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Kathmandu Friday February 22, 2002 Falgun 10, 2058.
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National language or language
of the nation, what’s it?
By Razen Manandhar
KATHMANDU, Feb 21 : What a wonderful world this
is, not only because of nature’s gifts of mountains,flowers and landscapes, and
man’s gifts of temples and monuments. Equally important are people of different
ethnic groups and because of 6,000 or so languages they speak all over the world.
About half of the languages in the world are
under threat,experts say. Over the past three centuries, languages have died out and
disappeared at a dramatic and steadily increasing pace, specially in the Americas and
Australia.
"Today, at least 3,000 languages are
endangered, seriously endangered or dying in many parts of the world," states a
UNESCO press release issued today, on the occasion of the ‘International Mother
Language Day’.
The second edition of the Atlas of the
World’s Languages is in Danger of Disappearing,which was presented today, envisages
the bitter facts about disappearing languages in details. The 14 maps in colour and 24
pages of commentary in the Atlas shows the "crisis areas" where linguistic
diversity is most threatened.
Experts generally consider a community’s
language to be "endangered" when at least 30 percent of its children no longer
learn it.
Director general of UNESCO Koichiro Masura, in a
message to International Mother Language Day, states that on International Mother Language
Day, all languages are given equal recognition, for each is a unique response to the human
condition and each is a living heritage we should cherish.
Though Nepali authorities often proudly announce
that Nepal is rich with around 128 languages, many of them are not in satisfactory
condition.
Linguist Dr Kamal Prakash Malla said that over
ten-fifteen languages of Nepal are on the verge of extinction.
"Because of government policies, many
communities are abandoning their mother languages. Even the number of Newars, the
indigenous people of the capital, who have stopped using their mother language, is
rising."
He said, rather than strengthening local
languages, the government is emphasizing compulsory study of Nepali and English. "It
is a wastage of human resources," he added.
In Nepal, people must study Nepali for 14 years
and English for 10 years to graduate in any subject.
Dr Malla further stated that the government
alone is not to be blamed. "The community should also show interest in preserving
mother languages. It is not only the job of a handful of community leaders, but all the
members of a community should participate in preserving languages and teaching it formally
or informally at schools.’
Some three years ago, the Supreme Court made a
verdict that no local authority like municipality, Village Development Committee and
District Development Committee could use local language even as a supplementary.
Educational expert Ballav Mani Dahal said that
the present language policy is unscientific and illogical and stressed that the
seriousness of the government was lacking on this front.
"Classification of languages and making
language policies should be based on a wide spectrum of discussions with participation of
the community members and linguists, but down here, everything is done by the cabinet
where only a few have knowledge of languages."
He added all languages are equal but here, some
languages are widely used whereas some are almost extinct. One is named ‘national
language’ while others are called ‘language of the nation’.
Dahal said that to save languages from
disappearing, communities must be aware, sensitive and proud of their languages and the
government must be committed to conserve minor languages in the real sense, practically.
"Having a language and being proud is not
enough, we must have a proper environment to use them," he said.
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