Governor Surjit Singh Barnala on Monday, Sep 27 asked delegates to take a pledge to save the Urdu language that was facing difficult times.
Delivering the presidential address at the Tamil Nadu State Urdu Conference 2010, he said “Only with public support, I believe, Urdu will have a rebirth.”
Mr. Barnala recalled his association with the Urdu language and said that whenever he wrote a book, he made it a point to publish an Urdu translation.
He used to think in Urdu and then write it in English.
He released the Urdu translation of Chinna Kuthoosi's Tamil Book ‘Dr. Kalaignar,' comprising articles published in ‘Nakkeeran' and ‘Murasoli', and presented trophies to outstanding Urdu writers, professors and headmasters.
Full report here Hindu
Showing posts with label Indian English. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian English. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Indian words in literary English
Tracking Indian words in English has been a favourite topic with columnists in the Indian media. This decade has seen the publication of new editions of dictionaries, and each one has added new words from Indian sources, borrowed either in India or in England.
It is one thing to be interested in keeping count of new words, and quite another to see how Indian words have fared in literary works. In the early days of the British empire, Indian words were liberally used in communications or despatches sent to London by soldiers and civil servants who picked these up in India. Some words were even from neighbouring countries such as Malaya and Afghanistan, passing through India.
In the century following the founding of the East India Company, British writers introduced words from the East in their works. John Milton loved the East’s resonating proper nouns: “Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can,/Samarkand by Oxus, Temir’s throne/To Paquin of Sinaian Kings; and then/to Agra and Lahor of Great Moghul” (Paradise Lost).
Thomas Moore in his poem Lalla Rookh also uses lists of sonorous names: “Malaya’s nectared mangosteen/Prunes from Bokhara, and sweet nuts/From the far groves of Samarkand.” Candahar is a pleasing combination of sounds, and corresponds to the Indian name, Gandhara. Poets were quick to pick up this word. Milton in Paradise Regained: “From Archosia, from Candaor east,/ And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs/ of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales.”
Full report here Mint
It is one thing to be interested in keeping count of new words, and quite another to see how Indian words have fared in literary works. In the early days of the British empire, Indian words were liberally used in communications or despatches sent to London by soldiers and civil servants who picked these up in India. Some words were even from neighbouring countries such as Malaya and Afghanistan, passing through India.
In the century following the founding of the East India Company, British writers introduced words from the East in their works. John Milton loved the East’s resonating proper nouns: “Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can,/Samarkand by Oxus, Temir’s throne/To Paquin of Sinaian Kings; and then/to Agra and Lahor of Great Moghul” (Paradise Lost).
Thomas Moore in his poem Lalla Rookh also uses lists of sonorous names: “Malaya’s nectared mangosteen/Prunes from Bokhara, and sweet nuts/From the far groves of Samarkand.” Candahar is a pleasing combination of sounds, and corresponds to the Indian name, Gandhara. Poets were quick to pick up this word. Milton in Paradise Regained: “From Archosia, from Candaor east,/ And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs/ of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales.”
Full report here Mint
Monday, June 28, 2010
94% primary students in India cannot recognise English
For 94% of the primary students in India, English is an alien language. And this is official.
A study conducted by the Programme Evaluation Organisation (PEO) of the Planning Commission has revealed that 94 per cent of the students in primary schools across the country cannot recognise the English alphabets. This reality check is major setback for prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s UPA government that has embarked on a major initiative to universalise primary education, and grant the right to education.
The ‘Programme Evaluation Organization’ (PEO) headed by deputychairman Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia has come out with this data through an evaluation study of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in order to assess its impact.
Full report here DNA
A study conducted by the Programme Evaluation Organisation (PEO) of the Planning Commission has revealed that 94 per cent of the students in primary schools across the country cannot recognise the English alphabets. This reality check is major setback for prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s UPA government that has embarked on a major initiative to universalise primary education, and grant the right to education.
The ‘Programme Evaluation Organization’ (PEO) headed by deputychairman Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia has come out with this data through an evaluation study of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in order to assess its impact.
