Friday, August 17, 2007
The Language of a Speech
I saw the speech of Dr Manmohan Singh on India's Independence Day (15 Aug 2007) on tv. He had chosen his language to be Hindi. After the live ceremony coverage, there was discussion among people from various sections of the society (policitians, economist, newspaper editors, etc). One of them pointed out that the language he gave his speech in urdu, which was supposedly a good sign. Later they were showing clips from the popular speech of Jawaharlal Nehru (Tyrst with destiny) given on the eve of India's Independence (15 Aug 1947) and to my surprise, he spoke in impeccable English ! And that was sixty years ago ! It was at the time when the percentage of english speaking people was far less as compared to today. Was his speech mainly to impress the english speaking developed countries ? (and it did !) But how did the numerous indians who had fought for the Independence feel when they heard the nationally televised speech and found that they could not understand what was being said ? Did it bring a false sense of pride or disillusionment ?
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4 comments:
I wonder how many understood this year's speech in Hindi !!!! I think comprehending hindi in a speech by head of the state is lot difficult compared to hindi in a Bollywood movie...
In any case, welcome aboard :-)
Thanks you Sunny :)
I agree with you partially. The current times are different. Many more people know English and Hindi too. (effect of Bollywood Movies). What surprised me was the medium of communication chosen in 1947.
I am speechless ! : )
We have to remember that English was the official language that was used in the administration during the time of independence. Hindi as a national language came much later. The knowledge of Hindi down south was minimal and English was the only lingua franca at that moment.
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