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<div class="gmail-post-header"><div class="gmail-wrap"><div class="gmail-header-content gmail-small-image"><h1 class="entry-title">CPEC and language policy</h1><p class="gmail-post-shoulder">To
establish the best possible power relations, including issues of status
and role of languages; the CPEC language policy needs to be carefully
planned<br> <br> <br> <br></p><div class="gmail-post-share"><div class="gmail-heateor_sss_sharing_container gmail-heateor_sss_horizontal_sharing"><ul class="gmail-heateor_sss_sharing_ul"><li class="gmail-heateorSssSharingRound"><i style="width:35px;height:35px;border-radius:999px" alt="Facebook" title="Facebook" class="gmail-heateorSssSharing gmail-heateorSssFacebookBackground"><span style="display:block;border-radius:999px" class="gmail-heateorSssSharingSvg gmail-heateorSssFacebookSvg"></span></i></li><li class="gmail-heateorSssSharingRound"><i style="width:35px;height:35px;border-radius:999px" alt="Twitter" title="Twitter" class="gmail-heateorSssSharing gmail-heateorSssTwitterBackground"><span style="display:block;border-radius:999px" class="gmail-heateorSssSharingSvg gmail-heateorSssTwitterSvg"></span></i></li><li class="gmail-heateorSssSharingRound"><i style="width:35px;height:35px;border-radius:999px" alt="Linkedin" title="Linkedin" class="gmail-heateorSssSharing gmail-heateorSssLinkedinBackground"><span style="display:block;border-radius:999px" class="gmail-heateorSssSharingSvg gmail-heateorSssLinkedinSvg"></span></i></li><li class="gmail-heateorSssSharingRound"><i style="width:35px;height:35px;border-radius:999px" alt="Whatsapp" title="Whatsapp" class="gmail-heateorSssSharing gmail-heateorSssWhatsappBackground"><a rel="nofollow"><span style="display:block" class="gmail-heateorSssSharingSvg gmail-heateorSssWhatsappSvg"></span></a></i></li><li class="gmail-heateorSssSharingRound"><i style="width:35px;height:35px;border-radius:999px" alt="Email" title="Email" class="gmail-heateorSssSharing gmail-heateorSssEmailBackground"><span style="display:block" class="gmail-heateorSssSharingSvg gmail-heateorSssEmailSvg"></span></i></li><li class="gmail-heateorSssSharingRound"><i style="width:35px;height:35px;border-radius:999px" alt="Print" title="Print" class="gmail-heateorSssSharing gmail-heateorSssPrintBackground"><span style="display:block" class="gmail-heateorSssSharingSvg gmail-heateorSssPrintSvg"></span></i></li><li class="gmail-heateorSssSharingRound"><i style="width:35px;height:35px;border-radius:999px;margin-left:9px" title="Total Shares" class="gmail-heateorSssSharing gmail-heateorSssTCBackground"><div class="gmail-heateorSssTotalShareCount" style="font-size:21.7px">19</div><div class="gmail-heateorSssTotalShareText" style="font-size:13.3px">Shares</div></i></li></ul><div class="gmail-heateorSssClear"></div></div></div><p class="gmail-author-links"><a href="https://dailytimes.com.pk/writer/sabiha-mansoor/" title="More Articles by Sabiha Mansoor" class="gmail-author-name"><img src="https://1434697713.rsc.cdn77.org/assets/uploads/2018/04/sabiha-mansoor.jpg" class="gmail-alignleft" alt="Sabiha Mansoor" width="80" height="80"></a><a href="https://dailytimes.com.pk/writer/sabiha-mansoor/" title="More Articles by Sabiha Mansoor" class="gmail-author-name">Sabiha Mansoor</a></p><p class="gmail-post-date"><time class="entry-time" datetime="2018-04-01T00:57:09+00:00">April 1, 2018</time></p></div></div></div><div class="gmail-site-inner"><div class="gmail-content-sidebar-wrap"><article class="gmail-post-222124 gmail-post gmail-type-post gmail-status-publish gmail-format-standard gmail-has-post-thumbnail gmail-category-perspectives gmail-writer-sabiha-mansoor entry"><div class="entry-content"><p>The
successful implementation of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC) International Agreement and its major aim to benefit the
unemployed and marginalised youth; would depend largely on the type of
language policy that it adopts. This would determine whether it is an
‘elitist’ policy that is exclusive, and only caters to members of
‘major’ language communities in Pakistan and China; or a ‘cultivation’
policy that is inclusive and enables speakers of all language
communities, including ‘minority’ or local languages to participate in
developmental projects. This type of language policy in international
trade agreements, is based on the principal of democracy, and allows all
participants to have an equal opportunity to access various types of
jobs and new business ventures generated at all levels in various
sectors at different stages of development.</p><p>CPEC projects are
expected to extend through various regions in Pakistan from Gilgit to
Gwadar as well as in China. The CPEC will help China and Pakistan in
connecting to markets in Europe, Asia, and other countries in the
region. It is expected that the agreement will create around 700,000
direct jobs if the planned projects are implemented effectively by 2030.