Full report here DNA
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Writers’ block
If you could read Midnight’s Children in a cramped mini bus, it’s least likely that you spend your Sunday afternoon on Chetan Bhagat and feel full at the end of the day. If you are a literature snob, you are most probably nodding your approval for such a sweeping conclusion. But literature snobbery is a thing of the past for publishers, who are just discovering the profits of the acknowledging the varied tastes of readers across the country. Consequently Indian English writing yielded to the lure of chick lit, crafted out a whole new genre – campus fiction, and finally addressed the reader who wouldn’t mind flipping through a book, but would probably not be inclined to read between the lines or swim in a opulent sea of surreal metaphors.
While Chetan Bhagat can well be called the mascot of the sub-genre, Penguin Books India has gone ahead and given it a name in its new series devoted to the ‘reader on the go’. Called Metro Reads, these slim volumes priced at Rs 150 are targeted at the general reader who probably doesn’t have the time to go through a complicated novel. “They are no different from regular novels. The concept is to provide the reader who finds it difficult to read heavy tomes, either because of lack of time or reading habit, with books that have engaging storylines, simply to read and are not very lengthy,” says Vaishali Mathur, senior commissioning editor with Penguin India.
Full report here Indian Express
While Chetan Bhagat can well be called the mascot of the sub-genre, Penguin Books India has gone ahead and given it a name in its new series devoted to the ‘reader on the go’. Called Metro Reads, these slim volumes priced at Rs 150 are targeted at the general reader who probably doesn’t have the time to go through a complicated novel. “They are no different from regular novels. The concept is to provide the reader who finds it difficult to read heavy tomes, either because of lack of time or reading habit, with books that have engaging storylines, simply to read and are not very lengthy,” says Vaishali Mathur, senior commissioning editor with Penguin India.
Full report here Indian Express
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Are we an English-obsessed Nation?
The two largest English speaking countries in the world are India (350 million) and the United States (300 million). In the next decade more than half of the English speaking population on Earth will be Indians. We will determine how the language will be spoken. Feels good, but I have a question – will Mamata Banerjee’s spoken words qualify as English too? She could be speaking in Hindi, Bangla or English – to me it comes across as a strange, uniform version of Esperanto.
A recent survey has officially established the Queen’s language as India’s lingua franca. That comes as no surprise. We as a nation still suffer from a massive colonial hangover. In school we are essentially taught British. Mushrooming BPO s promote the Yankee version. Our children end up speaking a bastardized version. Texting has made it worse. Address is now addy, afternoon afty, vacation vacays...kids are playing around with the language, which may not be such a bad thing. Why waste time on silly things such as spellings and sentences? It’s so not cool.
Full report here Desicritics
A recent survey has officially established the Queen’s language as India’s lingua franca. That comes as no surprise. We as a nation still suffer from a massive colonial hangover. In school we are essentially taught British. Mushrooming BPO s promote the Yankee version. Our children end up speaking a bastardized version. Texting has made it worse. Address is now addy, afternoon afty, vacation vacays...kids are playing around with the language, which may not be such a bad thing. Why waste time on silly things such as spellings and sentences? It’s so not cool.
Full report here Desicritics
Monday, April 5, 2010
English made easy
AID India hopes to make English more accessible to the urban and rural poor in Tamil Nadu
A report on project ‘English Next India', funded by the British Council, has found that India is lagging behind China in the number of proficient English speakers. The report's initial findings suggest a number of barriers to the improvement of English proficiency in India, including a huge shortage of English teachers, and poor English holding back higher education.
Initial findings advise that a variety of strategies need to be employed to teach English; that there is no one magic solution. AID India founder and CEO, Balaji Sampath, is indirectly taking up the British Council on its advice. However, the education activist is looking at bringing about a change on a much smaller scale.
Through its flagship initiative, ‘Eureka Child', AID India aims to “provide quality education for every child in Tamil Nadu”, which includes making English more accessible to underprivileged children in urban and rural areas. “There is a big gap in education between the rich kids in English-medium schools and underprivileged kids in Government schools,” says Sampath.
