A criminal case should be booked against the parents who send their kids to english medium schools. They are killing our beautiful language Malayalam and this is a serious crime which should be punished to the fullest extent of law.
Says a professor of a Government school on national radio this morning. I almost spit the coffee I was drinking all over myself. Capital punishment for killing a language? I do make fun of friends who migrated from the gulf when they strutter words like “Malayalam Kurachu Kurachu (Bow Bow) Arriyam”, but sending them to prison? Gimme a break!
I still remember the time when we went on a trip to Tamil Nadu some years back. Thanks to their immense love of Tamil language, we spent half the day trying to figure out where we were supposed to go. Thankfully in recent times the National Highways Authority have started making signs in 3 languages.
So, can a language be really killed? I bunked my first exam in school when I was 13 and went to see Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, and that exam was malayalam. I never saw the reason to study Malayalam as it almost came naturally to me. Though I am from a Tamil brahmin living in Kerala for the past 4 generations, I speak malayalam, and read/write it with some difficulty, yet I do not see the point in learning poetry and prose! I mean, what is the whole idea?
I understand people blogging in Malayalam, but that has more to do with expressing yourself in languages you know best than to do with love for the language. Languages evolve, but do they get killed? Malayalam spoken across the households today is drastically different from what it was some generations back. Times change, so do the ways to express it.
Some years people said “Send a letter after you reach..” but today its more like “Gimme a missed call after you reach….”. After religious fanatism, the thing I hate the most is region or language based fanatism. It is something which has to be checked in the roots so that a country with as diversity as ours is kept united.
Posted by :- The Anand
Hey,
What r u doin here?
BTW good post!
Comment by Shoban — October 13, 2008 @ 11:13 am
I speak malayalam, and read/write it with some difficulty, yet I do not see the point in learning poetry and prose!
I did not learn even a bit of Malayalam in school.I learnt it on my own, because I was interested.
I read Malayalam novels out of interest.Its a personal choice.Nothing can be imposed.
Learning a language throws open whole lot of newer things to you, the literature,culture etc.
-Nikhil
Comment by Nikhil Narayanan — October 13, 2008 @ 11:16 am
What professor said is all because of his high BP infront of the media, lets never mind him.
But the language malayalam, is truely to be preserved and passed to the generations to come. As kerala is the only place where malayalam is mother tongue.
Who started using the word Mother associating a language? Did you mean to change your mother in village to a city hi-fi club lady when the time goes on? Never do that, so is the case with language. But you are free to adopt or learn any language for which you are gifted the super power multiprocessed brain.
Comment by SAF — October 13, 2008 @ 11:41 am
@Nikhil
But it should not be forced.
@SAF
Its really stupid to compare a language with your mother. Mom loves you and takes care of you. Does a language do that ?
A language is just a tool that we use, just like a bike or a car. When a new model is released and is affordable we buy it. Its the same with language also. Its not something to be loved. Its something to be used.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — October 13, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
Dont let love come to you first, try to love some one or something for which you will be paid back.
Will any one gets mother’s love after her death? NO.But language will help you survive and communicate even after mother’s death.
Memories of past will remain through out your life, so is the case with a learned language, like the air we breath, always belong to ourselves and no one elses property nor can you breath for some one.
Comment by SAF — October 13, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
> So, can a language be really killed?
Yes, languages can die, definitely. I fact, the world is losing around one language every week, according to National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis. Check out his TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures.html
Whether languages should be protected from death, that’s another question. I think Davis makes a good argument that they should.
Comment by Guillaume — October 13, 2008 @ 1:20 pm
Is there a problem with a language being dead ? We are not emotional about computer languages being dead, then whats so special about spoken ones ?
I dont thing cultures get endangered, unless ofcourse someone bombs an entire population and kills them.
Cultures evolve, and they must evolve. Culture is not something to be preserved.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — October 13, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
@kenney.
there is a problem if a language is being dead.Especially
if it is a part of your identity.Because human languages are not like a computer languages.never equate a computer language with a human language,both are totally different.(do your server write a poem in java?,
do myths and legends evolve in computer languages,
do a society of machines mark their identity in the history using a computer language?)
A language is to culture what gene is to a species.
Thats why some good litreture can never be successfully translated.
My point is: language is much more than just a tool.
And i agree that culture is not something that can be preserved,it will defend itself through its people
if it is strong enough to survive.
but i strongly believe that languages should be preserved.
