Power of language in success.
By DoctorDidi
@DoctorDidi (7018)
India
December 13, 2010 11:16pm CST
In these days of globalization, knowledge of the language plays a key role in the success not only of an individual but also for the country he belongs to. The Americans know just English and if they happen to come from a foreign country, then their own language. The British know only English and a smattering of French whereas the French claim to know only French. But in case of India, what we see is that a large section of the urban population has an advantage when it comes to languages. People know their mother tongue. Many have to learn Hindi, English and the language of their state during their school days which may not be their mother tongue. Thus very few countries enjoy the cultural mix that India does. China has realized the fact and so giving importance on the learning of Hindi. In the same way, Chinese has been spreading quite rapidly in India in recent times. Thus I think if a foreign language especially Chinese, Portuguese, Hindi etc depending on the country concerned, cannot be made a part of the academic accomplishments, a vocational course to learn that foreign language as per the choice of the learner should be made available to all. This will pay in the long run. What are your views?
11 responses
@sumanadep (1228)
• India
14 Dec 10
Knowledge gained about anything always helps in some or the other way... Language is one of the important things that today's market works on.. as every company wants to expand their business to other countries they feel the need to know other languages as well..
@rijovjohn (429)
• India
14 Dec 10
It is good that Indians are learning at least three different languages. So where ever we go we can communicate with people. But still the English of many are not up to the required level. Many of them find it difficult when communicating in English. This some times put the Indian students backward when seeking in international companies.
I think in India there is option for us to study different languages. It is good to include more language and give more choice to students to learn the language he like.
@DoctorDidi (7018)
• India
14 Dec 10
The standard of English may not be high, I admit but it is enough for exchange of communication and I think the standard of English anywhere in the world where English is not the mother tongue is not as high as that in India.
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
22 Dec 10
Portuguese? Why Portuguese? Far larger segment of the human race speaks Spanish than Portuguese.
Mind you, I live in Texas, only a few hundred miles from Mexico, and I don't speak Spanish, but that's because I have a language learning disability, I don't speak any other language than English either, tho I can sign a bit (sign language)
I do think knowing your native tongue and a few others (if you have the ability to learn them) is a GREAT idea, I wish I could learn one...
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
23 Dec 10
hi doctor didi YOu are so right and too children absorb new languages much easier than we adults. I took Spanish and French in college
but because I never used them I have forgotten so much. I can read a lot of Spanish and under stand it and ditto with French too but
speaking it correctly is a whole other ball game. Now here in the US the lower grades are thinking of adding foreign languages as a requirement.I think this is an excellent idea myself as we should be just as well educated as any other country and banish that semi scorn so many eve here use for us Americans.
@Jotomy (6322)
• India
14 Dec 10
Hi DoctorDidi, yes in India, most of the people knows more than 2 languages. Their mother tongue and one more language what that area people's common language. Since Hindi, is a national language most of the people know Hindi. Since English is an International language and the people are studying in English medium so English also they knows. You know we have in Hyderabad there is a institution called Institute for English and Foreign Languages where they teach not only English any other foreign language that you want to learn. If people have an interest in other languages they will for learning. Most of the South Indian people aware or little knowledge about the south Indian languages because all the Indian languages have derived from Sanskrit. I personally feel knowing about other languages is good and it may helps us also. Here one of our mylot member my friend Jaiho, from Philippines knows Hindi and some other languages too. That is the interest about the languages.
Have a wonderful day.
@DoctorDidi (7018)
• India
14 Dec 10
It may be that you are not directly benefited by it, but it will you in the long run when your next generation will be benefited as the tradition of knowing other languages will be transmitted to them also.
@thommas (143)
• Latvia
22 Dec 10
The Americans and British know only English not because they were too lazy or incapable to learn other languages. It is just because the English is totally dominant and there is no necessity for them to learn other language than their mother tongue. If they go abroad, they will always find some people who could speak English.
So, the advantage of knowing English for Indians is very great opportunity during the economical circumstances of particularly nowadays, when Asian countries act as suppliers for the Western market. If the Asian economies will continue to widen, it might be that a day will come and they become dominant and Americans and British will have to learn Hindi and Chinese...And there will be enough with one language for Indians...:)
@celticeagle (159400)
• Boise, Idaho
15 Dec 10
I definitely feel that the more languages you know the larger your world. I wasn't aware that Hini had become such a universal language. I guess it should be obvious. English is a melting pot of a language if you know and understand the workings of the language. So that is a start. I learned alittle spanish when I was school. Just with that little bit of another language I can understand how much the world can open up by knowing other languages.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Dec 10
I do think that it is very important for people to learn to be multilangual and I really hate the fact that I didn't have that opportunity when I was in school. I know enough Spansih to get me by, but not enough that I would be able to live in a Spanish speaking country. However, my daughter that is now in second grade is learning Spanish from the time that she was in kindergarten and I think that she will be fluent in Spanish by the time she graduates from high school.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
15 Dec 10
The world is getting to be integrated a lot. So there are going to be a lot of people who you run into that might have a different background and are going to speak a bit of a different language than you are going to. The world has really changed a lot. Especially with the outsourcing of many jobs. You could call for computer service in the United States and get routed to another country.
So if you are going to get a call from the United States, a solid grasp of English is essential. The same holds true for other countries indeed. There are going to be times where you are going to come across different people. The world is becoming a global business community with many people coming together, both for good and for worse. However, it is just one of those things that is just inevitable and bound to occur.
@jak2010 (1550)
• Papua New Guinea
15 Dec 10
English is seems to us in the pacific not only a globlized language, but a lnguage of power, wealth and passport to other civilized world and their technologies. In fact business and education is measured by how much you know english, understand it, and manipulate it. However, we also learn from Germany, Japan and other civilised and industrialized countries whose engish is not their mother tongue propser without the power of english language can emulate us.
@angelic123 (1108)
• United States
14 Dec 10
Language barrier is common problem in communication, people might not be able to accomplish an agreement without understanding each other so Learning another language is important especially the Universal language which happens to be the English language. I am glad that many countries especially Asian countries are learning language other than their Native language. In the school where I graduated from we have elective courses in Language, we have Japanese, French, Spanish and Chinese.
