Malay Mishra said our Prime Minister spoke to over 100,000 people in English and this had to be translated into Hindi.
It is in this context that Mr Mishra said that had the Prime Minister spoken in Hindi, she would have made a more direct and intimate connection with the people who had come from far and wide to hear her. He then went on to suggest that since Hindi is an ancestral language of the people of Indian origin here, we should learn this language.
What is wrong with Mr Mishra suggesting the Prime Minister learn Hindi?
What is wrong with Mr Mishra suggesting the Prime Minister learn Hindi?
If she did, that would make her an even more powerful role model for Trinidadians and Tobagonians who see her as a great woman, proud of her identity and respectful of all.
He was speaking at the Hindi Day observations so his remarks on Hindi are totally relevant.
Hindi, Bhojpuri, Sanskrit and Urdu are among our major ancestral languages in this part of the world. Mauritius, with a population similar to ours, has enacted the right of its people to have access to some of these languages in their schools. Why can't we have the same right in T&T? We need the political will, I conclude.
He lamented the fact that while we sing in Hindi, most of us don't understand the language. I also made the same point when I spoke at the function. I said that daily in Hindu schools we sing and pray in Hindi and Sanskrit, but most people do not understand the languages.
The fact is that unless these languages are made part of the daily school curriculum, they will die. In New York, where I once taught high school, children have access to learn their ancestral languages, once the numbers are feasible.
What is wrong with asking that we all learn our ancestral languages—be that Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu, Yoruba, Chinese and so on. When globally new migration policies are recognising this right, why are we, the people of T&T, our own enemies when it comes to asserting our rights in our own country?
His Excellency Mishra, in my humble opinion, was being our friend when he suggested we learn our ancestral languages.
Dr Indrani Rampersad
He was speaking at the Hindi Day observations so his remarks on Hindi are totally relevant.
Hindi, Bhojpuri, Sanskrit and Urdu are among our major ancestral languages in this part of the world. Mauritius, with a population similar to ours, has enacted the right of its people to have access to some of these languages in their schools. Why can't we have the same right in T&T? We need the political will, I conclude.
He lamented the fact that while we sing in Hindi, most of us don't understand the language. I also made the same point when I spoke at the function. I said that daily in Hindu schools we sing and pray in Hindi and Sanskrit, but most people do not understand the languages.
The fact is that unless these languages are made part of the daily school curriculum, they will die. In New York, where I once taught high school, children have access to learn their ancestral languages, once the numbers are feasible.
What is wrong with asking that we all learn our ancestral languages—be that Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu, Yoruba, Chinese and so on. When globally new migration policies are recognising this right, why are we, the people of T&T, our own enemies when it comes to asserting our rights in our own country?
His Excellency Mishra, in my humble opinion, was being our friend when he suggested we learn our ancestral languages.
Dr Indrani Rampersad
1 comment:
It is only natural that those who historically hated and were threatened by Sanatanists beliefs would continue to demonstrate selfish intolerance for the rights of others.
Those who have been raised on the prejudice of the Abrahamic theologies would consistently oppose the upliftment of their perceived competitors for social prominence.
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