Comment by dhanesh — October 13, 2008 @ 2:15 pm
@ Anand
Rightly said! Language is a tool for communication – just like e-mail or telephone. Again the fanaticism shown by some people is just another way to control people.
Since you are basically from TN you will understand this more – as all of TN politics is still based on the Language Tamil!
I am basically a Mallu – settled in Madras. I can neither read or write – Tamil or Malayalam. But I can comfortably speak in both the languages – and I have never had a problem traveling through both the states.
Comment by JMJ — October 13, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
@Dhanesh
Languages die when people stops using it and that simply means it not part of anyones identity any more.
Id say a good piece of code is as good a good piece of poetry. Epics like Windows and linux evolved in programming languages.
My point is that we should never artificially try to preserver a language. Let it die if no one is interested in using it anymore.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — October 13, 2008 @ 7:16 pm
@JMJ
You are right. A language is a medium of communication.
I can speak/read/write Malayalam fluently. But I do not consider it as superior to any language. When in Kerala, I speak Malayalam (also while speaking with mallus).
One thing that I’ve had the opportunity was to study in Mangalore from 11th std. It is such a multi-lingual city that you can always hear these languages at any corner of the city – Tulu, Konkani, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, English, Hindi, Coorgi and so on.
That experience has taught me a few lessons that has guided me linguistically for the rest of my life. No language is special, each has its own utility, beauty and drawbacks too.
So I learned to speak Kannada, and read that with some difficulty too. I figured that I’d never need to write that and hence it is harder.
During my travels through TN, I learned that once you know how to read malayalam it is pretty easy to extrapolate a little bit and learn to read Tamil. And I can speak an improvised Tamil as well.
After living with Konkani friends and later with Anthra friends I understand a bit of Konkani and Telugu too.
I’m trying to learn Spanish out here. Also I speak English with two accents- One is my improvisation of American accent while talking to people at work/school and another toned down version when I talk to Indian friends so that I do not sound pretentious.
So the point is that I do not consider any language as superior to anything else. However, what ever situation I am in, I try to learn the language(or accent) of the people that I am communicating with to maximize my effectiveness. It is not their problem to understand what you are saying.
Adaptability is the key. This also means that having left Bangalore a couple of years ago, my Kannada skills are fading.
Couple this to the fact that I refuse to speak Hindi unless I am in North India (or anywhere Hindi is predominantly spoken) This is just as a retort to the same superiority that i eschewed which is being displayed by people who expect/want to force everyone to speak Hindi.
Comment by Domestic Avalanche — October 13, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
Thanks everyone for your comments, I was travelling for the weekend
@ Guillaume, cultures die due to a lot of reasons but languages rarely die. And if you go thru wikipedia, there is a list of endangered and extinct languages and more.
@ SAF, we need to preserve malayalam? It is evolved from dravidian languages which means we need to preserve that first?
Comment by TheAnand — October 13, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
Language is the best medium for communication and English is Certainly necessary for one’s survival..
But My question is .. WHat abt school authorities who put huge fines,1000 times impositions,and other punishments(like severe beating) etc to students who speak a single word in Malayalam..? I have a cousin studying in an English Medium school in kerala and the system there is, a diary will be passed to one who speaks malayalam and his name will be written in that diary(students themselves passes the diary ).If one sees another speaking malayalam it will be hand overed to him.This system will surely create rivalries between students ,will be generating a new breed who dont know the value of friendship and all..
Now let me show another picture… This is about another Kid who is studying in another EM school which i know.He talked a word in malayalam and was said to write the English word of that 1000 times!Now a days schooling is very much different from old one.. There are projects,Seminars,Assignmnets and the Study load is also pretty high!! Apart from these the Impositions too………!!!! Is that Pathetic???? I think so…. And from this point of view what that professor said gets some weightage.
Comment by linjo — October 13, 2008 @ 9:18 pm
@ everyone
Frankly speaking – you dont need to learn a lot of languages. If you see most of the languages are now adulterated with English. When you are speaking to anyone – listen carefully – you will be surprised to hear the number of English words used. Combined with the persons body language – you should be able to decipher what the other person is saying in most of the cases. (Though I found this a bit difficult to apply with Chinese – as their body language is a bit different
)
Comment by JMJ — October 13, 2008 @ 9:20 pm
I have seen that new students who learn in the so called NRI schools forget malayalam and fails to learn English.. I have studied malayalam well during my school days.. It was one of my favourite subjects till 10th.. And I remember learning poems and prose just for fun during that time..
