Would this be a good idea? Or would it harm national unity? Even if it is done, there would still be need for a common language.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
I think thats the way to go. The five major langauges should be garnted official status, and other regional langugaes should be respected. Pakistan, other than islam, doesn't have anything else that other regions find common. So i think accepting each other diferences is a healthy step forward.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
India has 22 recognized national languages and it is still one country. Pakistan should also adopt a three language formula like India. Each state can have their own official language.
A further 22 languages are scheduled for official use:
- Assamese — official language of Assam
- Bengali — official language of Tripura and West Bengal
- Bodo — official language of Assam
- Dogri — official language of Jammu and Kashmir
- Gujarati — official language of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Gujarat
- Hindi — official language of Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal
- Kannada — official language of Karnataka
- Kashmiri — official language of Jammu and Kashmir
- Konkani — official language of Goa
- Maithili — official language of Bihar
- Malayalam — official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep
- Manipuri or Meithei — official language of Manipur
- Marathi — official language of Maharashtra and Goa
- Nepali — official language of Sikkim
- Oriya — official language of Orissa
- Punjabi — official language of Punjab, second official language of Delhi
- Sanskrit — Mother of most Indian languages
- Santhali
- Sindhi
- Tamil — official language of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry
- Telugu — official language of Andhra Pradesh
- Urdu — official language of Jammu and Kashmir, some districts in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
It will weaken Pakistan.
Regional languages are fine to speak at home and amongst our social circles but Urdu is fine as the national language, everyone in Pakistan has just about learnt to speak and understand it, can't undo their hard work now can we?
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
I don't mind urdu, as long as pashto is given its official status and the gov't spends money on it on a provincial level(or in the areas pashtu is spoken).
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
Let me remind all posters in this thread beforehand: Any -and I mean any- derailment of this thread will lead to prompt warnings. Any name-calling of guppies or other persons, groups, religions etc etc will lead to the same. Other things that can lead to warning will be decided by the moderator on a post-by-post basis
Happy posting.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
Make Punjabi, Siraiki, Baluchi, Sindhi, and Pashto national languages and retain Urdu-Hindi and English as languages of inter-ethnic communication.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
the three language formula that would apply would be:
Primary School
(i) medium of instruction: provincial language (Punjabi, Urdu, Hindko, Pashto, SIndhi etc)
(ii) second language: English
Secondary School
(i) medium of instruction: provincial language / English
(ii) second language: English / provincial language
(iii) third language: another Pakistani language
The provinces can also be re-organised on the basis of language:
(i) Punjab (Punjabi)
(ii) Siraikistan (Siraiki)
(iii) Pakhtunkhwa (Hindko areas go to (i)) (Pashtu)
(iv) Dardistan (Shina)
(v) Balochistan (pashtun areas go to (iii)) (Baluchi)
(vi) Sindh (Sindhi)
(vii) Jinnahpur (Urdu)
(viii) Baltistan (Balti)
Creating a large number of provinces will also get rid of the threat of disintegration. Equitable sharing of wealth and emphasising the importance of English (as they've done in India) will also result in greater national cohesion.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
Hindko areas should go to Kashmir rather...because Hindko is like Pahari.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
and Pahari is nothing like Kashmiri. don't confuse the two.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
^
Right, Pahari belongs to a totally different branch from Kashmiri, Pahari speaking people from Kashmir are not ethnically or linguistically Kashmiri, they live in the areas bordering Punjab and like Hindko, Pahari is classed as a dialect of Punjabi by many, many Pahari people themselves would attest to this. Kashmiri is as different from Punjabi as is Pashto.
Having friends who speak all three dialects I have observed that Hindko spoken in Peshawar has just as much in common with the dialects spoken in Punjab as it does with Pahari, it is not exactly the same as either of them but nobody can deny the big similarities it has with both, in fact the dialect spoken in the Chakwal region of Punjab (called Punjabi in Chakwal) is exactly the same language as the Hindko spoken in Peshawar and Kohat, Hindko is also spoken in the Attock district of Punjab.
In my opinion Siraiki, Pahari/Pothwari and Hindko are just as much dialects of Punjabi as Lahori or Jhellum dialect, all are perfectly mutually intelligible to each other as is obvious when speakers of these languages get together.
I don't like the idea of merging Hindko speaking areas of NWFP and Pahari speaking areas of Kashmir to Punjab, I don't know what the demographs are like in Kashmir but there are Pashto speaking people living in predominantly Hindko areas of NWFP, in fact Peshawar was once a Hindko city but now it is a predomiantly Pashtun city..
Therefore I say leave these silly language issues and unite as Pakistanis upon Urdu, speak Pahto and Punjabi to your mummies, daddies and friends and leave it at that.
60+ languages/dialects in Pakistan, is it practicle to make them medium of instruction?
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
No... Punjabi is probably the closest language to Kashmiri, in both grammar and vocabulary. Kashmiri also includes many dialects spoken in Jammu, which are very close to the Pahari dialects spoken around Mirpur and Poonch. There is no clear-cut demarcation between Kashmiri and Punjabi. The two languages merge into each other in the Jammu region. Kashmiri does, of course, have many peculiarities, but so do many Punjabi dialects.
60+ languages/dialects in Pakistan, is it practicle to make them medium of instruction?
they can be used as mediums of instruction at the elementary stage, i.e. first few years of school. or at least this can be done with those languages that have a written tradition, e.g. sindhi and pashtu. in the case of the 'folk languages', it would be a good idea to preserve the oral culture and literature, since that enriches pakistan's cultural heritage.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
English should be the sole language.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
The heck with all languages...
I say we learn Arabic and Arabic be taught...That way our kids can understand the Quran on their own rather than translations and be on an equal understanding with the rest of the Muslim world...I think every Muslim country should make Arabic a mandatory language to learn...That way, like in Ibn-e-Battuta's times, no Muslim will have trouble undertanding another Muslim from any other place and there would be unity...
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
Thats a contradiction. Sure if you want to teach arabic go for it. However arabs are not better than non-arabs, nor s their language. The reason the Quran was in arabic was because the prophet(PBUH) first started his mission in Arab land. All langugages should be given its due position. Thats the only way, no ethnic group should give up its culture for something else, especially when this Pakistani idea is no older than 58 years. Respect all the langugaes, adn just emphasize the fact that Islam is the only commonality.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
Although I didn't go through all the posts, in my opinion making all the spoken languages in Pakistan may not be such a good idea.
Would it not require the residents of Pakistan to at least be able to understand and perhaps to an extent converse in all the national languages? I don't think that'd be easy. I't be way too difficult.
National language(s) should be the one(s) that the majority of the nation can at least understand and speak.
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
our intransigence on such issues cost us East Pakistan(Bengali-Urdu controversy etc) in the past.our national language is urdu but English is our lingua franca for all practical purposes.so why not accept all regional languages as national languages as South Africa has 11?
Re: Granting national language status to all Pak languages
Would it not require the residents of Pakistan to at least be able to understand and perhaps to an extent converse in all the national languages? I don't think that'd be easy. I't be way too difficult.
National language(s) should be the one(s) that the majority of the nation can at least understand and speak.
India has 22 national languages, and not all Indians can speak them. Of course, when you give national language status to a large number of languages, then you need a "link language", which everyone ought to speak. English can serve that purpose, just as it does in India.
In fact, English is already the official language of Pakistan's federal government (Urdu is only a 'national language').