- Published: November 14, 2021
- Updated: November 14, 2021
- University / College: The University of Newcastle, Australia (UON)
- Language: English
- Downloads: 20
Friends , u have already heard about monolingualism, but on the contrary, I m standing here to speak about bilingualism and firmly believe that bilingualism has an upper edge in capturing the cross cultural euphoria. But 1stly I wud like to explain what is bilingualism? It is the ability to use 2 languages in equal /nearly equal fluency. Since time immemorial, bilingual intellectuals have left their remarkable footprints in the history. to name a few- gautam Buddha, mahatma Gandhi, karl marx, c. rajagopalchari, mother Teresa, b. r.
mbedkar and ramchandra guha (whose articles we r discussing now) are all bilinguals. Had they been rigid and parochial and skeptical in using other languages then their greatness and popularity wud have remained confined to their own region /country. So it’s their adroitness of using 2 languages that made them to be at the tip of the tongue of the general masses and the world salutes them even today.
I know u r proposing translation to be an alternative for bilingualism, but have u ever realized who can do the work of translation? a mono or a bilingual? Can a monolingual intellectual who is a perfectionist in only one language be able to interpret ur ideas into another? Here in the article, EPW oct 10 2009 vol 41 where raman points out that “ intrinsic merit of ideas “ is quite independent of “ societal reach” and has no impact on the merit of ideas. But guha didn’t agreed to this statement as newer interactions not only leads to enrichment of ideas but also refinement of ideas. And nobody can say that the debate between the two bilinguals Gandhi and tagore did not have the transforming effect on the thoughts of both. Moreover we can only anticipate the world to b one global village having one common language, but can’t ignore the fact that till date ..
its not. talking about our own country there is language diversity. It has been rightly said that in india Kos kos pe badle paani Chaar kos pe baani and I do agree that the 2nd language may b merely used as bridging language. but I ask from u all .. who gets the upper edge then? will a monolingual be able to bridge the cross cultural gap of 2 entirely different languages?.
. i wud let these questions unanswered to further ignite the intellectual mind inside u
