english – My Bit for Change

Is it Urdu?

A couple of days back I was walking back to home from my workplace when I overheard two students talking to each other…“Itni Tension horahi hai, kal assignment submit kerna hai aur test b hai.” Being a linguist, I was compelled to observe the switching of language by the students and therefore it made me observe the fact that the utilization of the vocabulary of English in Urdu discourse is the norm these days. Every now and then such formation of sentences can be heard or if we take notice of our own speech we will realize that we ourselves are engaged in such kind of discourse. These days we hardly hear or speak a sentence that can be said to be entirely of Urdu words. Either we watch a talk show, an interview, a drama, tune it to our favourite fm channel or pick any local Urdu daily; we will find scores of English words and phrases and sometimes even complete sentences.

There are many reasons behind this emerging trend of the usage of English in Urdu diction in such a way. Scientific technology, sports jargon, names of organizations and designations have not yet found their Urdu replacements and people find it easy to borrow these words and make them part of our own language and with frequent exposure, these words are learnt by everyone including those who don’t even know English. In this manner such words become part of the lexicon of our language, gain entries in the dictionaries and with continuous usage we don’t even feel the foreign sense attached to them.

Another important reason for their usage is for the clarity or exactness of the concept associated with a particular word. Consider for e.g., the word ‘stadium’, if we use the word ‘maidaan’ as its Urdu replacement then it will strike another mental image in our mind. Hence for such reasons it is necessary to select a word that best suits the need, topic and context. But what is of significance to note is that sometimes we find people using words from this foreign language even though we have substitutes or synonyms readily available in Urdu. Also sometimes such usage of language is mainly to impress upon people that you know the language very well. This happens when the culture or language is a dominant one and is considered superior and English, as we all know is considered in this part of the world, a mark of highly educated and belonging to the elite class.

It is high time we realize that this present trend of using English lexical items in our national language is responsible for its rapid change of vocabulary, although it might not sometimes be a conscious process or a deliberate phenomenon, but still it is contributing largely in the deteriorating standards of the language and in its distortion and the need is to desist from using English words in Urdu discourse as much as possible so that we are able to maintain our language and what we pass on to our coming generations is in a standardised form.

Also the need is to coin more words as replacements of the currently borrowed words of English language and to raise awareness among people about it. Media (both print and electronic) need also to play a positive part in elevating the standards of the language instead of being part of the deterioration process and we as individuals can start owning our language and try to stop ourselves from unnecessary insertion of English words. It is high time we realize and act wisely before it’s too late.

You are what you SPEAK

“I sent my brother a text message asking if he has a particular novel I was after and he replied in affirmation. I texted back with a wink and the words ‘I’ll be highly obliged if you could bring it”. He later smiled meaningfully and commented that my “highly obliged” reflected the mentality of a slave. I shrugged my shoulders and remarked, “As if taking a degree in English literature was not a reflection enough !”

A few weeks ago, a cousin of mine was asking about some symbol on orkut and her brother pretended as if he doesn’t know. And as I was standing nearby I shouted out ‘that word’ loud and clear. And her brother looked at me, shocked. The word is commonly used amongst youth these days without shame and has vulgar connotations. And with this, the realisation dawned upon me that I’m getting accustomed to all those words which are not a part of my culture, slowly and unknowingly.

In the book ‘Doing English’, the author has clearly stated that with every word of a foreign language comes the whole cultural package. And this the fear took over me. Am I falling through the bottomless pit of a foreign culture?! From then onwards I became conscious of every word that I use and am trying still to shun every word that does not reflect decency.

But how many of us actually realise that? Last year while attending one of the presentations of the research group in our department, the professor said that not every word can be translated. In Arabic we use words which have no direct one word in English or any other language. It’s true for Urdu, English and other languages as well. The words become terminologies! Once attending the lecture of philosophy, a professor said that we should avoid using words like “enlightenment” and “modern” because these are not words with simple meanings, for Occidentals these are terminologies that have derived from their history and culture. These words date back from the 16th and 17th Centuries, the age that Europe called The Age of Enlightenment; the shift from homo-centric to the ego-centric culture, when man became more important. And these all are not part of our culture.

In ‘Notes Towards the definition of Culture’, T.S. Eliot says that Europe’s culture is deeply seated in the religious history of Europe. Muhammad Asad in his book The Road to Makkah says that he has come to the theory that the European prejudice and hatred towards Islam and Muslims is dated as back as the first Crusades. It has become part of the culture. And it was T.S.Eliot who said that culture is derived from religion and faith (with it or the lack of it). And as writers cannot write in a vacuum, and they incorporate their mind-set into the whole experience of writing, we see the reflection of their beliefs, culture and thoughts. So, when I am reading Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte or James, I am actually exposing myself to their culture and beliefs. I remember a fellow student saying that it seems as if we know more than the average European about their sects and religion and history. It’s incorporated in their literature.

The first ever department of English was established in the colony of Subcontinent. The English believed that literature would incorporate certain values in the Indians without them realising it. And this would help them make better slaves. And they would not realise the religious moulding through literature. So, literature became a tool of making us more “civilized” in the eyes of West to serve their own purposes. Literature, if read passively, works subtly yet moves your insides violently. Your mind would accept things subconsciously or unconsciously and may affect your whole way of thinking. And I realised that you need to be active when reading literature, alert all the time, in order to keep different beliefs and metaphysics at bay.