I feel Malayalam learning should be made compulsory. Cause from the little knowledge I have about 3-4 languages I am familiar with I have felt Malayalam is the best. Maybe its because its my mother tongue..
There is nothing wrong in that Professor telling that.. He just expressed his feelings.. And I feel its true..
Comment by Alex — October 13, 2008 @ 9:25 pm
@Linjo
Yes, as much as the linguistic fanaticism in the name of Malayalam is to be condemned, it applies to English too.
These diaries won’t make them learn English well.
One of the people who speak English the best that I know is a cousin of mine. You would not believe: He studied in a Malayalam Medium school till 10th. Yes, having taught every subject in Malayalam.
He went on to PUC, Engg in Mangalore and now he is the country manager for marketing of a big Singapore firm in India. He deals with the CEOs and Chairmen of different electronics manufacturing companies.
So, I guess fanatical measures are not needed. Hell! I’ve never been forced to speak English. And I do just fine.
Comment by Domestic Avalanche — October 13, 2008 @ 9:54 pm
@Linjo
Punishment methods used by some stupid schools dont make a point for malayalam. You cant force anyone to learn anything. If i dont want my kids to learn malayalam, no one has the right to interfere.
Malayalam is no sacred thing.. its just a f****** language. Why are we trying to give it some god like status ?
Let the prof teach his kids what ever nonsense he wants to. But he has no right to speak for other kids…
Comment by Kenney Jacob — October 13, 2008 @ 9:55 pm
@Anand
You are right buddy. For that it has to be passed from us to the next generation and then further ahead
Comment by SAF — October 13, 2008 @ 10:00 pm
good one…
..nutty professor!
The idea is good…hang someone if they speak anything other than Malayalam..
Comment by scorpiogenius — October 13, 2008 @ 10:56 pm
[...] just came to read a blog post that discusses the linguistic chauvinism and about the need of preserving a certain language. The [...]
Pingback by What about the language? — October 15, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
Not the topic, but the tone of the post! It was very level headed an observation. Not everyone persue blogging to the extend you do. Some just like google search or simply browse. Same applies to the extend of language studies. Some are happy with barely read, write or both, but some want to explore. But as Malayalam being a beautiful language and having made compulsory in Kerala school sylabus (for logical reasons), like any other subject it should take the student to a certain minimum level of proficiency which is decided by a group of eminent malayalam writers and the education board in combination. The student, having enrolled to learn the prescribed sylabus is now left with the following choices, like it, dislike it. fail, pass or come out with flying colours. Having been fortunate to know the richness of the language to whatever extend thru Kerala education, and having migrated to Mumbai and rearing a child who is just about old to learn to read and write, I will go an extra step to teach her malayalam alphabet and expose her to the richness of Malayalam literature. Then it will be her chioce where to stop. She doesnt have it at school
Comment by Lekshmi — October 16, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
@Lekshmi
We dont hate malayalam. Its just that we dont like being forced. Elementary language education is needed and Compulsory stuff until 8th STD is ok.
But trying to force semi sanskrit BS poems hard to understand scholarly literature makes many of us hate it.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — October 16, 2008 @ 6:40 pm
@Kenny,
U again missed the point. The choice is yours! To fail, just pass o do well. Then there sould be another set of artistically inclined people who hate numbers, They might suddenly find that algebra upto 7th has done them good! Remove math for that reason? Its personal choice. How far you want to go! If the concern is about the school’s punishment tactics – Cant help it. suckers are everywhere in every system. If you have the time and energy try exposing them, explaining them….! Dnt let the language be blamed!
Comment by Lekshmi — October 17, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
To all F*** (OOL)s who supported this post!
I m not writing for Malayalam alone – I m writing this for all FOOLS who considers there mother tongue is NOT important!
Just think of expressing your emotions in words…”TRY” it…
Suppose that you are going to meet a person to whom you have done sth wrong & you are going to confess that person! Now think which of these words will translate the EXACT meaning of your emotions…
“I M SORRY”
“ENNODU KSHAMIKANAM”
Just see a fact – A mother tongue is not an acquired one..its a natural one…it has a legacy to speak! All other languages you learn later are ACQUIRED ones….
An acquired language will not convey the MAX emotions to you like your mother tongue DO!
Someone wrote above in comments that…”I know how to speak & write in malayalam, I dont need training”….LOL…Dont you understand that “THATS THE GREAT BLESSING!!” You can understand almost all words of your mothertongue without a dictionary…but what abt an acquired like English?? I m damn sure that no one who commented above will talk to a US native & understand his emotions truelly…you will get his words…but not his heart/emotes.
