English makes economic sense
It is duty of every English-knowing Tamilian to teach the language to Tamilians around him/her who don’t know English.
Though any individual’s power of language does not reflect intelligence, still, language matters in everybody’s life. A man who knows two languages is equal to two men. In fact, a little focused interest in any language is sufficient to help one learn it and to converse in it.
Before going into the importance of learning English, let us understand the strength of our language, Tamil, and other old languages of the world. A language’s literature plays a vital role in every human being’s life. If you take Tamil literature, you will find information on science, history, medicine, geography, philosophy, psychology, social science, morals, politics, economics, agriculture, environmental science…Tamil is rated among the oldest five languages of the world: Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Arabic.
Of these five languages, only three - Hebrew, spoken by the Jews, Arabic spoken by the Arabs and Tamil spoken by Tamilians - are alive in the midst of today’s powerful English, crossing eras and ages purely on the strength of their literature and the people to whom these languages belong.
In today’s modern world of economics and science, every Tamilian should try to learn English not only to strengthen their economics and science but also to strengthen Tamil literature through interaction with Tamilians all over the world. Look at the Chinese who have taken an oath to educate 350 million of their countrymen in English before 2005. Why? It is makes economic sense.
Hebrew: Spoken by Jews who own the world’s best fortune 500 companies and control the world’s economy and development of science. Israel was formed in 1947 during powerful English days, as Jews all over the world wanted a separate identity for their country and to speak their national language. The Bible shows Jews spreading across the world and taking advantage of every language to participate in the world’s economy. They did not give up their identity of being a Jew and their language. But they were not averse towards any language and learnt the language of the area. A similar behaviour can be noticed only among the Keralites: look at their settlements and the way they integrate in other states and yet retain their identity.
Arabic: Again the world’s richest oil wells-owned countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar never give up their identity of being Arabs or even their signboards and software at the airports. At the same time, they aren’t averse to American and British schools functioning across the region or people flying over to London for Cambridge education. An Arabic-English scholar insists on instructions in Arabic on consumer product packs. That is the power of economics. Also, 1.2 billion Muslims across the world, irrespective of their mother tongue say their prayers by chanting the Koran written in Arabic.
Tamil: You cannot sea toilet bath soap manufactured in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Penang, Fiji without instructions in Tamil. Again, economics of affluent Tamilians living in these countries matter.
Those who speak these languages are clear that (a) to communicate and make a living they need English (b) to enjoy a social life they need their language: A fine understanding.
In 1999, I had been to Colombo on a business assignment for an organisation I worked for. I could see the 40-plus people speaking stylish English, Tamil and Sinhalese. But the 20-plus youngsters did not speak anything but Sinhalese. This resulted in zero immigration to the West in recent years. Back home, unemployment was growing.
In the same year, I had gone to Bahrain as a consultant to very big Arab empire corporation. During my six months consulting time, more than 50 Tamil employees in that organisation use to knock at my doors on the weekends: Thursdays and Fridays, seeking assistance as they could not speak a word of English or Hindi. Making use of my position as consulted I recruited a teacher who knew Hindi, English and Tamil and taught them Hindi and English after office hours at the cost of employers.
I have been in Mumbai for the last six years. Trains have stopped coming to Mumbai carrying Tamilian youngsters for jobs as they do not know Hindi or English. The pre-1970 days are gone: no English, no Hindi, no job anywhere. Their place has been taken over by Bihari and Uttar Pradesh youngsters. How is it possible for Tamil Nadu to create jobs overnight for all its young people?
I do not blame the politicians on this and their involvement in promoting the regional language. All that I say as an experienced traveller is that the approach towards the language issue by the politicians is not practical. They should look at the need of integrating the language with other languages for the livelihood of their people.
To support my argument, I would like to quote an example: “A very intelligent Tamil-speaking boy from a small village, a topper from the pre-university Tamil medium, does not know a word of English, goes to medical college. There he is frustrated with the insufficient Tamil reference books in medicine or he struggles to understand the English books.” Here brains is not the issue. The issue is not knowing a language and reflect the government’s policy.
Once a minister happened to be my co-passenger on a train. I do not want to name the minister or the state he belongs to. I suggested that regional educational publications should be supported with original English words in English in addition to the literal transaction of the English word. He reacted angrily, saying his party was proactive in preventing the promotion of English, without understanding why I was suggesting the approach.
I have traveled very widely across the Indian cities, urban towns, districts, taluks, and villages. Everywhere I see unlimited intelligence and analytical skills among youngsters. But at the end of the day, they do not rise in society because of not knowing English.
Not knowing English not only upsets the individual’s earning capacity, it creates a lot of social imbalance. I would like to use horrific terms of comparisons like upper caste Vs lower caste or civilised Vs uncivilised. Because of this fear alone, the economically-weaker sections and even slum-dwellers in cities send their children to English-medium nurseries even if it means wiping out their hard-earned money.
Every move of mankind should work towards a complete meal at least twice a day. Once that happens, the mind relaxes and is fresh and ready to learn and work. So to earn my basic needs I need to communicate. To communicate, I need language. English is good tool. Instead of protesting against this universal language,
master Tamil and learn the basics of English for a comfortable living.
Mani Thirumurthy
A23/603 ‘Happy Valley” III Phase,
Manpada, Thane, Mumbai – 400607.
Mobile : 9820912290
