Is it a good idea to make all the major Pakistani languages as national languages?
In Switzerland, they have four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. For e.g. check this Swiss government website: admin.ch - Homepage It has versions in all the national languages together with an English one.
They can have as many national languages as they want but what does it actually mean to be a national language? How is it implimented?
I have heard that in Peshawar some signs have been put up in Pashtu. Can you imagine if there were signs in Lahore, Pindi in Punjabi, Multan, Bahawalpur in Seraiki, Sindhi signs in Sukkur, Balochi sings in khuzdar, kalat, gwadar, shina signs in gilgit,
persian, pashtu, balocho, brahui signs in quetta....#
They would be a big deal if you were a Seraiki speaker going over to NWFP, Lahore, Balochistan, Gilgit and then you realise you cant read whats written there.
Road signs are no big deal. They get defaced anyway with all sorts of ordure.
They can have as many national languages as they want but what does it actually mean to be a national language? How is it implimented?
I have heard that in Peshawar some signs have been put up in Pashtu. Can you imagine if there were signs in Lahore, Pindi in Punjabi, Multan, Bahawalpur in Seraiki, Sindhi signs in Sukkur, Balochi sings in khuzdar, kalat, gwadar, shina signs in gilgit,
persian, pashtu, balocho, brahui signs in quetta....#
would be a bit confusing right?
India has implemented this. Each state has its own language as official with English and Hindi used as business languages. In Maharashtra everything is in Marathi, Road signs, signboards, Court Language, Mandatory subject in schools etc. In Gujarat it is Gujarati, Karnataka - Kannada. It is bit of confusion because Indian language scripts are different. So a Maharashtrian going to Kerala would not be able to read Malayalam signs.
Yes - you guys need English as a link language to communicate as quite a few of Indians dont know and some refuse to learn English.
India has implemented this. Each state has its own language as official with English and Hindi used as business languages. In Maharashtra everything is in Marathi, Road signs, signboards, Court Language, Mandatory subject in schools etc. In Gujarat it is Gujarati, Karnataka - Kannada. It is bit of confusion because Indian language scripts are different. So a Maharashtrian going to Kerala would not be able to read Malayalam signs.
They can have as many national languages as they want but what does it actually mean to be a national language? How is it implimented?
I have heard that in Peshawar some signs have been put up in Pashtu. Can you imagine if there were signs in Lahore, Pindi in Punjabi, Multan, Bahawalpur in Seraiki, Sindhi signs in Sukkur, Balochi sings in khuzdar, kalat, gwadar, shina signs in gilgit,
persian, pashtu, balocho, brahui signs in quetta....#
would be a bit confusing right?
There wouldn't be any confusion. Unlike Indian languages (which have their own scripts), all the Pakistani languages are written in the Arabic script.
This means that road signs and place names only need two versions: one written in Arabic script (for all of Pakistan's languages) and one in English.
The same applies to many road signs. e.g. 'caution' would probably be 'ehtiyaat' in all the Pakistani languages (correct me if I'm wrong).
Also, you only need signs in three languages: local language, Urdu & English. Not in all the national languages.