Full report here Hindu
A report on project ‘English Next India', funded by the British Council, has found that India is lagging behind China in the number of proficient English speakers. The report's initial findings suggest a number of barriers to the improvement of English proficiency in India, including a huge shortage of English teachers, and poor English holding back higher education.
Initial findings advise that a variety of strategies need to be employed to teach English; that there is no one magic solution. AID India founder and CEO, Balaji Sampath, is indirectly taking up the British Council on its advice. However, the education activist is looking at bringing about a change on a much smaller scale.
Through its flagship initiative, ‘Eureka Child', AID India aims to “provide quality education for every child in Tamil Nadu”, which includes making English more accessible to underprivileged children in urban and rural areas. “There is a big gap in education between the rich kids in English-medium schools and underprivileged kids in Government schools,” says Sampath.
Full report here Hindu
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Englishing of India
Lord Macaulay must be celebrating in his grave even if history took nearly two centuries to echo his minute: the creation of “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and in intellect”.
A little more than a week ago, newspaper headlines confirmed that more Indians speak English in India today than any other language, barring Hindi. Reportedly, there are 125 million Indians who speak English (and use it as their first, second or third language). This adds up to more than the entire number of English speakers in Western Europe – barring the UK. Sometimes, history doesn’t just repeat, it also surpasses itself.
Many believe that Macaulay’s minute stirred the beginnings of bilingualism in India. Almost 200 years later, we might well ask: So what?
While the statistics augur well in terms of entering into the likes of the Guinness Book of World Records, what does it spell in terms of impacting our lives? Macaulay’s minute may have brought about the ‘Englishing’ of India — as Bangalore dramatist Poile Senguptaa’s play Keats was a Tuber defined. But what does this mean for the masses? Actually, quite a lot. Bangalore and Cyberabad experiences have already confirmed the co-relation between speaking English and the IT world. But history tells us that there is more to learning English than BPO or call centre jobs.
Full report here Bangalore Mirror
A little more than a week ago, newspaper headlines confirmed that more Indians speak English in India today than any other language, barring Hindi. Reportedly, there are 125 million Indians who speak English (and use it as their first, second or third language). This adds up to more than the entire number of English speakers in Western Europe – barring the UK. Sometimes, history doesn’t just repeat, it also surpasses itself.
Many believe that Macaulay’s minute stirred the beginnings of bilingualism in India. Almost 200 years later, we might well ask: So what?
While the statistics augur well in terms of entering into the likes of the Guinness Book of World Records, what does it spell in terms of impacting our lives? Macaulay’s minute may have brought about the ‘Englishing’ of India — as Bangalore dramatist Poile Senguptaa’s play Keats was a Tuber defined. But what does this mean for the masses? Actually, quite a lot. Bangalore and Cyberabad experiences have already confirmed the co-relation between speaking English and the IT world. But history tells us that there is more to learning English than BPO or call centre jobs.
Full report here Bangalore Mirror
Sunday, March 28, 2010
English, language of the future
Parents have ensured the number of children in English schools has doubled in just five years - from 61 lakh to 1.5 crore. But there are concerns that the growth is still not fast enough...
Maniram Sharma studied in Hindi medium and took the civil service examination in that language before clearing all the tests to become an IAS officer. He is very clear, though, that he wants his two children to study in an English school. "I respect Hindi, my mother tongue," he says. "But English is the language of the future and it opens up the whole world to you."
It is this realisation of opportunities which English offers that is persuading a growing number of Indian parents to opt for sending their kids to English-medium schools. And the poor are often more desperate to do so, rejecting the option of free education in a government school, where the medium of instruction is usually Hindi or the primary language of the respective region. They willingly bear the burden of not-so-cheap private school education to have their children learn a language that might take them where they, their fathers and grandfathers never went. People like Sunita Devi, for instance. "Since I cannot afford to put both my children in a private English medium school, only my son is going to one," says the woman who works as a domestic help. "My daughter goes to a government school. But if I manage to earn more, I will put her also in a private school."
