language is the means and source of verbal and written communication. There are uncountable languages in this world as every country has its own national language, besides its different local languages.
English is the commonly accepted language all over India and abroad. The popularity of using English in public places varies greatly around the country with marked variations in regions (southern India vs northern India) and setting (rural vs semi-urban and urban). Though English is the language of England, it has an international spread.
English belongs to the Indo-European family like most languages spoken in Europe and northern India as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. Within the Indo-European family, English belongs to the Germanic language Group together with German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese, Icelandic, etc.
English is the mother language of an estimated 341 million people and the second language of 508 million people in over sixty countries and States where it enjoys the status of official or co-official language. Countries where English is the majority mother tongue include the United States (76%), the United Kingdom (94.8%), Canada (59.3%), Ireland (92.3%), Australia (95%) and New Zealand (91.4%). Together, these five countries form the foundation of English as a mother tongue in the world.
English is the mother tongue of a fairly insignificant portion of the population in all other countries except South Africa (5.7% or two million people). However if we add the number of native English speakers in the countries listed to those in India, Africa and Oceania, the total increases from 306 million actual speakers to 374 million potential speakers. This is the number of English speakers (or Anglophones) in the world, strictly speaking.
In India, English fundamentally serves two functions. It furnishes with a linguistic tool for the country’s administrative coherence making the people who speak different languages to become unified. Secondly, it acts as a language of more panoptic communication, encompassing a large variety of people, embracing a vast area.
English is important in India because India was a British colony. British rulers turned towards higher caste Indians, particularly Brahmins, who could work for them. Their policy was to fashion an Indian class who could think and act like them; “Indians in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and intellect.
English is used among Indians as a link language and also serves as a first language for myriad well-versed citizens. It also serves as a second language for those speaking more than one language in India. English serves as a bond that helps bind several slices of the Indian society together and acts as a linguistic bridge between major countries of the world.
There are several factors that make us to learn English. First of all, the language has international standard. Everyone needs to learn English to get in touch at the international level. In the educational field, it is seen that much of the syllabus is written in English. Children are encouraged to learn English at the starting levels. And, accordingly, as they promote to the next levels they study almost all the subjects in English.
Officially, English has a status of assistant language, but in fact it is the most important language of India. After Hindi, it is the most commonly spoken language and probably the most read and written language in India. English symbolises in Indians minds better education, better culture and higher intellect. Indians who know English often mingle it with Indian languages in their conversations. It is also usual among Indians to abruptly move to speak fluent English in the middle of their conversations. English also serves as the communicator among Indians who speak different languages. English is very important in the Indian educational, business, legal and financial systems.
Today, the Indian schools that emphasise English are considered better schools and it is also the case at the university level, even though there is a trend towards Indianisation. In the 1970s and 1980s, about one-third of the Indian schools had English as their first language. For most of these students, English is their first language and it is easier for them to communicate, read and write in English than in Indian languages, including their mother tongues.
Just like the Americans, Australians or even the British who have their unique English words and phrases, the Indians also have their own unique English. The Indians and the Indian English language press use many words derived from Indian languages, especially from Hindi. Other than that, the Indian accent is sometimes difficult for non-Indians to understand. There are some Indian pronunciations that don’t exist in non-Indian languages. The British also had problems with that and they effected some changes in Indian words so that they could pronounce them. Even Indians started using these changed words and made them part of their English.
English is a language that is deemed a benchmark not because it has been accredited by many standard organisations but because it has been enormously employed by many information and technology industries that have recognised it as standard. Even Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I regard that English language is an open window for peeping into Western thought and science. The study of the English language is, therefore, necessary to induce us into new worlds of thought and feeling, to make our outlook scientific, rational and up-to-date.” It is thus felt that there is no harm at all to take the best of anyone. It is the strongest bond of our national integration.
Maintaining a positive attitude to English as a national language is fundamental to the consolidation of the populace in Indian society. There would practically appear to be no discrepancy within the community about the authority of the English language skills in India. India is without any doubt devoted to English as a national language. The impact of English is not only continuing but also increasing for a secured next day. Even after 67 years of India’s Independence, this enigmatic yet very lucid language still persists as the authoritative language in India. English is forever a ruling mentor in India so far as globalisation and modernisation in India is concerned.
(Dr Subhashree Das is State Research and Documentation Coordinator, National Coalition for Education, Bhubaneswar. She can be mailed at Subhashree.das1201@ gmail.com)
