English Should Not Become the Universal Language at the Cost of Erasing Local Languages

chillibreeze writer — T. Sudheer Reddy

One in 7 people speak this language. You are absolutely right if the English language came to your mind.

Have you ever wondered as to how India would have been without this language? It’s really hard to imagine. Thanks to Jawaharlal Nehru, the use of English was retained in Indian educational system.

We really seem to have lost the tendency to emancipate ourselves from western influence and follow our indigenous languages and cultures. Maybe we should just shake off the arrogance, and broaden our mind to accepting this universal language.

For those of you who think English is a barbarous invasion, a linguistic attack that’s insidiously creeping into our society and homes, think again. You may be next in line to follow suit.

I am not on a mission to save our languages, but it’s time we pause, and think about how several of our indigenous languages have fallen into a dangerous state of decay. We are facing an acute loss of our Indian languages.

Has anyone heard of Sanskrit before? Gosh, that was our imperial language spoken by the elite Brahmins and ancient kings. Today there are no takers for this ancient tongue, except a few temple priests. I think we can safely declare Sanskrit as “endangered” if not an extinct Indian language.

Except for a few languages that are kept alive by our elders, we face the risk of endangering these languages like the majority of animals and plants that are close to extinction. There is rapid linguistic erosion taking place. At this rate, the world will be left with only one language, and that is undoubtedly-- the English language. We have already begun to feel embarrassed to communicate in our own traditional languages, and devalue them, or even disown them. For some strange reason we try to parallel English language with intelligence. Any lunatic waxing eloquence in English commands more respect and worth, than a scholar who speaks his native language. They seem to form the so-called “intelligentsia”. This has resulted in the stagnation of huge talent. We are forgetting that we are losing our pride and identity in the process. Did you ever wonder why Telegu or Hindi could not be a universal language?

“Life has no pizzazz or panache without the English language” say’s an English teacher in my colony. It’s not just the language that is considered universal, but now it’s the culture, thinking and behavior that seem to be universal. We have become more scientific and cosmopolitan with the English language while the Indian languages are relegated to religion and traditions.

English has taken over all the world languages with its scientific and technological terminology, for which I don’t think there are any words even close to meaning the same in other languages. The demand for this language is voracious.

Believe me, the Chinese language, which is spoken by one-fifth of the world’s population will soon tilt towards extinction as they too have begun to realize their isolation in the absence of knowing English.

The English language is the visa for better prospects and affluence. We keep hearing about “human capital” in business jargon. I feel it can be best described as anyone who can speak good English, as these are the people all set for globalization and who have made the world’s richest and powerful nation fall in love with us.

On a more pragmatic thought, I think a bilingual form of education is important in every country and schools can play a pivotal role in supporting this. Death of a language brings with it the loss of great values and knowledge, which we have inherited. It amounts to disregarding the efforts of our ancestors. This colossal language shift happening all over the world should be looked upon with caution and encourage linguistic diversity.

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Sudheer writes for chillibreeze.

English Should Not Become the Universal Language at the Cost of Erasing Local Languages

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