Full report here Times of India
Maniram Sharma studied in Hindi medium and took the civil service examination in that language before clearing all the tests to become an IAS officer. He is very clear, though, that he wants his two children to study in an English school. "I respect Hindi, my mother tongue," he says. "But English is the language of the future and it opens up the whole world to you."
It is this realisation of opportunities which English offers that is persuading a growing number of Indian parents to opt for sending their kids to English-medium schools. And the poor are often more desperate to do so, rejecting the option of free education in a government school, where the medium of instruction is usually Hindi or the primary language of the respective region. They willingly bear the burden of not-so-cheap private school education to have their children learn a language that might take them where they, their fathers and grandfathers never went. People like Sunita Devi, for instance. "Since I cannot afford to put both my children in a private English medium school, only my son is going to one," says the woman who works as a domestic help. "My daughter goes to a government school. But if I manage to earn more, I will put her also in a private school."
Full report here Times of India
The ketchup man
As a student at IIM Ahmedabad, Chetan Bhagat founded a magazine, Tomato Ketchup. Even at IIM-A, not the most literary of places, Tomato... was reportedly considered lowbrow and died a premature death. Bhagat’s subsequent literary forays have seen more popular success but continue to be considered lowbrow.
But Bhagat need not fret. The novel genre itself was considered lowbrow and commercial during its early days. As Daniel Defoe, often considered the first novelist, said, “Writing itself has become a very considerable branch of the English commerce. The booksellers are the master manufacturers, or employers. The several authors, copiers, sub-writers and other operators with Pen and Ink are the workmen employed by the said manufacturer.” Ian Watt, author of the classic The Rise of the Novel, says Defoe’s style was considered to be ‘easy, copious and unpremeditated’ in contrast to the ‘verbal grace, complication of structure...’ of the prevalent literary culture.
Watt argues that while the early novels may not have been masterfully crafted, they were revolutionary in their movement away from Classical Idealism towards a greater empathy for individual imperfection. They also understood the needs of the rapidly rising, newly literate, industrial revolution-created bourgeoisie. These two seminal course changes, in structure and audience, by the early novelists laid much of the foundation for the development of modern literature.
Full article here Outlook
Watt argues that while the early novels may not have been masterfully crafted, they were revolutionary in their movement away from Classical Idealism towards a greater empathy for individual imperfection. They also understood the needs of the rapidly rising, newly literate, industrial revolution-created bourgeoisie. These two seminal course changes, in structure and audience, by the early novelists laid much of the foundation for the development of modern literature.
Full article here Outlook
Thursday, March 25, 2010
"English is not a patent property"
"English Language is nobody’s patented property in today's world. Indian English is come to stay and we should not be apologetic about our views and ideas", said Prof. Abhay Maurya, Vice-Chancellor, English & Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad today at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU).
He was addressing the inaugural session of the 2-day National Conference on “New Perspectives in Non-Native Literatures in English” being organized by the Dept. of English. Describing English as a Universal Language, he said, "This is the one area where India could be regarded ahead of China. Our new generation is well equipped with this language. English studies in India has tremendous potential. It is no more a liability."
Speaking about the theme of the conference he said, Indian English literature is of late got diverted and being dominated by the concerns faced by its diaspora which may not be important for the most of the Indian readership.
Full report here Ummid.com
He was addressing the inaugural session of the 2-day National Conference on “New Perspectives in Non-Native Literatures in English” being organized by the Dept. of English. Describing English as a Universal Language, he said, "This is the one area where India could be regarded ahead of China. Our new generation is well equipped with this language. English studies in India has tremendous potential. It is no more a liability."
Speaking about the theme of the conference he said, Indian English literature is of late got diverted and being dominated by the concerns faced by its diaspora which may not be important for the most of the Indian readership.