The recent writers of Pakistan, who chose English to be their medium of communicating their ideas, do not reflect the embedded culture of the East. And when I’m talking about Muslim writers, I’m talking about the culture of Islam. The writers have not only chosen English but they have incorporated the ideas of Europe, their culture in those writings reflecting their own “slave-ish mentality”. The embedded idea in our minds that ‘doing English’, eating with forks and spoons and sitting on a dining table reflects the marks of civilization, without realising that in our culture, eating with your hands and sitting on the floor are the marks of being “civilized”.

It’s high time for us to realise that our culture, literature and everything else have a centre, and that centre is Islam. And the unification in things comes from that one centre. We may be able to institutionalise every “branch” of knowledge, but the centre would allow a Muslim to see things in totality and not in fractions. And we see all that in the works of Muslim poets from Rumi to Iqbal. So, even if we are to read the Western authors, we need to counter the effect by reading our own literature in the languages of the East, mainly Urdu, Arabic or Persian. It’s high time to stand facing the current and yet not lose our grounds. And we can only do that by standing in our own cultural grounds and not borrowed ones. We have far more better examples than those of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates.”

The Complexity of inferiority

When I was eight years old, my family returned to Pakistan from the United States and a lot of things in the world suddenly changed for me. I remember (and my relatives won’t ever let me forget) that one of my very first statements was, “Why is everything broken?”. I’m pretty sure, I meant to refer to the buildings and the streets at that time, but today, I believe many other things are broken too.

I remember myself thinking about the prospects of going to Pakistan; a place my parents taught was home. I remember being worried about whether I was going to be that easily accepted. I knew for one thing that I was raised, till now, in a very different environment than the one I was going to.

One thing that really troubled me, then, was that I wouldn’t be able to speak my local language; English was all I knew. I wondered as to how I’ll go about in Pakistan, as I was expecting to have problems in interacting with other people. I was of the impression that once I get there I’ll be struggling with all my might to utter words in broken Urdu, the language of my parents, and people will see me as dumb as I would not be able to easily convey anything I want to say.

But such was the awkwardness that society was adjusting to me, rather than the vice versa. Instead of me struggling to speak to others, I would see people struggling to speak to me. I was also getting the scent that there was a factor of ‘showing-off’ in people trying to speak to me. People were desperately trying to speak with me in English. And I could see by their faces the difficulty many were going through. Personally, I felt a bit embarrassed seeing everybody put all their efforts in trying to speak in such a broken way. And after every attempt it was as though they were asking, through their facial expressions and body language, “how was I?”

Some may say well, what’s so awkward about all this? Well, for an eight year old it was awkward, and it should be ten times more awkward for a seventy year old. It’s actually bizarre! Imagine yourself going to the U.S.A from Pakistan and see all the people around you working their tails off just to speak in your language, Urdu. And not only do you notice this; you also notice that people are competing with each other just to prove as to who can speak the better Urdu?

I was taught to have pride for my country and everything in it, and therefore I was really disturbed on the way people looked down to their own language. Soon I reacted by refusing myself to reply in English, and instead tried to give my answers in Urdu, as much as I could. People were shocked at my behaviour. I believe they found it equally awkward. My aunts used to tell me that I was doing much loss to myself for refusing to use English in my conversation. They said that it is great luck that I’m fluent in English for people look up to those who are. “But why?” would be my response, just to get the what-do-you-mean-isn’t-it-obvious look.

Why are people looked up to just because they know English? The problem is because, for us, knowing this language is a sign of superiority. It’s as though just knowing it makes us more smart and knowledgeable. We become more liberal, more open-minded, and, most importantly, more educated. We can suddenly speak with more authority. When we want to make a point, or impression, we throw a sentence or two in English. As though by doing so just made the content matter anymore different then what it would have been otherwise.

It is because of this attitude of ours that a specific class dominates society just because it could afford good quality English language education. And if you were to analyse more closely you’ll realize that this has caused chaos in the lives of ordinary Pakistanis.

Why, I ask. Why the doors of opportunities are shut upon people, just because they can’t speak in a language which is not even local to the place? Why even in your own country, your own language carries no value? It’s all because we are still slaves mentally. By admitting their superiority we give up our identity, our pride and our humanity.

In 1948 the Duke of Gloucester, the brother of the British Emperor, was coming on a visit to Pakistan, and the British envoy requested the Quaid-e-Azam to receive him. The Quaid replied, “If I do so then the British head of state (King) would have to reciprocate when my brother would visit London”. Today our president feels no shame in carrying out a press conference with a third level U.S representative like Holbrooke. Today our most senior ministers get their body scans when entering U.S airports, while U.S citizens are given visas with zero scrutiny. Just recently, Senator and acting president of the ANP, Haji Adeel, was not allowed to enter the U.S embassy despite an official invitation. He was told by a guard that he needed a specific sticker on his car to get in or he could just park it outside.

You do not need to be physically captured to be a slave. Was our land occupied when our authorities handed over people to the U.S? Were we not independent and autonomous, when Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was taken to trial in the U.S and when Raymond Davis killed our citizens in the daylight and got away with it? No! We were a sovereign entity! But were we, ever?