February 21st :International “ MOTHER ” Language day - I Live In My Own Language And Vice Versa




Pic : A Epitome And Embodiment Of International Mother  Tongue Day

The Language of “ LOSS ” :: International “ MOTHER ” Language day

 Tracing out the history and finding out from the past ocurances, one can easily visualize that the languages those are original and those that have derieved have at some times or the other, have vaged a pitch battled with one  another if one was to get over the other to replace the other and indigenous languages increasingly have a localised and restricted existence — overwhelmed by global markets, global economics and global corporates. The mother tongue is gradually being dwarfed by these staggering influences and is relegated to a marginal space in the global village.

The Place Of Origin :: East Pakistan , now Bangladesh originated it

The problem of  one’s own language to stick with that and to fight for it started in East Pakistan , now Bangladesh in 1952. Looking into the population of the Muslims at West Pakistan then, they being more in numbers they wanted to make URDU as the language for all who had to do and connect themselves to Pakistan but the Bengali speaking Muslims would not  agree to the same.Here started the problem of the MOTHER TOUNGUE and the importance of it in terms of the language and this synopsis of the MOTHER TOUNGUE LANGUAGE took place in the world

The protests that erupted on February 21, 1952, in then East Pakistan against the imposition of Urdu launched the Bengali language movement in Bangladesh, and is the nucleus of the International Mother Language Day. The UNESCO recognition came in 1999, proclaiming it as a day to observe and celebrate indigenous languages across the globe. The wish was to sustain and develop the mother tongue or the first language, and safeguard the precious heritage of world languages. Is it happening in reality?

DRAWF ::THAT WOULD BE THE CONSEQUENCE OF MOTHER TONGUE LANGUAGE

 Many felt that the World would be further disintegrated by the concept of localized or the mother language and many were of the opinion that the growing influence of this language will polarize the ethnics and the communities into a very bad segment where the unity between the people residing in the society will be hit very hard. Indigenous languages, like most ethnic cultures, increasingly have a localised and restricted existence — overwhelmed by global markets, global economics and global corporates. The mother tongue is gradually being dwarfed  and it would be further dwarfed by these staggering influences and is relegated to a marginal space in the global village. A UNESCO report states that nearly 1,500 ethnic languages are globally becoming extinct every day.

A drawf always bring about the fall and catastrophe when it takes over on something or anything and it was assumed that if a logic of ONE language common, if it was applied to the concept of MOTHER TONGUE language in all and every part of the world, in the respective countries then this would halt the human progress and the society will collapse because being hetrogenous it would not be able to absord the pressure of being one to speak one common language. This however proved wrong and futile in thought.

Their place is being usurped by foreign languages, which facilitate and guarantee successful trade and commerce and boost the economy. This despite and this inspite the bad feelings with the and with those languages that and those were never in use widely in the common market made the business tardy and this again was the reason that some of the nations whose languages were very least spoken were never heard of in the international common market to see their business and the economy fall .This gave a room for the UNO and the UNESCO to fall back and give or make an importance of the Mother Tongue Language.

An in-depth knowledge of one’s mother tongue makes assimilating foreign languages and cultures smoother. Nordic countries, after prolonged trials and evaluations, have advocated learning two languages from the primary school level: The language of the land and the mother tongue. In remote regions of countries like Sweden and Norway, where people of various ethnicities dwell (mostly migrants on political grounds), primary schools, as a rule, teach indigenous languages. I have heard Bengali being taught in a number of suburban schools of Sweden, Norway and Finland. The students are mostly primary schoolchildren and their parents are political migrants; teachers largely hail from Bangladesh while a few are from West Bengal.


Germany The One To Show The Way - :: Bengali’s growing in numbers and in communication

Of late, several German states have instituted this system, primarily responding to appeals from the Turkish people. Since 2015, it has included Arab refugees. Bangla, Hindi, Urdu and Tamil are yet to find a place partly because students are fewer and proficient teachers are not that easily available. Another reason is that the number of refugees from the subcontinent is dwindling; tough laws restrict their influx. However, Bengalis have been living in the UK for ages. The British Parliament has a significant number of MPs of Bangladeshi origin, who are now British citizens. At least a dozen Bangla weeklies are published in proper London. Four TV channels (one of them in the Sylheti language) and six Bangla radio stations (FM channels) run out of England. Italy comes a close second with respect to hosting the Bengali population. There too, Bangla newspapers, TV and radio are quite popular. Portugal, Greece and Benelux (Belgium-The Netherlands-Luxembourg) are home to 20,000 people from Bangladesh and West Bengal. North America, of course, is way ahead in this regard. More than a dozen Bangla weeklies are published from New York alone; radio and TV are equally popular as are Bangla book fairs and related programmes. The picture is no different in Canada.