Full report here Ummid.com
Monday, March 15, 2010
Indiaspeak: English is our 2nd language
More Indians speak English than any other language, with the sole exception of Hindi. What's more, English speakers in India outnumber those in all of western Europe, not counting the United Kingdom. And Indian English-speakers are more than twice the UK's population.
These facts emerge from recently released census 2001 data on bilingualism and trilingualism in India. Indians' linguistic prowess stood revealed with as many as 255 million speaking at least two languages and 87.5 million speaking three or more. In other words, about a quarter of the population speaks more than one language.
English was the primary language for barely 2.3 lakh Indians at the time of the census, more than 86 million listed it as their second language and another 39 million as their third language. This puts the number of English speakers in India at the time to more than 125 million.
Full report here Times of India
These facts emerge from recently released census 2001 data on bilingualism and trilingualism in India. Indians' linguistic prowess stood revealed with as many as 255 million speaking at least two languages and 87.5 million speaking three or more. In other words, about a quarter of the population speaks more than one language.
English was the primary language for barely 2.3 lakh Indians at the time of the census, more than 86 million listed it as their second language and another 39 million as their third language. This puts the number of English speakers in India at the time to more than 125 million.
Full report here Times of India
Scholar analyzes South Asia English
English as spoken in South Asia is evolving, but there is no sign it is turning into a separate dialect that English speakers from other continents might not understand, according to Joybrato Mukherjee, a top German linguistics scholar.
The University of Giessen professor uses computer analysis, based on one-million-word samples of Indian and five other South Asian varieties of English, to discover their distinctive words as well as slight regional differences in grammar.
English spread around the globe with the British Empire. Linguists say there is no authoritative standard English. All the spinoffs exist side by side and are “right” for the people who speak them. English in India functions a little differently from English in England. Take the word, “prepone,” the opposite of postpone, which most other English speakers have never heard of.
Full report here Manila Bulletin
The University of Giessen professor uses computer analysis, based on one-million-word samples of Indian and five other South Asian varieties of English, to discover their distinctive words as well as slight regional differences in grammar.
English spread around the globe with the British Empire. Linguists say there is no authoritative standard English. All the spinoffs exist side by side and are “right” for the people who speak them. English in India functions a little differently from English in England. Take the word, “prepone,” the opposite of postpone, which most other English speakers have never heard of.
Full report here Manila Bulletin
Sunday, March 14, 2010
"Humour writing in India is fraught with danger"
By day, Arnab Ray, PhD, is a serious academic working in a high-tech research consultancy firm based in the suburbs of Washington DC. By night, he is the author of a popular blog, greatbong.net, and now of a book, May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, that promises to analyse every ludicrous aspect of Indian pop culture from the 1990s onwards. In an interview with DNA, Ray talks about his new book, blogging, and what kind of humour works in India and abroad..
You’re a blogger. When and why did you first think of writing a book?
When I was in class 12, I tried to write a book. It was about a guy (coincidentally also in class 12) who tries to impress and win over the girl of his dreams by organising a freshers’ welcome but in the end fails miserably in every respect. Weighing in at a sleek 80 pages of hand-written foolscap, that piece of prose titled “Twists and Turns” (because it had many twists and turns), some might say fortunately, has since been lost to the world. But the dream of getting published always remained. So when HarperCollins asked me if I wanted to do a book with them, I jumped at the opportunity.
What’s with the title, May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss?
Growing up in Kolkata, there would be frequent all-night concerts where the microphones would blare into the wee hours of the morning (this was before people had heard of the two words ‘sound pollution’). While setting up the mic, the MC would do ‘mic testing’ where besides the customary ‘Hello Hello’ he would also say (and I presume that was his signature), “May I hebb your attention pliss”. When I was looking for a, to use a word cliched beyond belief, ‘hatke’ title, it was this phrase that came to mind.
How was writing a book different from writing a blog?
