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The need for a Link language in India: Some Case Studies

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The need for a Link language in India: Some Case Studies Empty The need for a Link language in India: Some Case Studies

Post by Guest Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:19 am

Case Study 1: I was working in Bangalore some years ago when this happened. A tamil colleague, born and brought up in Pondicherry, wanted to talk to the security guard of the building in which we worked about something. The security guard spoke Assamese, Bengali, and hindi. The tamilian spoke english and tamil. And so my tamil colleague asked me to come along with him and act as interpreter in his communication with the security guard. My tamil colleague also grumbled that it is only in India that such a strange thing can happen--one Indian being unable to communicate with another because of the lack of a common language.

Case Study 2: I would often use autorickshaws (autos) for moving around when i was in Bangalore. When in an auto, i would often inititate conversations with the auto drivers, ask them where they were from, what languages they could speak, and other questions involving local politics and so on. I found something interesting during these conversations. ALL the autowalahs i spoke to could communicate in hindi. The majority of them could also speak tamil, telugu, and kannada. A few could also speak Marathi. But the vast majority could not communicate in english. Also, the vast majority said they could understand malayalam, but they could not speak it because it is a 'difficult language'.

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