The conundrum of multi-languages is something I grew up with. My "mother tongue" was Swahili (now forgotten), my first son's was French, my second son's was English, they speak German at work etc. For example, Belgium has three official languages, Switzerland four, Spain three too. It's easier to get along when you have 300 languages than when you have 2 or 3. In Belgium, the fight came not about the languages themselves but about the social status they had: French was upper class, Flemish was peasant/lower class, whereas German was considered OK. It's a long story of Middle Ages dominance and shifting sovereignty. In the UK, it's the accent that matters and it's unfair to a huge slice of the population; language as a social status instead of a means of communication and exchange is the crux.
There is more to say, but that will be for next time.
I live in India and I certainly don't think that Hindi should be imposed on all. Since, I work for the government, I have encountered the challenges involved in having multitude of languages several times. A lot of effort and resource goes into translation that may not even be very good in terms of quality. Language is also used for political grandstanding. Truly a conundrum for which I don't know if there is any solution.
The conundrum of multi-languages is something I grew up with. My "mother tongue" was Swahili (now forgotten), my first son's was French, my second son's was English, they speak German at work etc. For example, Belgium has three official languages, Switzerland four, Spain three too. It's easier to get along when you have 300 languages than when you have 2 or 3. In Belgium, the fight came not about the languages themselves but about the social status they had: French was upper class, Flemish was peasant/lower class, whereas German was considered OK. It's a long story of Middle Ages dominance and shifting sovereignty. In the UK, it's the accent that matters and it's unfair to a huge slice of the population; language as a social status instead of a means of communication and exchange is the crux.
There is more to say, but that will be for next time.
I live in India and I certainly don't think that Hindi should be imposed on all. Since, I work for the government, I have encountered the challenges involved in having multitude of languages several times. A lot of effort and resource goes into translation that may not even be very good in terms of quality. Language is also used for political grandstanding. Truly a conundrum for which I don't know if there is any solution.
Yes, its extremely tough to find one's way through the linguistic maze of India!