Most importantly, it required a different style. Blog posts have immediacy. You put in links. You comment on what’s happening today. You know that about 90 per cent of people will read the post within a week. After that, interest will wane. And that’s fine. A book for obvious reasons cannot have a time-horizon of interest lasting a week or even a month. Hence my conscious attempt to steer away from events and persons to more general themes whose relevance I believe will not be confined to weekly news cycles.
Did being a popular blogger make it easier for you to find a publisher?
I don’t think I would have found a publisher if I had not been a blogger. Being a kind of an outsider, both in terms of not being in the media as well as being outside the country, I doubt if I would have caught anyone’s attention if I didn’t have my blog.
Would you say blogging was life changing in a way?
The blog has definitely been life-changing. It has given me a platform to express my views, it has given me an audience, and most importantly it has given me a whole lot of interesting friends. And the response I got for my posts gave me an idea of what would ‘work’ as a book and what would not.
What do you think of humour writing in India? Are Indians getting comfortable about laughing at themselves?
I would not go so far as to say that Indians accept all kinds of humour in the written form. There are certain types of humour that Indians find very appealing and there are certain other types, more caustic, sarcastic, bitter and perhaps very personal in nature, that they are not so comfortable with. In the US, there are literally no limits on what people will do and say in order to get a laugh. And people want the envelope to be pushed. India is quite different in that respect.
Additionally, India has laws that severely restrict freedom of speech —you are free to speak as long as you don’t hurt someone’s sentiments. All this makes humour writing of the more confrontational sort extremely difficult and fraught with danger.
Full interview here DNA
You’re a blogger. When and why did you first think of writing a book?
When I was in class 12, I tried to write a book. It was about a guy (coincidentally also in class 12) who tries to impress and win over the girl of his dreams by organising a freshers’ welcome but in the end fails miserably in every respect. Weighing in at a sleek 80 pages of hand-written foolscap, that piece of prose titled “Twists and Turns” (because it had many twists and turns), some might say fortunately, has since been lost to the world. But the dream of getting published always remained. So when HarperCollins asked me if I wanted to do a book with them, I jumped at the opportunity.
Growing up in Kolkata, there would be frequent all-night concerts where the microphones would blare into the wee hours of the morning (this was before people had heard of the two words ‘sound pollution’). While setting up the mic, the MC would do ‘mic testing’ where besides the customary ‘Hello Hello’ he would also say (and I presume that was his signature), “May I hebb your attention pliss”. When I was looking for a, to use a word cliched beyond belief, ‘hatke’ title, it was this phrase that came to mind.
How was writing a book different from writing a blog?
Most importantly, it required a different style. Blog posts have immediacy. You put in links. You comment on what’s happening today. You know that about 90 per cent of people will read the post within a week. After that, interest will wane. And that’s fine. A book for obvious reasons cannot have a time-horizon of interest lasting a week or even a month. Hence my conscious attempt to steer away from events and persons to more general themes whose relevance I believe will not be confined to weekly news cycles.
Did being a popular blogger make it easier for you to find a publisher?
I don’t think I would have found a publisher if I had not been a blogger. Being a kind of an outsider, both in terms of not being in the media as well as being outside the country, I doubt if I would have caught anyone’s attention if I didn’t have my blog.
Would you say blogging was life changing in a way?
The blog has definitely been life-changing. It has given me a platform to express my views, it has given me an audience, and most importantly it has given me a whole lot of interesting friends. And the response I got for my posts gave me an idea of what would ‘work’ as a book and what would not.
What do you think of humour writing in India? Are Indians getting comfortable about laughing at themselves?
I would not go so far as to say that Indians accept all kinds of humour in the written form. There are certain types of humour that Indians find very appealing and there are certain other types, more caustic, sarcastic, bitter and perhaps very personal in nature, that they are not so comfortable with. In the US, there are literally no limits on what people will do and say in order to get a laugh. And people want the envelope to be pushed. India is quite different in that respect.
Additionally, India has laws that severely restrict freedom of speech —you are free to speak as long as you don’t hurt someone’s sentiments. All this makes humour writing of the more confrontational sort extremely difficult and fraught with danger.
Full interview here DNA
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