Japanese. Just kidding.

Most major Chinese and Japanese companies will have a translator though (who would be able to speak many foreign languages). You could ask for one if it's hard to understand what they are saying.

 

[acetophenol]

cheta,hindiyil samsarikka muyarchi seyya venda

een hindi athra mozhama?

 

[FaujHistorian]

Yup...though, I might add that it's influence over most of India had already waned for nearly a century before the British replaced it in 1832. This was directly tied to the decline of the Mughals.

Right from the end of Aurangzeb's reign, the empire had begun to disintegrate. By the time of the last three rulers, the Mughal empire had no control outside Delhi itself.

True that Moghal empire declined. But then much of India was divided among princely states. And many large princely states including Maharaja Ranjeet Singh used Persian as official language.


peace

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

i am pretty experience dealing with chines and Japanis client ,communication is one of the major barrier.........some time highly irritating too,

i am not talking about lower level ,even high official can't communicate properly in English , even small thing ,took so much time to explain

That's the thing, in China, "higher level" and "lower level" has nothing to do with English language competency.

 

[halupridol]

True that Moghal empire declined. But then much of India was divided among princely states. And many large princely states including Maharaja Ranjeet Singh used Persian as official language.


peace

even during peak of mughal empire there were parts of india where persian was not used.....

 

[Aka123]

But why didn't India choose a native dialect as their National language instead? Like Sanskrit.

Sun Yat-sen was a Cantonese Hakka himself, yet he chose Mandarin as the National Language of China.

People still speak their home dialects of course (Shanghainese, Hokkien, etc.), but it's useful to have a native language as your Lingua Franca.

Man, Sanskrit is a mother language like Latin, but it's nowadays not used at all. English is very helpful. It also helps when u travel abroad. I know in China, English is scarcely used. Because you have a common language which we don't have. But the -ve thing of that is many Chinese people who come abroad, they again have to learn English.

Me and my Chinese friend are learning Spanish now. But she's planning to stop the Spanish class and join the English class as she feels, it will be more helpful, if she improves her English Communication.

 

[Indischer]

een hindi athra mozhama?

Lo, baree nim bhashe nalle maatadidre namgella hego artha aagatte?

 

[FaujHistorian]

even during peak of mughal empire there were parts of india where persian was not used.....

yes.

But then we know that even during the peak of Moghal empire they didn't have control over 100% of the subcontinent.
The same is true for the British empire too.

roughly 40% of the landmass of the subcontinent was under the control of rajas and princes all the way to August 1947.


Back to the thread

Yes English was quickly adopted by people when Brits took control and still stays that way

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Man, Sanskrit is a mother language like Latin, but it's nowadays not used at all. English is very helpful. It also helps when u travel abroad. I know in China, English is scarcely used. Because you have a common language which we don't have. But the -ve thing of that is many Chinese people who come abroad, they again have to learn English.

That's true.

Chinese people who go overseas have to spend a LOT of time improving their English-language competency, whereas an Indian person would not have to do all that extra hard work since they already know English.

Which is clearly a disadvantage for us.

However on the bright side, it helps to stop brain-drain, at least a little bit.

 

[Aka123]

That's the thing, in China, "higher level" and "lower level" has nothing to do with English language competency.

bdw I am learning a bit of Chinese as well from her.

Ni Hao ? Xao Xa hao! Wata Mesa sha Aka123!!

Dragon is called Long, Thank you - Sisiya, Panda - Xao Mao, Come here - Kwo Laye, Bangladesh - Manjyalagwa, India - Yindu, Pakistan - Bajistan, China - Chongu

I am trying to write Chinese using English script, so spellings are not correct.

 

[halupridol]

Moghal empire they didn't have control over 100% of the subcontinent.

true

roughly 40% of the landmass of the subcontinent was under the control of rajas and princes all the way to August 1947.

princely states,woh bhi gulaam hi the.

English was quickly adopted by people when Brits took control and still stays that way

most important reason(i think)--higher studies...

 

[Echo_419]

I don't think Hu Jintao even knows how to speak English in the first place. And even if he did, he would never speak it in public.

And I actually quite admire the Japanese attitude towards English. If you take a vacation to Japan, and try to talk to them in English, they'll say: "Why should we learn English? YOU should learn Japanese!"

As for me, the only reason my English is decent is because I went to an International school in Hong Kong. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to talk to anyone here on this forum, which might have been a blessing in disguise in some respects.

I have debated many times on this argument before
Indians have such a good knowledge of English that is a very good thing,It has given us access to so much information world wide
helped us to integrate with millions of other people who speak English[Australia,New Zealand,USA,UK etc]
But one should have adequate knowledge of his mother tongue
For me i have a absolutely excellent knowledge of Hindi my vocabulary in it is above average
Conclusion Take pride that you know English
But take greater pride that you know your Mother Tongue

Also there was a Incident with me here in New Delhi
I was in Metro
I asked a station Aaaj War kya hai[What is the day today in hindi]
& he started laughing
I asked what happened
He replied that Ask what is the day today,What is War kya hai
So ya there is a Inferiority complex in North Indians atleast

 

[halupridol]

i have a absolutely excellent knowledge of Hindi my vocabulary in it is above average

apne muh miya mitthoo