We hardly think about the basic language ethics
KARACHI: Languages hold a special place in a culture. They are more than a means of expression; they are in fact a nation’s identity. Every language is beautiful and equally respected by its speakers. While living in a multilingual environment, we must understand these facts.
It’s common in Pakistani society to mix languages and distort its script; a crime in the eyes of linguists but a habit for us. Language ethics are hardly found. I remember my father and many elderly spoke fluent English and Urdu, but they never mixed languages. Same goes for the script. They mastered both beautifully. While in the current scenario, people do not even understand which language to use for which audience. What we are practising and what we are going to teach our children is painful.
Recently I came across a kid’s television show where two kids were interviewing two other kids. While the interviewers were asking questions in Urdu, one of the guest kids was replying in English while the other was struggling to make sentences in English. This was not a live show and directors could have easily asked the guests to speak Urdu or formulate the questions in English. The whole show was nice and maybe many of the viewers might not feel it awkward but to me it was a blunder of producer/director of the show.
This is not about a show only, we hardly think about the basic language ethics. I am not against the use of English. English is our need but Urdu is our heritage. Both languages are equally respectable and useful. But the mindset of speaking only English is ruining society in terms of ethics and culture.
Masooma Fatima Abdi
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2018.
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