MALAYALAM is a VERY BLESSED language! – Its a very Independent one – It has its own LETTERS for ALL the possible SOUNDS! – Thats Malayalam’s POWER! You can express every emotions using Malayalam alone…
Now who made this so much blessed?
Do you people know who is M.T Vasudevan nair, who is S.K Pottakad, Basheer, Thakazhi, Kumaranaasan, Vallathol, C.V Balakrishnan, O.N.V ??
Most people will say OLD Malayalam movie songs are “GOLDEN CLASSICS”?
Have you ever thought??
Its bcz Vayalar Ramavarma knew what his mothertongue was!!.He knew what Malayalam was…
Its the LITERATURE of a Language that makes it WEALTHY! that makes it BLESSED! LITERATURE should develop by the blessed works of poets, story writers, novelists etc..
The new generation (we ppl) dont know the value of these…. thats why there is NO Asaaan, NO Vallathol, NO M.T, NO Basheer, NO V.K.N, NO Thakazhi….
Theres an Anil Panachooran, & C.V Balakrishnan (but they belong to previous generation)!!
Can you show a single name from OURS???!
So thats the importance of learning language – LITERATURE SHUD BE DEVELOPED – which makes a language & the people belong to that language blessed!
No wonder the professor of Govt. school got frustrated!!
Comment by jojo — October 20, 2008 @ 7:25 pm
I beg to disagree with you on two things.
1) If you get a fairly good command, you can express what you feel in any language.
As of now, I can, I repeat, I can express what I want to say much better in English than in Malayalam. In malayalam I will have to revert to many of the same english words to get the meaning fully conveyed.
English happens to have an extensive, let us say, ten times the number of words that we have in Malayalam and it takes care of a lot of subtleties that cannot fully explained using malayalam words.
I, by any means, am not claiming that English is perfect or that Malayalam in inferior.
As I have pointed out earlier, do not be fanatical about any one language, even if it is your mother tongue. You just happened to be born at this point of time-space continuum that made malayalam your mother tongue. Do not diss that, but do not diss other languages either.
Comment by Domestic Avalanche — October 20, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
2) No, Malayalam does not have letters for all possible sounds.
Maybe it does have letters for all possible sounds spoken in Malayalam.
I does not have a letter to represent the “A” sound in even such a simple word as “bank”. Some try to approximate it to Bey-nk or Bah-nk when it is written.
It does not have a letter to represent the pronounciation of “G” is Spanish. (Which is a soft G – almost sounds like H)
These are two small
However, these does not make it an inferior language. It is the way it is and has all the sounds to represents the words in this language.
It is OK to be proud of ones language. But to claim that it is the most superior language in the world is not a wise statement.
Again, I agree with your opinion that the young generation should be made aware of the literature of Malayalam. But even there, moderation is the key, as after some level, the benefit that people get from the education diminishes and only the people who are interested should be learning that.
Comment by Domestic Avalanche — October 20, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
Hey man! I was not saying ENGLISH is inferior or Malayalam is superior!!
I said @ begining of comment that “I m writing this for all FOOLS who considers there mother tongue is NOT important!”
Its not the INFERIOR-SUPERIOR fight or so..!
‘I does not have a letter to represent the “A” sound in even such a simple word as “bank”. Some try to approximate it to Bey-nk or Bah-nk when it is written.’
Hey, see the pronounciation of two words using “A”
1. Bank or After ( gives sound “aa”)
2. Atheist ( gives sound “eh”)
The same letter “A” used to represent two different sounds!! Just an example & a million exist.
Now to your comment
“2) No, Malayalam does not have letters for all possible sounds.Maybe it does have letters for all possible sounds spoken in Malayalam. ”
What I felt is I can represent any sound using the “Swarangal” “Vyanjanangal” “deerkangal” & the epenthentic vowel in Malayalam “Samvruthokaram”
You just take a word in English & “TRY” write it in malayalam…Lets see what happens?
Now I feel pity on kenney jacobs comment
“Malayalam is no sacred thing.. its just a f****** language. Why are we trying to give it some god like status ?”
I said, I am not campaigning for Malayalam, but am damn against who abuses their mother tongue, like the one who made the above comment
Comment by jojo — October 20, 2008 @ 11:10 pm
@Lekshmi
Point noted. There should be more freedom in schools as to what all subjects students want to study. If I want to learn guitar, there should be some means and the school should give me credit for that. If after 8th I choose not to study regular mathematics and instead learn social work, that should be ok with the school.
