Future of English In India | Social Issue Essay, Article, Paragraph for Class 12, Graduation and Competitive Examination.

Future of English In India

Scheme of the Essay

Exposition: Language is more than a medium of communication.

Rising Action: Native language is natural to the people of those places.

Climax:

(1) Diversity of languages does not allow us to pick up one language.

(2) A break with the mother tongue means a break with culture.

(3) Adoption of a foreign language lowers the prestige of a nation.

(4) Hindi is spoken by only 4 crore people.

(5) English keeps us in touch with our current thoughts.

Falling Action: Some may like to banish English because of patriotic feelings.

Ending: We will have to retain English.

Language is more than a medium of communication, man’s thinking depends upon the vocabulary available in a language. Moreover, language like culture is the product of historical experiences and environmental influences. For example, in India, the inclemencies of weather and the power of natural forces had created fear of Nature. That is why people started worshipping every object of Nature; we have a river God, a rain Goad, the Goddess of agriculture, etc. Consequently, we have become God-fearing and somewhat spiritual in our outlook. That is why our languages are rich in the vocabulary of spirituality. It is by keeping these things in mind that some people say English should be replaced by Hindi both as an official language and as a medium of instruction.

India is a multilingual state and according to a recent study 1652 languages are spoken in India and there are innumerable dialects. Where there is so much diversity of languages it is very difficult to pick up one language as a national language. That is why people of the South never wanted Hindi which is nothing less than a foreign language for them. Under such circumstances, if any language is imposed upon the people it would result in separatist tendencies. So the supporters of English think that English can keep the whole of India united.

Another argument given in support of Hindi is that a break with the mother tongue would mean a break with our culture. No one can deny the fact that there should be a living contact with the culture of the nation. But it is extremely difficult to accept those aspects of the Indian culture which are coming in conflict with the materialistic aspect of present-day life. For example, to accept the different stages of life as has been by Vedas amounts to our indifference to the material progress that man has made. Similarly, some aspects of our culture have become irrelevant. That is why Mr. Nehru once said, “We must break with much of our past and should not allow it to dominate the present.” Under such circumstances, acceptance of our culture as the only way of life will not be in tune with present-day life. Let our culture be grafted with the present-day trends so that it may become relevant to the present conditions. That is possible by retaining English as a medium of instruction.

It has also been said that the adoption of a foreign language lowers the prestige of a nation. They say that the national language gives individuality and identity to the nation. Even this argument will hold if we take a narrow view of our life. The world is moving towards internationalism and we cannot remain within the four walls of narrow thinking. It is necessary that by learning a foreign language we may develop a sort of cosmopolitan culture.

It has also been held that the Hindi language which we are going to adopt as the national language is not spoken by more than 4 crores of people in India. The supporters of Hindi say that this language is the basis of all other Indian languages. But this is not a cogent argument because if we follow that line of thinking we will have to say that Sanskrit is the mother of all Indian languages, so why shouldn’t we adopt Sanskrit as the national language?

English is an international language and gives us the latest currents of thought. A break from the English language would mean a break with the latest thinking, so it is better to remain in touch with English in order to be conversant with the latest advancements in thinking. It is because of this reason that UGC has recently taken a decision that candidates for lectureship should take a test in English. It has been felt that higher education without English is not possible. It is necessary to benefit from the richest source of knowledge which is English. Some may appeal to the patriotic feeling by saying that English is the language of foreigners and its continuance means intellectual slavery. So, they want an independent India should not retain English. But the devil must be given his due and if we do not give, we are the sufferers. We will have to continue with English even if we hate it or even if we consider it a vestige of colonial rule.