Pakistan: Language instinct

[Harold Schiffman]

*Language instinct

*Friday, June 13, 2008
Harris Khalique

Michael Henderson once writing for a British newspaper quoted how John
Osborne fulminated when he read someone declaring George Bernard Shaw the
greatest British dramatist since Shakespeare. Osborne said: "(Shaw) writes
likes a Pakistani who has learnt English when he was 12-year-old in order to
become a chartered accountant." The Hendersons and Osbornes flaunt the
characteristic snobbery of native speaker intelligentsia. Shaw was Irish and
Joseph Conrad was Polish. For a long time, the treatment their work received
from arch English critics stemmed out of a deep-rooted conviction that only
the native speakers are able to learn and write their language properly and
it is their sanctioned duty to correct, criticise and certify all others.

I phoned Arif Waqar, the linguist, writer, broadcaster and TV producer, who
has returned to Lahore after spending over two decades abroad. Listening to
me intently on the subject and agreeing to some of my observations, the
linguist in him asserted that may be the examples are not correct but to an
extent Henderson is right when he insists on the usage of good, standard
language. In our context, while Waqar dismisses the arrogance of the
erstwhile native speakers of Urdu about the idiom and pronunciation of
others using the language, he maintains that one should not take language
for granted. He feels frustrated by the incorrect usage at such a large
scale including in the media and the banal attitude of policy makers and
academics towards language education in Pakistan. Dr Noman-ul-Haq, currently
at LUMS and who otherwise teaches near eastern languages and civilisations
at University of Pennsylvania, states that one of the primary reasons for
the country's underdevelopment is our bad language proficiency in any
language we use. The competence in any language we acquire defines the
possibilities in our lives, individually and collectively.

In Pakistan, the issue is not just technical. It is an unresolved political
matter as well when it comes to deciding the medium of instruction, the
language in which the affairs of the state are run and decisions are made,
the language of power, prestige and lucrative employment, and of higher
learning in physical and social sciences. Good language education, in any
language that is used for general acquisition and impartation of knowledge,
is a right of every citizen and a prerequisite for any intellectual,
artistic, literary and technological developments in a society. We need to
take our language policy seriously which would include the policy of
language education. The financial and technical investments required for
good language education, be it methodology, curriculum, teachers,
infrastructure, should at least match what we spent through Higher Education
Commission and the grants it proffered over the past few years.

As far as the approach is concerned, it should be acknowledged that since
English is a true global lingua franca and a language of both commerce and
trade, and knowledge, every Pakistani must be given an opportunity to learn
it to be able to acquire specialised skills and new expertise. However,
neither English nor Urdu should be used to exclude people from political
power, social prestige and a respectable life. The function of Urdu has also
changed from being a language imposed by the state at the cost of other
languages as viewed by some nationalists to being a peoples' language -- a
shared language for running inter-provincial and inter-regional affairs, in
addition to being the medium of popular discourse, journalism and
entertainment. Three quarters of the literate population in Pakistan is
literate only in Urdu. Urdu must replace English at the federal level and
major national languages like Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto, Balochi and Seraiki
should be taught and used at the provincial and district levels to give
people the basic right to learn their languages and include them in decision
making. In addition to the major languages, all mother tongues, like Hindko,
Brahvi, Potohari, Gujarati, Shina, Brushiski, Wakhi and Dhataki, etc must be
seen as national languages and taught compulsorily in schools. Let a
thousand flowers bloom!

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=118261
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