Let’s take time out from the political debates in Bangladesh. Enough about foreign and domestic propaganda to “malign the image of Bangladesh”. Let’s also put aside Bangla Bhai and budding Islamic militant groups like his. Let’s forget about the atmosphere of political vendetta that plagues both major political parties. Let’s forget about the India-US-Israel axis that is supposedly hell bent on destroying the sovereignty and prosperity of Bangladesh!

Let’s talk instead about Bangladeshi linguistic characteristics. We hear constant banter about how the standard of English has deteriorated in Bangladesh since her independence. People from bright students to high level officials turn into vegetables when confronted with dealings in foreign settings or negotiations. The government out of panacea has recently probed two public Universities as to whether they are to change the medium of instruction back to English (as was the case in the 60’s). Wealthy parents in Dhaka continue send their off-springs to the mushrooming “English Medium Schools” spread throughout Dhanmondi, Gulshan and the like in order for them not to miss out on the information age (and possibly a foreign one!).

But has any one wondered why the standard of Bangla has not come into collective consciousness as of late? Yes, we are blessed with numerous Bangla newspapers and magazines. Bangladesh Betar, BTV and the private channels are performing their duties in protecting Bengalis against the onslaught of Hindi and English “perversions”. The state schools are in Bangla and the literary and cultural scene cannot be accused of being dormant.

However, this scribe cannot help but witnessing that “International Mother Tongue” day, the global name for “21st February” or Bangladesh’s Language Movement in 1952 has culminated into nothing but a joke. The day returns once a year to remind us all not of the importance of mother tongue in the daily life, or of its significance in snow balling a country’s independence, but of how pathetic the population at large has become in using it correctly and consistently.

Simply listen to a television or radio interview of a politician or an academic in Bangladesh. Or chat with a hard working student or teacher from an English medium school. Or simply observe the cacophony of the middle and upper classes in general. Has it escaped all that the concerned educated and moneyed individuals suffer from an innate inability and sheer unwillingness to complete a single sentence in Bangla? Has it not occurred to any one that English words are being used in place where perfectly suitable Bangla words exist? Has no one noticed that “Rastrapati” has been replaced by “President” in the Bangla press and “Protibedon” has been replaced by “Report” in news read by ATN Bangla staff?

Of course every one has. But no one feels compelled to bat an eye lid. It has been accepted since colonial days that colouring one’s Bangla sentences with English words is a sign of education, status and wealth. The inability to use English jargon in one’s conversation and increasingly in one’s writing is viewed by society at large as a symptom of being “khat” or insultingly less than fashionable/metropolitan.

This mentality has coupled with the demands of science, medicine and other branches of higher education (where Bangla dares to tread). On top of that has arrived forces of globalization, business, satellite TV, and the internet where the omnipresent use of English has superseded any thought to the trampling on the integrity of the local vernacular.

Globalization and the proliferation of the internet have contributed to the entrance of English words in languages with strong sense of tradition like French and German. The new entrants are mostly new words and phrases that were invented for the specific needs of those areas. Though the French authorities have translated the word computer, most of them rarely use it. The computer was an invention by English speaking people and it can be argued that the object retain its natural name which was prescribed to it no matter what language is spoken (the French effort to have an official word in there own language is still noteworthy!).

The situation in Bangladesh and more acutely in South Asia in general is somewhat more disturbing. The onslaught of the internet and globalization has only recently affected the languages. As I have indicated earlier, the region and culture has long suffered from inferiority complex due to British colonial rule. This has affected how people use their language and how they perceive it.

Most Bangla speakers in Bangladesh are unaware unless pointed out how they are replacing Bangla words willingly or unwillingly. The irony is not lost on the story where a rickshaw puller had no idea where to take his customer when asked to proceed to Dhaka Bishwabiddalaya.

Upon finally realizing that the passenger wanted to go to Dhaka University, the rickshaw man asked why the passenger wouldn’t say it in Bangla!
Globalization, and the advancement of medicine, science and technology will indeed introduce many English words to Bangla and other languages in the world. Some like this scribe may only hope that establishments like Bangla Academy (an institution in Dhaka that upholds the integrity of the language in Bangladesh but still has been unable to come with a suitably local word for Academy) and Bishwa Bharati in Bengal in India will be able to translate some of these new words. But that is not of as much priority as is of how a nation or a linguistic group views its own language and the importance of its integrity.

My attempt to bring about this discussion in Dhaka was futile. I was unimpressed by the justification of the use of English in Bangla sentences by the fact that the English words “chair” and “table” have entered the language long time ago and any attempt to introduce “kursee” and “kedara” respectively will be met by untold ridicule by all. I however accept this argument.

The objects chair and table are European, possibly English inventions brought to the Indian subcontinent by the British and the use of those words has become so entrenched that we need not go back to a translation that was possibly artificial. But this need not let us be oblivious to the fact that existing Bangla words are being replaced in addition to new English words joining in. I welcome new words even if they are to remain non-translated. However, the preference to use the English version when a Bangla one exists is something this scribe finds troubling.

The reason for the preference has been mentioned already. I however ask Bangladeshi society to think more radically and examine the role of English Medium Schools. Does a country that prides itself on the likes of 21st of February and one that attained nationhood on the basis of linguistic difference from the Pakistanis, need to create a separate class of Anglophone weeds that are generally void of proficiency in the Bangla language and cultural awareness of the Bengali spirit and humour?

Moreover, in doing so, does the country need to condemn the rest of the people who go to Bangla schools to lower status? Is it not possible instead to elevate the method of English teaching in Bangla schools? I strongly advocate like everyone else, the learning of English as second language. But this need not be done through establishing or re-establishing English as a medium of instruction throughout Bangladesh’s education system. That is not how the Germans and the Japanese are learning English.

Modern conversational English can be taught from an early level using modern methods after a child has developed a solid foundation in Bangla. Some literature and vocational English can be combined as the child progresses through higher classes. The possibility of improvement in the teaching of English in Bangla schools is endless. I call upon authorities to seek help from the British Council in Dhaka in obtaining audio tapes so that students have a better understanding of how to pronounce words correctly (not how their teachers pronounce them).

But the recent talk of re-introducing English as a medium of instruction in Bangladesh’s public Universities is alarmingly off the mark. All efforts must be made in jointly elevating Bangla’s status as sustainable medium of instruction through the higher studies as well as that of teaching of English as a second language all throughout. This subtle but different approach has long term ramifications for Bangla.

This language has no future of surviving globalization unless it is used with integrity and confidence. Many languages will perish over the next few decades precisely because of this reason. On the other hand, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean are already omnipresent in the internet. They have developed and retained their own sets of knowledge base and ideas that will continue to flourish. Indians don’t realize the richness they will lose once their various languages lose value (listen to a Hindi presenter on an Indian channel and you will be left with no doubt that an English only speaker will comprehend most of what goes on!).

Since speakers of South Asian languages do not take their languages seriously as I have argued so far, prospective learners of these languages will be left with no worthwhile incentive to look at them any differently. Bangladeshis are failing to add business value to their language. One cannot help but wonder what intellectual value will be left of this language only after a couple of generations. National Poet Rabindranath and Rebel Poet Nazrul must be turning in their graves. What hope do we have left for Bangla when the official website of the Bangladesh government is in English only? Perhaps this “not so Bangla” sentence will sum it up: “Twenty First of February te Language Movement kore amra amader Mother Tongue ke establish korechhi”.


Riaz Osmani
UK
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