Indian Talent, Global Content
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Indian Talent, Global Content |
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September 2010: What's in the breeze |
The Distortion of the English Language in India
I often find myself wondering whether it is me, or is the world actually changing too fast? Given my stand, I think I would settle for the latter. It seems that there is suddenly way too much information available and way too little time to process it. There are pressures, deadlines, expectations and above all, a desire to fit in, to feel like a part of the whole. With the infinite exposure that the media is affording youngsters today, the essence of reality has been lost. One is so engrossed in chasing the unattainable, engulfed in the rat race of acquiring the latest gizmos, the best of everything that technology has to offer, that what were earlier considered essential skills, have taken a backseat. Bitten by the affluence bug, the nouveau riche call center generation seems to give precedence to getting the accent, rather than the grammar right. The sanctity of the correctly written and spoken word has been pushed away into oblivion. Gone are the days when being articulate and eloquent was considered impressive, and writing grammatically correct English was absolutely essential. With the invasion of cellular phones and electronic mail—which I must admit is technology’s veritable gift to mankind—the inviolability of spelling is passé. Such are the pitfalls of modernisation! Not to mention the western influence, that has permeated our very being and changed not only our way of thinking but also speaking and writing. If I sound like a prudish old phoney, I plead my case, assuring the readers that neither do I belong to the pre-independence era, nor am I an English speaking snob, against our very own Hindi. I just believe that whichever language one uses, one should not mutilate its very essence. I feel just as strongly for Munshi Premchand or Harivansh Rai Bachan, as I do for Shakespeare or Byron, who would be equally mortified if they knew how the languages they loved and cherished were being distorted beyond recognition! Peer pressure at times makes you do things that you don’t believe in and I must admit that I myself had been a rather willing victim of the ‘cool’ jargon during my younger days. I can assure you it is addictive and makes you feel with it! Back then, a good looking woman was called a chick, now she’s a babe. Chill out has been replaced by take a chill pill or the more recent–hang loose. The word dud, as existent in the English dictionary means worthless, so one wonders how dude came to be used for a ‘cool guy’! How the word wicked changed its connotation to wonderful, one doesn’t know and these days anything can be awe inspiring, as ‘awesome’ is one of the most favourite words in the new generation dictionary. Now as an educator and a self-proclaimed guardian of the language, I refrain from the use of the slang. But I often found myself beaming when one of my students said to me by way of a compliment, ‘Ma’am you rock’, or ‘Ma’am you are really cool!’ Am I completely against the use of slang in colloquial English? Well, no. One can’t help but give in to the temptation of letting go and flowing with the tide, but what one needs to be wary of is letting it spill over into one’s writing. The endless phonetic drills that we were subjected to, and we in turn subjected our students to, were meant to make us learn the tongue in its original form. Many of us have grown up not knowing the difference between the phonetic sound of ‘V’ and ‘W’, as ‘W’ has no counterpart in the Hindi alphabet. Internet chatting and hurried text messages on cellular phones have further helped to accelerate the loss of the ‘W’ to the ‘V’. The advent of ‘Hinglish’ in films and media has only made matters worse. Where do we stand today? Where do we owe our allegiance? To English or Hindi spoken correctly or to a combination of the two, where the essence of each is lost? When television channels spell ‘night’ as ‘nite’, and known brands spell ‘sticks’ as ‘stix’, can we blame the children for getting their spellings wrong? What has compounded the situation further is lack of interest in reading among the young today. A die-hard fan of literature, I cannot remember a single day that went by without a book in our hands. The same parents who had initiated us into reading would try to wean us away from the addiction! Books that found their way to the dining tables during meal times were confiscated—such was the obsession with reading. Sneaking torches to bed to read books after the lights were switched off, was a crime that each child would admit having committed. Thankfully the habit has survived the test of time. Even today, I experience genuine withdrawal symptoms when I do not have at least one book by my bedside! J K Rowling has been successful in reviving the lost art of reading, God bless her! If schools want to inculcate the habit of reading in students, they should make the Harry Potter series a part of the Supplementary Reading curriculum. As for me, I cannot boast of being even half as accomplished to revolutionise reading, so I do my bit by presenting my not-so-enthusiastic nieces and nephews with books on any occasion that warrants a present. No wonder I don’t figure in their favorite people’s list! But I shall not quit. And I entreat all you loyalists of the Queen’s original language to save the language from extinction! Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. 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