This unique opportunity for economic development of Pakistan, and
opportunities for employment to the large population of unemployed
youth; has raised the hope of all stakeholders that comprise policy
makers, research scholars and the young citizens of Pakistan.</p><p><img class="gmail-alignnone gmail-size-full gmail-wp-image-206247" src="https://1434697713.rsc.cdn77.org/assets/uploads/2018/02/22/Pak-China.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="450"></p><p>CPEC
Project requires resources both in terms of physical infrastructure; as
well as Human Resource Development (HRD) envisaged along with their
timeline. The political, economic, and social implications of this
partnership at various phases of the CPEC International Agreement, also
needs consideration. The government of Pakistan has already set up an
Institutional Framework for CPEC in this regard.</p><p>This Framework
apart from major committees on physical infrastructure mainly OBOR,
Industrial plants to create energy and business centres; comprises two
main sub-committees on social development that focus on people to people
exchanges through media and cultural programs; and transfer of
knowledge through academic training. A number of initiatives are being
undertaken through hosting numerous cultural events, and setting up of
exchange programs with China for knowledge transfer necessary for
economic advancement.</p><blockquote><p>Pakistan is a multilingual state
and the target population is very diverse and large; it may be
virtually next to impossible to teach such a large number of people
Mandarin</p></blockquote><p>In addition, various initiatives are being
undertaken by universities and colleges to teach Mandarin. However,
unplanned attempts to teach Mandarin being made by Pakistan may result
in a loss of revenue and energy; keeping in view the fact that Pakistan
is a multilingual state and the target population is very diverse and
large; it may be virtually next to impossible to train such a large
number of language learners to learn Mandarin.</p><p>In order to achieve
a critical awareness, power relations, including issues of status and
role of languages; the CPEC language policy needs to be carefully
planned. Apart from studies on the academic and knowledge transfer, as
well as cultural awareness programs, through exchange visits; and
cultural events; there is currently no official published study on CPEC
language policy that is available. It is highly recommended that the
government should start planning a language policy with the help of
research studies by university scholars who have expertise in the field.
This is vital as the absence of a ‘de-jure’ language policy would lead
to a ‘de-facto’ language policy, which may be haphazard; when
misunderstandings may arise at different levels due to breakdown of
communication during meetings and negotiations; leading to wastage of
time, energy and funds.</p> <ins class="gmail-adsbygoogle" style="display:block;text-align:center;height:189px"><ins id="gmail-aswift_3_expand" style="display:inline-table;border:medium none;height:189px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:755px;background-color:transparent"><ins id="gmail-aswift_3_anchor" style="display:block;border:medium none;height:189px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:755px;background-color:transparent"></ins></ins></ins> <p></p><p>As
per experts in language policy for international agreements, this would
require a language policy terms of the selection of link languages,
corpus planning, and acquisition planning as well as an analysis of ‘the
present language situation’, that would include language background of
speakers in different domains in partner countries, and the status and
role of different languages in multilingual countries such as China and
Pakistan; conducting a ‘language needs assessment’ in the socio-economic
and cultural context of stakeholders, such as owners or employers at
-the higher levels, managers and supervisors at mid-levels, and skilled
and unskilled workers at lower levels, involved with the developmental
projects; to study the personal and social ‘identity’ and of all
stakeholders and local communities alongside OBOR or Silk Route; to
assess if they have high or low ethno linguistic vitality; and finally
to study the attitudes and motivation of stakeholders to learn the link
languages, and use it with collaborative partners.</p><p>The planning of
a language policy for international agreements is necessary for
successful implementation of CPEC. In addition, this may be a unique
opportunity to develop Urdu — the national language of Pakistan — as an
international language, especially with OBOR passing through where Urdu/
Hindi is the national language; as well as in providing state support
to our marginalized local languages; especially for millions of our
illiterate population of which the majority are women; especially in in
the rural domains where ‘mutual intelligibility,’ with Urdu could be
low.</p><p>If this is not done, there is a possibility of endangering
our Pakistani languages; and above all, the hazardous outcomes that
benefits of CPEC may go the urban educated elites and not the ordinary
citizens; thus maintaining the status quo.</p><p><em>Dr <span class="gmail-il">Sabiha</span> <span class="gmail-il">Mansoor</span>, Professor of English, Lahore School of Economics</em></p></div></article></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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