The Global Presence Of The Bengalis Does Not Augurs Anything Worth

Bengalis, thus, seem to have a global presence. But can the same be said of their language, Bangla? Is it promoted and encouraged to develop beyond its boundaries? Not at all. Considering the fact that the Bangla-speaking population from the two Bengals occupy the seventh spot in the world, the Bangla language hardly holds any significant status. Though the Asian department in the Heidelberg University, Germany, teaches Bengali, the number of students learning it are no more than a measly 10. The Berlin Free University no longer holds Bengali classes. Reason? Lack of students. Learning Bengali does not guarantee jobs abroad; nor are youngsters keen on appreciating Bengali literature. Bengali readers in Germany have barely acknowledged the works of any Bangla-language poet or author — their interest has stopped with Rabindranath Tagore.

 


Pic :: The International Mother Tongue Day In It's Manner that It Flew And Flies Across World 

In West Bengal, Bangla appears to be largely considered the language of Bangladesh; Hindi is acknowledged as the language of West Bengal and India. Before censuring such a claim, one needs to note that nearly “ 53” per cent of people in Kolkata speak Hindi. Signboards in Hindi or English are routinely visible in different localities of Kolkata. In Bangladesh and West Bengal, parents send their wards to English-medium schools. Are they equally eager to introduce children to Bangla language and literature?

February 21st ::Importance That It Holds It Sowed the  “ SAPLING ” Of Freedom


 This date holds importance.It is this date that the UNO and the UNESCO working in tandem officially declared that every nation ought to have ONE common language as their national language for the people to speak that language so that one understands the other well , fine and truly and to make the l;iving cordial so that the society does not disintegrates in any mean and manner.

February 21 marks a day of sacrifice and of grief. Sacrifice for one’s mother tongue. Yet, the day has assumed celebratory proportions since the liberation of Bangladesh and the ideal at its heart lies forgotten. We cannot blame anyone for this though. Poetry sessions, literary gatherings; month-long book fairs; the longest-lasting book fairs in the worlds; youngsters crowding bookstalls, imbibing the “culture” of book fairs but not exactly buying books — these are embellishments we chose to be content with.


I Live In My Own Language And My Language Lives In Me


February 21 not just marked the movement for the mother tongue; it led the sapling of freedom to sprout and bloom in Bangladesh. It instilled an exuberance in us. We have been so euphoric about the day that I forget it happens to be my birthday too.  My birthday falls on some other and another day but this date February 21st makes me to feel that myself as a Bengali was born on that day as the Bengalis revolted to get SLAVED to some another language way back at Dacca and the entire Bangladesh on hat day . My friends come and ask me on my birthday, “Do we make merry today? Or do we mourn?” They remember I was born on February 21, 1952, at Doharpara, Pabna. “ The Bangla language was born on your birthday,” they say.

 I rephrase their good humour in a rhyme or two: “ I live in my language/ And my language lives in me.”

Well , that is it and That sums it all.

Regards and Thanks

Pics



Shyamal Bhattacharjee 

Mr Shyamal Bhattacharjee, the author was born at West Chirimiri Colliery at District Surguja, Chattisgarh on July 6th 1959 He received his early education at Carmel Convent School Bishrampur and later at Christ Church Boys' Higher Secondary School at Jabalpur. He later joined Hislop College at Nagpur and completed his graduation in Science and he also added a degree in    B A thereafter. He joined the HITAVADA, a leading dailies of Central India at Nagpur as a      Sub-Editor ( Sports ) but gave up to complete his MBA in 1984 He thereafter added a Diploma In Export Management. He has authored THREE books namely Notable Quotes and Noble Thought published by Pustak Mahal in 2001 Indian Cricket : Faces That Changed It  published by Manas Publications in 2009 and Essential Of Office Management published by NBCA, Kolkatta  in 2012. He has a experience of about 35 years in Marketing .






Signature Of Shyamal Bhattacharjee 

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