One day punjabi will be world wide..
Answering Kane_29 and J@tti at www.lovechandigarh.com
Kane_29: "one day punjabi will be world wide..."
J@tti: "I know punjabis are all over the world.But we are not even 1% of the total population you are always cumin up wid absurd facts and By the way punjabi's always rock.. We are the rulers no matter where we are and in what propotion we are... "
I know Kane_29 always comes up with weird facts, but probably he himself doesn’t know that this time he seems to have come up with a good topic as well. At least I consider a good ‘n debatable topic.
Most of us here would want Punjabi Language to achieve better place in India ‘n elsewhere than it holds at the moment. But unfortunately, Punjabi is not making much progress as far as its expansion is concerned. Infact more ‘n more people are choosing Hindi ‘n in some cases even English as their first language. And here I’m talking about people still living in Punjab. I have nothing against Hindi, it’s our national language, but I think we’re simply showing disrespect towards our mother tongue by calling Hindi our first language or mother tongue.
I think it’s a shame the way Punjabi seems to be becoming the language of the Sikhs. This might sound weird, but this fact is growing so strong that people often confuse one’s being Sikh is his/her being Punjabi. I personally think that Punjabi is not the property of the Sikhs alone. It’s the mother tongue to all Punjabis and it deserve the same respect from all the Punjabis regardless of their religion.
Secondly, has anyone noticed the trend towards Hindi ‘n English among the youth these days? God to the urban areas in Punjab and the youth wouldn’t wanna talk to you in Punjabi. It is seen to be below their standard to talk in Punjabi. If you talk in Hindi, you’re seen to be a bit urbanised/modern/educated etc. If you happen to know English well enough, you’re bound to impress.
So if our own new generations seem to be losing the love of the language, how can we expect the new people to want to learn our beautiful language?
I could probably write a 10 page essay on this. But I guess I should wait for your comments and the rest of the essay can go into answering those comments :)
So I’ll finish off with Gurdas Maan’s words:
posted by Balraj at 1:30 am
6 Comments:
Why do you want it to achieve a better place in world. The only purpose of language is to communicate your thoughts. And if people find it easier to express in some other language be it hindi or english, I don't see a problem. It aint good on part of punjabi people to not know their mother language but I don see the point of making it more popular through out the world. And the only reason why it aint good on part of native people is that it would inturn drive them away from their culture. But as far as unsin a language is concerned use watever you are comfortable with but don't forget your mother language!!
Navneet (J@tti)
Come on J@tti, I honestly expected a better answer from you on that one. You seem to have concentrated to much on the first line of my post. And you answered your questions in your own comments. Example:
Q.-What’s the problem in people using other languages?
A.- it would inturn drive them away from their culture.
And I will answer those you haven’t answered yourself yet..:
A.- J@tti: I don see the point of making it more popular through out the world.
The point is that by spreading the language, you don’t only spread the language but the whole culture. You spread the language, the culture follows. Now don’t ask me why do we want to spread our culture around the world. Coz my answer would be that it’s better than us starting to follow the western culture.
J@tti: if people find it easier to express in some other language be it hindi or english, I don't see a problem.
A.- You seem to have missed the line in my post where I said that I have no problem with people learning and using other languages for the purpose of communication. Also refer to my comments on how it’s become a status symbol among the new generation to speak Hindi and English, Otherwise do you think it’s easier to express yourself in English or Hindi when an overwhelming majority of people around you speak Punjabi?
Also refer to my comments on religion and it’s bearing on language.
Balraj Singh
I did not even know you were posting my comments here.I got some questions for you. First of all what do you mean by its better to spread your own culture than following western culture. Can't you just follow your own culture? Why would you want to spread it. If you believe in your culture and follow it, its good enough.Use of english/Hindi being a status symbol is another problem. Let's not get into that. What did you expect from me? we can't always have the same opinion. I still don't see the point behind spreading your culture. And btw I had not read your line about your having no problem with using any language for communication purposes when I posted that message.
Navneet.
Navneet, spreading your culture abroad is not necessarily for the purpose of others to follow your culture. We would’ve done well enough if we could only get all the Punjabis to follow their own culture (In Punjab and elsewhere). My comment that it’s better to spread our culture than following the western culture was aimed at the people who would rather follow western culture (and I meant that it’ll be good to spread your culture far enough for them to notice. I believe that one of the reasons people run after western culture is that Punjabi culture has not been promoted well enough. Unfortunately, we’re letting our culture slip through our fingers. You talk about places like Chandigarh.. tell me, how many Punjabis of our generation in Chandigarh can speak write Punjabi?
English being a status symbol is a different problem.. but it directly affects the status of Punjabi language and culture in Punjab. You insist that it’s okay to speak English or Hindi for the purpose of communication if the person finds it easier to communicate in that language.. well, I have said before that I don’t see how can someone living in Kapurthala (take Kapurthala as an example here) can find it easier to communicate in English/Hindi when virtually nobody around him/her speaks either of these languages. How can you even have a problem speaking Punjabi when you’ve been brought up in Kapurthal? Even if I take your point on that.. it does not justify a large number of urban Punjabis saying that their first language is “Hindi”. Will you surprised to hear that majority of these people calling Hindi to be their first language in Punjab are Hindus? It’s sad to see that Punjabi being portrayed as a property of Sikhs.
I do not expect you to always agree with me. You are entitled to your opinion. I respect your opinion.. but just don’t agree with it.
Balraj Singh
Hi!Folks,
Read the interesting discussion and couldn't stop myself writing few words.
Balraj, if you been to our Parklea and Revesby Gurudwara Sahibs, parents don't really make an effort to talk to their kids in Punjabi. Quite a while back I went to Parklea Gurudwara and there was some kind of competition where this girl was talking about Sikhi in English. I was happy to know that kids are learning about Sikhi, but why not in Punjabi. If parents can encorage them to learn about Sikhi why not Punjabi? All these bits and pieces keep me away from Gurudwara Sahib as I feel really disturbed looking at where the future generations are heading.
I'm myslef here since last 5 years but I feel I'm even more desi than what I used to be. More regular with my Path more in touch with Punjabu Music, Punjabi Literature. Fer kehnde ne na Panje ungla barabar ni hundian.
I feel that Hindi is a greater threat to Punjabi than English. Why do we consider Hindi to be a status symbol, when it's the first language of primarily backward states in India - UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, etc? Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh were originally Punjabi speaking areas and tactically turned Hindi to appease the Hindi dominated politics and to diminish the influence of Punjabi.
Otherwise why is it that by dividing Punjab, Punjabi was completely eliminated from Haryana and HP, previously Punjabi areas. However, Punjab still continued and in fact reinforced Hindi? They were successful in eliminating Punjabi influence in the new Hindi areas, and increasing Hindi in Punjabi areas. That is shameful. We need to respect our mother language.
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