@Jojo
Malayalam is blessed language. Well every language is blessed in one way or the other. English, French and even dead languages (Sanskrit) can show off its set of literature. Its no big deal.
And regarding the list of writers, its again a personal choice. You might like a set of writers, but might not like them. I hate the father of our language, “Mr Ezhuthachan”. His semi Sanskrit stuff troubled me a lot on school, even though not his fault.
I prefer modern writer and modern poets, cos I can sync with them better.
And why there are no classics in our generation, Can you say who decides what is a classic and what is not. ? A set of so called intellectuals … right…… they have difficulty accepting the new generation… thats all…
If the proff is worried, let him write some classics or let him arrange study classes or training for the new generation. In a free country there is no way someone in forcing it down my throat. Its utter stupidity to go on AIR making nonsense statements.
I still stand by my statement. Language is just a tool which we use to express ourselves and communicate.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — October 21, 2008 @ 10:32 am
@ Kenney
Your personal freedom is OKAY! Who came to place knife on that?? ehh? I didn’t say anything related to your personal freedom!
“And why there are no classics in our generation, Can you say who decides what is a classic and what is not. ? A set of so called intellectuals … right…… they have difficulty accepting the new generation… thats all…”
Its not some “intellectuals” who determines such things. Dont you have brains & hearts to understand a work is classic or not after reading/watching that?
Just take a look @ cinema, CINEMA is d most influential & widely accepted form of media – in our age! isn’t it? Its not like drama,novels,etc etc..Its REACH is pretty big!
Now take a look @ the present Malayalam cinema – (chottamumbai, madambi, mayabasar,chocolate, BULLSHITS..a load of!)
Keeping this in mind take a look @ Golden classics of malayalam – that of d age of geniuses like Padmarajan, Bharathan, Lohithadas , M.T, John Paul etc (Films like Thoovanathumpikal, Namuk paarkan munthirithoppukal, Innale, Vysali, Vazhvemaayam, Chemmeen, Kireedom)
Now say, wheres your new generation classics?? LOL… Yaa! You have a lot of “classics” like Mayabasar, Lolipop, Parunth…LOL
I choose cinema media to make my point bcz everyone will be knowing abt these ppl! The reason ppl like Padmarajan, M.T, Bharatan, Lohi, cud make classics bcz they all were knowing what Literature is!
The new generation ppl dont know what is it & thats y they fails!
Its the quality of ppl involved in Literature reflects in their medias like Novel, cinema, drama etc.
Every language has a HEART!
Comment by Jojo — October 21, 2008 @ 11:48 am
@Jojo
You did not get my point.
The point is that the sounds in different languages are totally different. People try to approximate those sounds with a letter or sound from one language to represent it.
As you said, all the ““Swarangal” “Vyanjanangal” “deerkangal” & the epenthentic vowel in Malayalam “Samvruthokaram” can represent all the sounds in Malayalam , but not in many other languages.
Similarly, you can only approximate “zha” in English and I doubt if there are any one in the world other than a malayalee who can pronounce it the right way. But that does not make any language inferior too.
All i decried was the fanaticism in the name of languages.
Comment by Domestic Avalanche — October 21, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
@jojo
Wanna see a new generation classic ? Go watch Gulmohar.
And its the not the language that has a heart, its the user who has it.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — October 22, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
@ KENNEY
Ofcourse! GULMOHAR is a great film..Everyone MUST watch!
cmon, go & make one more that outshines Gulmohar or atleast competes one like that…with our gen ppl!
Comment by Jojo — October 22, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
Thirakkadha !!!!!!
Need more ?
Comment by Kenney Jacob — October 23, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
Hahaha! is “Thirakkada” that much great!!! Its an attempt for a good cinema (thats all!)…Not at all a great film!
Dont forget that ppl like Renjith, Jayaraj are well experianced & they doesn’t belong to our young gen! (btw…this not a movie fight post!!)
Just noticed your comment #22
”
@Lekshmi
We dont hate malayalam. Its just that we dont like being forced. Elementary language education is needed and Compulsory stuff until 8th STD is ok.
But trying to force semi sanskrit BS poems hard to understand scholarly literature makes many of us hate it. ”
What malayalam did wrong for that? If you dont wanna be forced GO & BLAME our EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM!
I m happy …tht..atleast you dont hate malayalam!….LOL
Comment by Jojo — October 23, 2008 @ 7:32 pm