http://www.syberwurx.com/nation/daily/today/editor/opi5.htm
Raheela S. Zafar
“Forgive me for my lamelanguage. In fact I am weak in Urdu and feels embarrassed to disclose that I am daughter of - a renowned Urdu writer”. This was said by a lady to a big gathering of educationalists without the slightest mark of remorse and a total neglect of the message conveyed.
How often I come across comments like “Madam my Urdu is poor. The only reason behind my failing in Pak-Studies and Islamiyat”.
“Mama does not let us converse in Punjabi, she considers the language reserved for Mali and Aya’s”. My student told me this in ruined English.
What is a language? And what makes it astonishingly powerful in the lives of individuals and nations alike? Technically speaking a language is nothing but a communication system in which words and their written symbols continue in various regulated ways to produce an infinite number of messages.
Considered on societal grounds, language is the most potent binding factor, that keeps the communal fabric from being torn. A language gives a nation dignity, and awareness of surroundings, to its users. Even the most fragile regional language is armed enough to define the lives of its dwellers with unparalleled words. Like a biological species, every language is the one and only of its type. There can’t be any facsimile. The passing away of a lingo, or the loss of its authenticity, is equivalent to the disappearance of a culture and of a heritage.
What makes a language vanish or become ineffectual? A linguistic expert, Dr Tariq Rehman writes that “the weakness comes from the fact that when they are not used in the domains of power which are the government itself, the bureaucracy, the military, the judiciary, commerce, media, research, education and technology. Once a language is not used in these domains of power people do not want to spend time and money to acquire it because it does not empower them.”
Is Urdu the world’s fifth ranked language and are a host of our regional languages dying out? Probably not in the near future, but what highly is irksome is our attitude, and the elites’ perception of the role of language role and associated influence. We are thoughtlessly marching towards shifting our urban society, competent enough to support a trilingual set-up to a monolingual English-speaking society. Similarly our rural population is going through a lot because of the burden of those languages that have not been integrated into their heritage.
Our passion for English is understandable. It had been a language of our former masters. And the in present world that is said to be a global village, we are being constantly lead to believe that the only vernacular that can be used to earn power and status is English. We are not alone in facing this state of affairs. A good number of Asian, African and European vernaculars are in the process of being engulfed by the plucky, high-powered English language. However, the methods they have adopted to deal with the situation, need to be studied. It is nothing more than promoting languages, depending upon the ability of the users.
The situation in Pakistan is complex. The majority of the population dwells in villages, with a poor literacy rate. Spoken languages are Punjabi, Sindhi, Baluchi, and Pushto. People head to cities for college and higher education. Industrial growth is scanty, agriculture is the source of earning livelihood. One language is universally used- a monolingual society.
Cities on the other hand have comparatively higher literacy. Inhabitants with roots in the country seek higher education and need communication with people having different linguistic histories. A language of contact is required. National and international languages deserve a satisfactory command, whereas the language of origin should not be denied of its rights. Therefore, what suits us in the cities is developing three languages - a trilingual set-up.
The role of language in acquiring knowledge is obvious. A Chinese proverb states that “the child’s tongue comes from his ears”. The more well-versed a child is in his native language, the more easily he will learn about his surroundings. My personal experience with students belonging to different age groups fully supports what Dr Kibrya of Ali Institute insists: “If a village child is to be acquanted with the idea of fractions, quote him the example of a ‘chappa’ (one fourth of loaf) and he will grasp it in no time”. UNO’s recent research study and Plato’s centuries-old Republic propound the idea of imparting elementary education in the mother tongue, as it produces far better results with relatively less effort.
Whenever our policymakers frame an answer to the question of improving the standard of education in rural areas, it always revolves around imparting quality education in Urdu and English. Statistical data proves that only a negligible percentage of these rural children go for colleges. Most of them have to adjust in their own surroundings. Is not it better to teach them in a language they can use?
“English and Urdu, taught by a badly skilled harsh village schoolteacher turns school into a ghostly place for the village minors, that results in dropouts at quite an initial level” comments Mian Zaheer Akhtar, author of two Punjabi books.
His research work in Punjab University was based on the role of language in rural Punjab. “Indian Punjab enjoys 84 per cent literacy, one of the highest in all Indian states, only because there the medium of instruction is Punjabi and the young mind are not at clash with what is written in the book and the surroundings” Zaheer adds.
Urban society should be informed of the importance of regional languages. The linguistic hierarchy, settled by us ourselves, that places English on top, then Urdu, then the regional languages, needs to be rearranged. English should be learned meticulously for higher and science education. Whereas for subjects like Fine Arts, Home Economics, Islamiyat, Physical Education, and the like, should be taught in Urdu or the native language, which will improve the students’ awareness standard.
Even now a shameful percentage of students at the Intermediate and University levels fail to pass English. Even the students coming from reputable English medium schools are unable to express themselves fluently. In spite of having English-medium schools even before the birth of Pakistan, and giving more importance to it than our own languages, we have failed to produce any remarkable work in English literature.
The reasons are obvious, we lack innovation and creativity. Creativity never sprouts by cramming borrowed ideas. To know the sea one has to ponder the dew. Only trees anchored deep in the soil are capable of producing the most expansive canopies.
For the promotion of regional languages, rural and urban areas have to be treated separately. Complexes should not be associated with a particular language. The worst sufferer of this obsession is Punjabi. Parents, when asked their apprehensions about conversing in their mother tongue, negated the importance of the language. Some considered that children have to learn two other languages (English and Urdu) and they find it difficult to establish a multilingual base, as it might confuse the child and still others believe that only one language (national) can keep us united.
All these hypotheses are erroneous. It is now scientifically proved, (Bialystok 1991, de Houwer, 1995, Pearson, Fernandez et al, 1993) and commonly observed that children in multilingual situations easily communicate in three languages from the age of six, and instantaneously switch over from one to another language, even though they are no whiz kids. Most kids, with proper tutoring, develop proper command over more than one language easily. Similarly, about 300 different languages are being spoken in India and no such question is ever raised. Root languages are required to be learned. They help us understand our chemistry and surroundings.
Indigenous languages in cities should be promoted in the following way. The media and intellectuals are to play the pivotal role. Good books should be translated into regional and national languages.
Writers should be encouraged to write in regional languages by a system of awards. Serious plays, debates and lectures should be organised at school, college and University levels in these languages. English and Urdu newspapers should reserve space for regional-language columns.