Comments on: Sanskrit as the link language?

By: siddu

siddu — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:39:04 +0000

i’m in favor of english..not only it is basic need to get the job but also u can exposed to scientific world…hindi is just like other indian regional languages..not more than that..

By: Sridhar

Sridhar — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:34:17 +0000

I think the link language for all people today should be English. I am a Tamil and have very poor knowledge of Hindi or Sanskrit and find it quite an ‘alien’ language though English could also be called the same. However, my medium of instruction was English. Incidentally, one of the key reasons for India to have an edge over China in the IT and services sector is its large English speaking workforce.

Today, English is more important to learn and master than any other simply because of its necessity. Most scientific and practical knowledge, today, is in English more than any other language.

If the purpose of a language is to link people through their education and interaction irrespective of their cultural/national background (Indian or otherwise) then English fits that more than any other today.

This is not to say that people should STOP learning other languages or be indifferent towards their culture. They may very well be proficient, expressive and be proud of/in their own language while being expressive and proficient in English.

In short, a language of necessity is more relevant than a language of interest though sometimes (like for linguists and professors) both could be the same.

By: Mithun

Mithun — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:19:56 +0000

Sanskrit is a language not confined to any religion or a region.She is beyond every diversity we have.She is the mother of all indian languages and has even been a fundamental framework of many foreign languages including English.She has the power to bridge the gaps between each of us(state,religion,language).She is the most ancient heritage of this great land and she rightly deserves her honour.Besides,most of the regional languages have their roots in Sanskrit.So it will not be a problem in learning the language.I wish Sanskrit is encouraged in every institution.The language always plays a major role in improving the character(a character which is of utmost purity) of a person and I feel Sanskrit can transform an individual towards a honest and an enlightened life.From my 8 year study of Sanskrit i personally feel that Sanskrit language if made India’s national language can imbibe moral and ethical values in every individual and its study can make life a lot worthy and inspiring.I,myself have experienced its divinity and the beautiful words it has can never be found in any other language.I strongly feel that Sanskrit should be made India’s national language,further it should be taught in every educational institution in the world.Please,let us not oppose any language on the basis of a bias towards any religion.Every language is great,only the potential of every language is different and Sanskrit,i feel(sincerely,i have seen Sanskrit in an unbiased perspective) has a great potential.

By: Naseem Pasha

Naseem Pasha — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:39:25 +0000

pity, we Indians are forced to learn Hindi all our lives, and even sanskrit.. pity.
I am happy with Kannada – my mother tongue and English the international language.

By: Balajee Diwakar

Balajee Diwakar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:37:35 +0000

After going through the article and the comments of the fellow-readers, I feel that Hindi / Hindustani should be the link language for India. My feeling is also justified based on my personal experience some 15-16 years ago.

In one of my bus trips from Guwahati to Karimganj in South Assam, the trip involved moving into 3/4 states before reaching Silchar. Being a Hindi speaking person, I was very surprised to find that the common link language between the commuters was not Assamese / Bengali, but Hindi. Beacuse of many small states and difference of language in each state in the North East, Hindi was the most convenient language for the people.

Similarly, I studied in Mysore for 2 years and most of the times, in outside bazars buses etc., I could converse with more people in Hindi than in English. All this happened before the IT revolution when large scale movement of Hindi speaking people in Bangalore & Mysore had not happenned.

Based on these experiences, i think Hindi is the most convenient link language for the masses of India. I think beacuse of practical considerations and necessity, Hindi /Hindustani will promote itself and will not require any government imposition.

My personal opinion is that language can be enriched and propagated through soft power — Bollywood, tv channels etc rather than through government imposition. One of the latest such example is Bhojpuri language, which was not given much recognition beyond the Bojpuri speaking people, and now beacuse of the migrant population and soft power of tv channels / Bhojpuri movies, it has come into the cultural melieu of the non-Bhojpuri speaking people also.

By: historylover

historylover — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:34:59 +0000

Arun Nair
Agree with you on your sentiments on Sanskrit.
I as muslim feel the same way for Arabic – the language of the Quran,the Hadith and numerous other classical works by the great ulama like Imam Ghazali etc..

By: Arun Nair

Arun Nair — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:39:02 +0000

As someone from Kerala, I have no problem with Hindi and/or English as the national “link” language. Sanskrit and Tamil *are* India’s classical languages, but there’s no point pushing these down the throats of unwilling fellow-Indians. Time to make a pragmatic and sensible decision here and cast off silly one-upmanship.

However, I *do* feel that all Hindus must learn Sanskrit, in addition to their mother tongues. Sanskrit is not only one of mankind’s most ancient languages, it’s also the language in which Hinduism’s most sacred texts are written and it’s one that’s inextricably linked to our country. It’s tremendously fulfilling to realize that as a Hindu, your cultural roots and your links to India can be traced to the times “when history began”, as it were.

By: love

love — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:05:36 +0000

I think personally is better to make a compostion language without words from abroard. A composition language from north and south mixed up together this was also planned in europe with esparanto.

Purge all alien words because this is a thorn in india.
Make a language mixed with indegious wordsss.

By: Kiran

Kiran — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:28:02 +0000

Sanskrit has definitely its merits as a link language. Though Telugu and Kannada count as Dravidian languages, more than 80 % of the literary vocabulary is derived from Sanskrit. I am a Telugu speaker, and I can understand Sanskrit more easily than I can Hindi. If not for the Bollywood movie industry, Hindi vocabulary has no takers in the South of India. My language Telugu has an enormous borrowing of vocabulary from Sanskrit and there are several cases where a common Telugu word is closer to a Sanskrit derivation than among the so called Indo Aryan languages. Like any other language in India, Telugu also has a huge borrowing of words from English. And also surprisingly, a substantial borrowing of Persian words through Urdu. But, this vocabulary is extremely different from Hindi/Hindustani.

Telugu is the second most spoken language in India with 80 million speakers. You cannot afford to not listen to their voice.

By: Liberated Camel

Liberated Camel — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:13:48 +0000

[quote post="338"]Don’t tell me Raolin! There is a whole department whose job is to come up with archaic word replacements for common urdu words used in hindi. If today we find DD Samachar difficult to understand, it is not for nothing.[/quote]

Which department’s job is to come up with ‘archaic’ (according to you) word replacements for common urdu words used in hindi?
If YOU find DD Samachar difficult to understand, the same department also brings urdu Khabaren and DD news.