Will English kill off India's languages?

[Subramanian]

The reason is that English is the only language acceptable to all Indians.

People in South India will not speak Hindi, even though they may have learnt it in school. I don't expect Indians on this forum will admit it, but you just need to ask South Indians in real life.

They will tell you.

Every single one.

I ll provide you and equal number of south indians who dont know Hindi and would like to learn it.

 

[metro]

I would like to see the medium of communication in Judicary and Military to be non-english.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

You misunderstand.

Cantonese and Mandarin are mutually unintelligible.

We just refer to them as dialects, that's how we say it. For reasons of unity, we like to say we are speaking dialects of the same language.

But according to the English definition, they are different languages, because they are mutually unintelligible.

Well, Cantonese and Mandarin are in fact more closely related to each other compared to Shanghainese.

But ironically Shanghainese speak Mandarin better than Cantonese, because Shanghai geographically is closer to Northern China.

I think Mandarin compared to Cantonese is like to compare High German with Low German.

Meanwhile Shanghainese can be viewed as a different language, lets say Dutch compared to High/Low German.

 

[Obambam]

ooh.. little late to the thread.. just got relieved from the ban..
In my opinion , its not that English would kill off Indian languages, its just that, our people should have pride in our own languages instead of taking English as a show off of modern-ness and fad.

English is just a language, and should be taken as that only.
Altough i would personally like to see less influence of english in our lives.

Just to give a eg. a few weeks, I saw this poster on a delhi steet-- Stick No Bills--- as if the person who is gonna stick bill could even understand that american english.

Exactly that. Bottom line is people want to be different. In anyway they can display it they would, be it having a different car, to a different phone or speaking a different language.

 

[Developereo]

That is incorrect..

in the 50s and 60s the indian government tried to impose Hindi as the national language..

That was vehemently opposed especially in Tamil Nadu

As of today in south India.. karnataka, kerala and Andhra you can communicate in Hindi

In Tamil Nadu due to economic migration and globalisation (I am talking about a common national market and not the inetrantional one) Hindi is being spoken by a lot of people
I was surprised when I visited Chennai in August..The scene was different in 2004

My mother tongue is not Hindi so please don;t think of me as biased

India does not have a national language but it has 16-17 official languages

And about English

english these days is not considered foreign language any more..
People are competitive these days and not emotionally attached to discard English

english is also the major medium of language in a state of India..
Nagaland

Once again..If you try to impose anything you will be opposed

Accepatnce should come from woithin.. not forced.. especially in a diverse country called India

What I am saying is that non-Hindi speakers will not speak Hindi unless it is absolutely necessary. For example, when a Marathi and a Tamil get together, they will talk in English, not Hindi.

 

[Subramanian]

What I am saying is that non-Hindi speakers will not speak Hindi unless it is absolutely necessary. For example, when a Marathi and a Tamil get together, they will talk in English, not Hindi.

not at all.

More like a Tamil will talk only in English and Tamil.

If he/she knows Hindi,then they talk only in Hindi to display their exotic status.

 

[kingkobra]

What I am saying is that non-Hindi speakers will not speak Hindi unless it is absolutely necessary. For example, when a Marathi and a Tamil get together, they will talk in English, not Hindi.

true..tamils in south india wont speak hindi ever...but tamils in mumbai speak good hindi and some even speak good marathi.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

I know. I was explaining why English is needed even though Hindi is the 'national' language. Many (most?) Indians simply do not accept Hindi as their language.

Because their identity recognition is not as high as the Chinese people.

Therefore, they have to use English in order to linguistically unify their country.

 

[Loyus]

What I am saying is that non-Hindi speakers will not speak Hindi unless it is absolutely necessary. For example, when a Marathi and a Tamil get together, they will talk in English, not Hindi.

Not necessarily..
they can speak in Hindi too
they can even speak in Oriya if both knows it..
I hope you get my point..

 

[Developereo]

taking English as a show off of modern-ness and fad.

English proficiency is a status symbol in South Asia because private schools tend to be English-medium, so fluency in English is perceived as a sign of wealth and upbringing. I am talking about proper English, not pidgin English as many people speak.

not at all.

More like a Tamil will talk only in English and Tamil.

If he/she knows Hindi,then they talk only in Hindi to display their exotic status.

I am a Pakistan and every South Asian I have met spoke to me in English, not Hindi. I even asked them if they knew Hindi, and they said yes but they spoke in English anyway.

Maybe they were more interested to practice their English than their Hindi but, for whatever reason, they spoke English.

Not necessarily..
they can speak in Hindi too
they can even speak in Oriya if both knows it..
I hope you get my point..

They can do a lot of things. I am talking about what they actually do. They always talk in English, not Hindi.

true..tamils in south india wont speak hindi ever...but tamils in mumbai speak good hindi and some even speak good marathi.

That's because that's the local language. I am sure Tamils in Germany speak German too.

 

[Subramanian]

true..tamils in south india wont speak hindi ever...but tamils in mumbai speak good hindi and some even speak good marathi.

they dont have to man,not only tams even the others wont.

---------- Post added at 05:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:36 PM ----------

Because their identity recognition is not as high as the Chinese people.

Therefore, they have to use English in order to linguistically unify their country.

whats next?dick size?

 

[Loyus]

English proficiency is a status symbol in South Asia because private schools tend to be English-medium, so fluency in English is perceived as a sign of wealth and upbringing. I am talking about proper English, not pidgin English as many people speak.

That used to be earlier especially during our British english school days

Not any more..

globalisation have given us the taste of American English and their easy going attitude

english these days is one of the impornant necessities to get ahead in life

even for lower middle class people and poor people (esp in South, West and richer areas of North) getting son admitted to a english medium school is a necessity

And for those who cannot do it ?

You have courses opoened like "Learn spoken english in 21 days" ))

BPO/service industry is speeding these

 

[Bang Galore]

What I am saying is that non-Hindi speakers will not speak Hindi unless it is absolutely necessary. For example, when a Marathi and a Tamil get together, they will talk in English, not Hindi.

Not accurate, that would depend on the education levels. In any case English has been accepted as an Indian language by most Indians which is quite interesting when you contrast it with Persian which was the official language of the Mughal court & yet completely disappeared from India immediately after the collapse of Mughal rule. It seems that all "foreign imposed" languages are not treated with the same magnanimity by Indians.

 

[metro]

English proficiency is a status symbol in South Asia because private schools tend to be English-medium, so fluency in English is perceived as a sign of wealth and upbringing. I am talking about proper English, not pidgin English as many people speak.

Im working in BPO industry, and the first pre-requisite in this industry is good english. I see many many young guys n gals getting rejected everyday in interviews beacuse of their poor command over english.

This is the biggest reason why english is being taken as a status symbol, atleast in India.
Although we can easily overcome this, once we can provide equal job opportunities to even those who cant speak good english people will stop taking english larger than life.
But if only english speakers are gonna get good and glamourous jobs then this phenomenan is only gonna increase.

 

[Obambam]

Well, Cantonese and Mandarin are in fact more closely related to each other compared to Shanghainese.

But ironically Shanghainese speak Mandarin better than Cantonese, because Shanghai geographically is closer to Northern China.

I think Mandarin compared to Cantonese is like to compare High German with Low German.

Meanwhile Shanghainese can be viewed as a different language, lets say Dutch compared to High/Low German.

I think it's more like Catalan of Spain. If I want to learn Spanish, the last thing I would think about is how to speak Catalan. Same with anyone wanting to learn Chinese, last thing in their mind would probably be trying to learn how to speak Shanghainese. Mandarin will always be the main language of China.