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| Wednesday, 30 June 2004 |
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English is the craziest language around, but... Every time the subject of teaching or learning English comes up, controversy boils over and the noxious fumes swirl around, bringing a great deal of gloom upon everyone and generating a considerable amount of heat but seldom any light. And, what is so contradictory about the entire issue is that letters pour into the editorial offices of newspapers 'screaming hostility against that language' in English! (Of course). Funny as this might seem to many of us what it really is, is a king-sized inferiority complex and a feeling that identity is being subverted, even stolen. Yes. Indeed, the experts about such things say such things whether we understand what they are saying or not and the rest of us just get on with our business even if it is minding someone else's. English is, perhaps, the craziest language around and it has an ugly and illogical script to go with it, but it is the dominant language throughout the world, not, mind you, in numbers, but in usage. It also has a formidable vocabulary of over two million words (which you cannot learn in your lifetime), to lend it considerable weight. Let's get some facts straight before the linguistic bigots and sundry other extremists burst their blood vessels: English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet according to an authority on the subject, Richard Lederer. He goes on to tell us that it is understood by at least one out of every seven human beings around the globe. Half of the world's books are written in English, and the majority of international telephone calls are made in English. Sixty per cent of the world's radio programmes are beamed in English, and more than 70 per cent of international mail is written and addressed in English. Eighty per cent of all computer texts, including all Web sites, are stored in English. It has generated one of the noblest bodies of literature in the annals of the human race. That's a lot for one language that has kept on growing, borrowing words from here and there and everywhere. It adds new words every day and its dictionaries are being revised, day in, day out, year after year whilst other languages are struggling to create words to express concepts and ideas that are at the cutting edge of change. One of the most important factors in the modern era that has contributed to the spread (and dominance) of English is Information & Communications Technology (ICT) and the operating systems and software for a dizzying array of applications and programmes. Another is mobile telephone technology. Trillions of cross-border transactions take place daily in the worlds of banking and finance in English. English oils the wheels of exports and imports -. For example, as a tea trader in Colombo whether he could conduct his business across the world in any other language? Or an apparel manufacturer dealing with a buyer in the United States? The answer will be a resounding 'NO'. English is the world's leading second language of choice, not because it is logical or its scripts (capitals and simples) is beautiful (they are anything but), but because of its undeniable usefulness to its millions of users throughout the world. The utility of English as a medium of communication far outweighs any of its defects. For example, it is not a phonetic language where each letter of its alphabet stands for a single, unvarying sound. The Sinhala alphabet, for example, has 64 letters, each with a particular, standard, fixed pronunciation plus 14 vowels and a number of diacritical marks that help vary the way a letter is pronounced. Even with this huge imperfection and all the varieties of accents and local ways in which it is spoken, it has become the world's foremost language. The upshot of all this, whatever its many vociferous detractors might say is, it is an essential factor in modern life. One cannot function effectively without its aid because the mass of new knowledge can only be understood through English and no other language. This means and implies that English has to be learned, of necessity, if Sri Lankans want to create an equitable, just society where every citizen would be enabled to communicate across the ethnic and linguistic divide without any suspicion growing that the opposite number had an unfair advantage over him/her. English is today a universal language, not the exclusive property of the British. It will be there until replaced by the language of the Alpha Centaurians when they arrive here in the distant future to evacuate the doomed inhabitants of this planet. In the meantime, the wise thing to do would be to bury the fruitless controversy and get on with the business of teaching and/or learning English as fast as possible. I may be crazy, telling you all this, but then, I am crazy in English. Believe me, your prosperity (and your future) may depend upon it! News The English Language Initiative was formally launched, Tuesday, 1st. June 2004 at the auditorium of the Distance Learning Centre, SLIDA Complex, Malalasekera Mawatha, Colombo-00700, in the presence of a distinguished gathering of a core group of supporters that included Vidya Jyothi Eng. Dr. Ray Wijewardene, Deshabandhu Jezima Ismail, Kala Bushana Kartini Dhraman Mohamed, Renton de Alwis, former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board, B.R.L. Fernando, Chairman of CIC, Melville Kerkoven of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon, Maxi Rozairo of The Burgher Association, Arun Dias Bandaranaike, and several others representing the private sector and a wide spectrum of civil society organizations concerned about the teaching of English islandwide and especially at the periphery in the most disadvantaged areas and to the most marginalized sections of the population. A National Steering Committee was formed comprising of Nirmali Hettiaratchchi, Antoinette VanLangenberg, Stephen LaBrooy, B.R.L. Fernando, I.C.S. Edwards, Jezima Ismail, Arun Dias Bandarnaike, Malcolm VanLangenberg, Jeremy Muller, and the Convenor, J. B. Muller. the National Steering Committee had its first meeting on Tuesday, 15th. June 2004 and is now in the process of forming several committees to drive the English Language Initiative effectively with private sector support and assistance. It is mainly concentrating on draweing up a 'bankable' project report that would clearly delineate its strategy and objectives. This document will be presented to H.E. the President and the Secretary/Education, shortly. The ELI Programme is already drawing enthusiastic expressions of support from many quarters and was very well received and the Chairman of the Colombo Tea Traders' Association, Mahen Dayananda, who is also CEO of Tea Tang, Ltd., has already expressed the CTTA's willingness to back the Initiative 100 per cent. - J.B.M. |
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