Living in this country and not knowing English has become like a matter of shame for quite a lot of people! This is especially true in urban India.
Wherever you go, you speak English and you are important. If you don’t know English then you are low-class, dumb, unimportant! Be it educational institutions, high-class restaurants, shopping malls, social-clubs or whatever other places. English speaking people are considered to be superior species.
I have friends who have not done their education in English language. When they have to go for a corporate job interview they are more worried about their English than about the job related knowledge! Because corporate interviews here are supposed to be only in English! Anyone who is not good with English and has been a job-seeker would know this.
In this country people are denied higher education in some high-class institutions if they have not done their preliminary education in English. Or they are severely discriminated against even after admission!
Amongst the west-crazy urban youth of this country (who don’t know that even “the west” is not this crazy about English!) he who doesn’t know English is considered poor! If he is talked to then it’s no better than how one would talk to a joker. In most cases, however, he is simply shunned and left to the company of others like him only. Be it to his professor or a hot babe in the class, he is simply unattractive! I won’t deny that there’s this sensible class of people too who don’t tend to show such diseased mentality but even then they sort of feel awkward about their reputation in general when being with someone who does not know English!
People are made fun of over their pronunciation, grammar, accent and what not of English! Well, making fun in a healthy way is not all that bad. But when it’s English it’s not always healthy. Making fun of someone’s English is done more than just for having a healthy laugh. It’s used as a way to belittle other and prove one’s intellectual superiority in front of a group of people. Because people all over hold this idiotic notion that knowing English is something over-the-top great!
There’s this reality show, Dance India Dance, in which one of the contestants, Manoj, is from a poor background of being a street dancer and, of course, does not know English. And for not knowing English the poor boy is subjected to so much of embarrassment every time he comes on the stage. No wonder his performance must be getting affected by it. I find it highly abominable how in almost every episode the judges and the host of the show crack fun off him, asking him to say something in English and then laughing their fat brains out! So utterly disgusting it is! Of course, it provides a dose of laughter to the imbecile audience of the show but one can clearly see the indignation-mixed nervousness on the boy’s face. Once he also requested one of the judges not to make fun of him in this way but even the request fell on darn deaf ears! Height of authoritative power that is! Well, I won’t go deep into the details of the show. But this is immensely sickening. I wholeheartedly detest this gross mentality!
I am not one of those fanatic proud-to-be-Indian-and-of-all-that-is-Indian people. I don’t even believe in India, let aside what is Indian. I myself love English more than any other language of the world today. When it comes to saying which is my language, I love to say it is English! But, that does not mean I would inferiorize other languages and the speakers of those!
It’s a common-sense thing that you would know only that language which you have learned. The one which is used around you, in your family and friends. No one is born with a pre-installed language! If some one grows up studying in some other language for xyz reason then he doesn’t know English. So what? What’s the matter with these people!
One of the fellow bloggers, Gauri, rightly observes: In India, English has somehow become irrevocably linked with the confidence and job prospects of a student. It has become a standard benchmark to judge capabilities.
That’s lamentable, but true.
I just have this message for the English speaking people: If someone is able to communicate in any one language (whichever it is) as well as you do in English then he/she is as good as you are, so long as the communication skills are concerned. Respect that. As for the other qualities of a person, English is certainly not the yardstick! If you can’t understand this then it’s you who is seriously lacking in intelligence!
Wherever you go, you speak English and you are important. If you don’t know English then you are low-class, dumb, unimportant! Be it educational institutions, high-class restaurants, shopping malls, social-clubs or whatever other places. English speaking people are considered to be superior species.
I have friends who have not done their education in English language. When they have to go for a corporate job interview they are more worried about their English than about the job related knowledge! Because corporate interviews here are supposed to be only in English! Anyone who is not good with English and has been a job-seeker would know this.
In this country people are denied higher education in some high-class institutions if they have not done their preliminary education in English. Or they are severely discriminated against even after admission!
Amongst the west-crazy urban youth of this country (who don’t know that even “the west” is not this crazy about English!) he who doesn’t know English is considered poor! If he is talked to then it’s no better than how one would talk to a joker. In most cases, however, he is simply shunned and left to the company of others like him only. Be it to his professor or a hot babe in the class, he is simply unattractive! I won’t deny that there’s this sensible class of people too who don’t tend to show such diseased mentality but even then they sort of feel awkward about their reputation in general when being with someone who does not know English!
