I hope that you enjoy reading this post on the weekly Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium where six of us write on the same topic. Today’s topic was chosen by The Old Fossil. The five other bloggers who write regularly are, in alphabetical order, gaelikaa, Maxi, Paul, Shackman, and The Old Fossil. Do drop in on their blogs and see what their take is on this week’s topic. Since some of them may post late, do give some allowance for that too!
TOF forgot that he has got me in the LBC. Most urban Indians, fluently speak, read and write two languages at least, one of them being English. Many like me are fluent in English and at least two more Indian languages. In my case, I can read, write and speak English, Tamil, Hindi and Marathi and can speak Malalyalam and Gujarthi well enough to comfortably navigate in Gujarat and Kerala.
English despite not being an Indian language is Sine Qua Non in India for being the link language between the many states proud of their own local languages. All attempts to make Hindi the national language so far have failed and learning English as a second language has become an obsession with Indians of languages, states and economic strata.
Any mobile Indian has to be able to manage English, his/her mother tongue and the local language where his career takes him. If he is a salesman or in a job where his work takes him to many states, the more languages he learns to speak, the more successful he is.
The advantages are obvious and I pity those who cannot learn a second language for all that they miss.
Comments are closed.