DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014
Language Policy for a New India
Sankrant Sanu
Part 1: Myths about English-medium education
The cultural impact of language policy
Myth: The “World” is English-medium Fact: Global Reality is Multilingual
•91.5% of the world does not speak English as a native OR second language!
Are the richest countries English-speaking?
•All - of the top 20 richest countries by GDP/ capita provide access to engineering/ professional education in the mass languages of the people.
•Only 4 of the top 20 richest are English-speaking countries
On the other-hand …
•18 of the poorest 20 countries don’t provide access to higher and professional education in the common native language
•6 of the poorest 20 countries use English-medium higher education exclusively versus only 4 of the 20 richest
Fact: A language becomes “modern”
•Hebrew-medium Technion University in Israel is ranked #1 for technology innovation in challenging conditions
•Hebrew was a dead language for 2000 years before being revived 50 years ago
•It is ranked #18 worldwide for Computer Science
On the other hand..
•English-medium IITs in India is not even ranked in the top 100 worldwide
•English-medium IISc in India is ranked between 50 and 100 in Computer Science.
Multi-nationals already operate for multi-lingual world
•Global Reality is Multilingual (see pie chart below).
•Corporates have already adapted their business strategy to ‘Internationalization’ & ‘Localization’ in global marketplace.
•Computing is already moving toward software development in various human languages and multilingual user interfaces.
•The future is seamless multilingual computing and business support.
This is a Microsoft presentation. India is not taking advantage of this multi-lingual emphasis of multi-nationals
Is Business and Professional Success Linked to English?
•Of top 1000 MNC’s in Asia, 792 are from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan.
•These companies internally use their own languages
•The top management of these companies have usually studied in their own languages of their degrees!
•Their core employees did their engineering, etc. in Japanese, Korean, Chinese.
Some top non-English Business Schools worldwide
School
|
Location
|
Ranking
|
Language
|
Tsinghua University
|
China
|
#2in China, #15 (Asia)
|
Full-Time MBA (Chinese)
Part-Time MBA (Chinese)
International MBA (English)
|
Waseda Business School
|
Japan
|
#2 in Japan, #33 (Asia)
|
Japanese or English.
GSAPS is also at the forefront of innovation in the use
Of information technology and in bilingualism.
|
Seoul National University
|
Korea
|
#1 in Korea
|
Korean with some English.
|
Dongguk University
|
Korea
|
Buddhist University
|
Korean.
The CEO of Samsung Corporation studied in
Dongguk in Korean medium.
|
COMAS
|
Israel
|
Largest program in Israel
|
Hebrew
|
Institutode Emprasa
|
Spain
|
#4 in the world
|
Spanish
|
HEC Paris
|
France
|
#1 in Europe
|
French (Bi-lingual option available)
|
SDA Bocconi
|
Italy
|
Largest in Italy
|
Executive MBA in Italian
|
Part 2: Critical need for a new approach in India
Systematic versus haphazard language growth
Declining language proficiency in India –both, English and Indian languages
•India slipping from 14 to 21 in international rankings of English language proficiency among non-native English speakers.
•Yet, the rush to English-medium schools grows in India –even where there is no English spoken in-home environment.
•Rush to English-medium producing school graduates who are linguistic cripples
•They can express themselves neither in their own language nor with fluency in English.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014
English-medium privilege in India is engineered
•State policy creates English-medium privilege
•People don’t “want” to study in English -medium but the rush is because
•Massive government-run higher education sector privileges English
•High economic value courses, engineering, medicine, MBA exclusively in English
•Government websites, higher education website, resources, largely in English
•Explicit policies set forth in the infamous Macaulay minute have not been reversed
•The myth that the rest of the world operates likes this when it doesn’t
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014
The crucial need for intervention –Economy not “heritage”
•Prakritization–the process of using Indian languages across all disciplines and fora.
•Prakritization will boost the economy and maximizing our human resource development.
•It will capitalize on and project soft power.
•It will create stronger, more relevant emphases in social sciences
•It is a futuristic step that capitalizes on the scientific nature of Indian languages on the advantages of Sanskrit.
•Language policy based only on “preserving heritage” is backward looking and will lead to the death of Indian languages.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014
Soft power of language
•Language carries and projects culture
•Major push by world civilizations for their languages
•China has a massive scholarship program for foreign students to learn Mandarin
•France funds and project using Alliance Francaise
•Saudi Arabia funds Middle East and massive push for Arabic studies in its circles of influence
•US and UK project soft power via Anglicization
•Fund international awards and created native “celebrities”
•Arundhati Roy gets “Bookers”, Pankaj Mishra, $150K Yale awards
•Ford Foundation funds research for how English yields better salaries in India
•Goal is to keep India and its intellectuals in the Anglo-Saxon cultural orbit
•India not capitalizing on “pull” generated by yoga/new-age movement and Indian film industry
DRAFT - V1 – 06
.17.2014
How English-obsession holds back India’s computer literacy
China –
|
India
| ||
Literacy
|
95%
|
74%
| |
English literacy
|
0.73%
|
20% (5% fluent)
| |
Internet Users
|
40%
|
11%
| |
•In China, computer usage is learned in Chinese.
•In India, to be computer literate you first have to be English-literate.
•India’s English-obsession has created unnecessary barriers for computer learning.
Continued English language privilege in India’s Institutions
•UPSC Examinations
•English-language comprehension section compulsory.
•Move to make UPSC exam English-only in 2013 was backed-out after public outcry.
•The Armed Forces
•Officer Cadre is English-speaking while lower rungs are Indian language speakers –language apartheid.
•The Legal System
•Prakrits only in lower courts –mainly English in higher courts.
•Law is codified in English and its idiom. Judicial Reform must include language re-standardization.
•Central government laws and policies framed in English
To be continued
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FIVE QUESTIONS TO HINDUS
1. Please see this video attached and circulate.
2. What is suggested in the video must be implemented
--- Major General V S Karnik(retired) PhD (Management) - vinodkarnik11@gmail.com
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