People are made fun of over their pronunciation, grammar, accent and what not of English! Well, making fun in a healthy way is not all that bad. But when it’s English it’s not always healthy. Making fun of someone’s English is done more than just for having a healthy laugh. It’s used as a way to belittle other and prove one’s intellectual superiority in front of a group of people. Because people all over hold this idiotic notion that knowing English is something over-the-top great!
There’s this reality show, Dance India Dance, in which one of the contestants, Manoj, is from a poor background of being a street dancer and, of course, does not know English. And for not knowing English the poor boy is subjected to so much of embarrassment every time he comes on the stage. No wonder his performance must be getting affected by it. I find it highly abominable how in almost every episode the judges and the host of the show crack fun off him, asking him to say something in English and then laughing their fat brains out! So utterly disgusting it is! Of course, it provides a dose of laughter to the imbecile audience of the show but one can clearly see the indignation-mixed nervousness on the boy’s face. Once he also requested one of the judges not to make fun of him in this way but even the request fell on darn deaf ears! Height of authoritative power that is! Well, I won’t go deep into the details of the show. But this is immensely sickening. I wholeheartedly detest this gross mentality!
I am not one of those fanatic proud-to-be-Indian-and-of-all-that-is-Indian people. I don’t even believe in India, let aside what is Indian. I myself love English more than any other language of the world today. When it comes to saying which is my language, I love to say it is English! But, that does not mean I would inferiorize other languages and the speakers of those!
It’s a common-sense thing that you would know only that language which you have learned. The one which is used around you, in your family and friends. No one is born with a pre-installed language! If some one grows up studying in some other language for xyz reason then he doesn’t know English. So what? What’s the matter with these people!
One of the fellow bloggers, Gauri, rightly observes: In India, English has somehow become irrevocably linked with the confidence and job prospects of a student. It has become a standard benchmark to judge capabilities.
That’s lamentable, but true.
I just have this message for the English speaking people: If someone is able to communicate in any one language (whichever it is) as well as you do in English then he/she is as good as you are, so long as the communication skills are concerned. Respect that. As for the other qualities of a person, English is certainly not the yardstick! If you can’t understand this then it’s you who is seriously lacking in intelligence!
In MNCs, an executive is supposed to interact with their English clients. Understandable that for such positions, a fluent english speaking candidate will be hired. But when a non-english speaking person is mocked at, it is utterly disgusting.
ReplyDeleteUmmm... you do have a point there. But in India we do not have a 'reading culture' nor do we have a culture which emphasises on knowledge. Plus we have this obnoxious trend about the 'supremacy of one's mother tongue', etc. Which is equally damaging if not more.
ReplyDeleteEnglish is being spoken in this land for over 300 years and it has heavily borrowed from sanskrit as well as several other regional/vernacular languages spoken here... as well as from other languages spoken elsewhere.
Well... I agree with you in parts. But not completely. It might not be nice... but it is true that those who speak english well in this country at least are from better backgrounds. That manifests itself in so many ways. And that's why the prejudice.
ReplyDeleteEnglish is the language of the world today. And if you want mobility in your life and career you better know it.
Having said that... I don't think any1 has the right to put down any1. You've got to stop watching reality shows bro. It's shows like those that give the tv it's pseudonym of 'idiot box'!
@AJai,
ReplyDelete"You've got to stop watching reality shows bro. It's shows like those that give the tv it's pseudonym of 'idiot box'!"
First of all, thanks for commenting.
I am very well aware of the "reality" of reality shows, and am not particularly interested in them. With that, I would also say that maybe what I described of the show above is all-fake, just a stunt to humor the audience.
But the fact of the matter is that even if that's an entertainment stunt, they do it because people enjoy it. People enjoy someone doing something when they see their reflection in what they are seeing. And that proves the ugliness of people's mentality!
If seeing some one being humiliated for not knowing English humors people then that, I would maintain, is pathetic!
"English is the language of the world today. And if you want mobility in your life and career you better know it."
Where am I against it? Didn't I say that I myself love English more than any language in the world? I have only expressed my disgust for those who inferiorize other languages and the speakers of those (without knowing/testing their potential).
well these kind of things happens, and will continue to happen
ReplyDeleteQuite true.
ReplyDeleteEven I faced this problem. And used to find this so stressful that I finally decided to get rid of it. I speak english quite well now.
But I do know it was only out of external pressure that I decided to invest my time in it.
Sad that people don't see the substance, but only the veneer. Today so much depends on just the presentation. It's discouraging.