Pages

Monday, September 28, 2015

Why did PM Modi choose to speak in Hindi with Mark Zuckerberg?

Every Indian is proud to see their Prime Minister talk with Social Media icon Mark Zuckerberg. This above video was a Question and Answer session with PM Modi and Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook Headquarters in San Jose.

But how many Indians think that they are more proud of the PM who choose to speak in Hindi - a language that Zuckerberg would not understand and would need translation.

Ofcourse there are many patriotic fans of India who think that we should promote our national language. But don't we want to promote as English speaking country too? Specially when we are campaigning for 'Make in India' movement?

What impressions do we create among foreign investors - that the prime minister himself couldn't speak in English? I know I am touching a controversial topic. But here is the point - if the world wants to see us moving high, we should not only be proud of our own language but also be to speak the world's language.

One can understand if PM Modi is in France or Portugal. He cannot speak those languages as French or Portugese is not one of our national languages. English, along with Hindi, is one of the two languages permitted in the Constitution of India for business in Parliament. Despite the fact that Hindi has official Government patronage and serves as a lingua franca over large parts of India, there is considerable opposition to the use of Hindi in the southern states of India, and English has emerged as a de facto lingua franca over much of India.

The proponents of the ideology that PM of India should speak in India outside India have their own share of reasons:

  1. English is not his first language. Therefore the thought process is best done in Hindi.
  2. He wants to promote Hindi as a popular world language or perhaps want to make it as one of the official language that UN recognizes. 
  3. The clarity of the message is lost if it is not conveyed with proper pronunciation 
So on and so forth. These reasons make him a good PM among Indians who dared to speak in Hindi in international meetings. How much ever convincing these reasons are, they are not right as it expects the other person to receive communication in a translated version and perhaps miss the essence. It is not that Modi does not know English. Most times he does not need a translator while hearing. He only needs a translator while speaking. This limits the communication ability.

I am proud of India, Mr Modi but I am not as much happy about you speaking in Hindi outside India.


Critics are highly welcome to comment on my opinion.

No comments :

Post a Comment