Neglected use of the mother tongue
M A Islam | Sunday, 27 February 2011
M A Islam
Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar and other martyrs sacrificed their lives in 1952. Their fault was they loved Bangla--our mother tongue. The Pakistani rulers could not tolerate this and so they fired on them. Roads of Dhaka were bathed in their holy blood. 1952 to 2011. Almost difference of 59 years. We claim ourselves to be more civilized, more modern. But have we really been more modern, more civilized? Maybe we know the use of technology like Internet, cell phone, computer which our previous generations did not have access to or did not know. May be we ride on modern cars. May be we dress ourselves up with modern dress. But what has been the practice of our language? Where do we stand if we compare our love for Bangla with that of the martyrs or those who were involved in the language movement of 1952? They were ready to sacrifice their life-the most precious thing on earth for the language and we are polluting the language that we learned from our mothers during our childhood. If we look back to those days of 1952 when students and other ordinary citizens came down to the street out of love for our dear mother tongue-Bangla, we become really amazed. How could they have so much love for this language which is very neglected today? How do those who took part for the movement feel when they see that we are continuously mixing Bangla and English and sometimes Bangla, English and Hindi? How do they feel that many prefer to speak in Hindi or English? I am sure readers would agree that it is better to know other languages, but loving those foreign languages more than my own language really indicates my lack of patriotism. Those who prefer to speak in other languages to Bangla, their mother-tongue only for the sake of so-called 'smartness', they surely live in fool's paradise. The use of mixing of Bangla and English everytime we speak is very disheartening. If you open television dramas, you will hear extensive mixing of Bangla and English. In one sentence, there is some Bangla or some English, or one sentence in Bangla and next sentence in English and again next sentence in Bangla. Some of the FM channels, very favourite to the young generation, also are using mixture of Bangla and English day and night. It is time we love our mother tongue. We need to respect our beloved Bangla. We need to practice good Bangla. When we, students, teachers and all will practise correct Bangla, the environment around us will be more pleasant for us. We will keep our ears open and we will all the time--in the bus, train, schools everywhere-- listen to good Bangla and learn and practice the language. If learners practice the correct spoken Bangla, their thinking power will develop. They can write Bangla easily and they will be able to write good Bangla. They will be inspired in creative writing of Bangla as well. In this month of February, let us remember the popular saying by Rabindranath: "First we need to use the base of Bangla, and then we can go for developing the base for English." Let us take the view that we will learn good Bangla, teach our young generation good Bangla so that they can develop thinking power and they can be proud of the language and of the country. May Bangla live forever. May good and pleasant Bangla comes back in our day to day life. May our educational institutes come forward to make students feel proud of the language.
Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar and other martyrs sacrificed their lives in 1952. Their fault was they loved Bangla--our mother tongue. The Pakistani rulers could not tolerate this and so they fired on them. Roads of Dhaka were bathed in their holy blood. 1952 to 2011. Almost difference of 59 years. We claim ourselves to be more civilized, more modern. But have we really been more modern, more civilized? Maybe we know the use of technology like Internet, cell phone, computer which our previous generations did not have access to or did not know. May be we ride on modern cars. May be we dress ourselves up with modern dress. But what has been the practice of our language? Where do we stand if we compare our love for Bangla with that of the martyrs or those who were involved in the language movement of 1952? They were ready to sacrifice their life-the most precious thing on earth for the language and we are polluting the language that we learned from our mothers during our childhood. If we look back to those days of 1952 when students and other ordinary citizens came down to the street out of love for our dear mother tongue-Bangla, we become really amazed. How could they have so much love for this language which is very neglected today? How do those who took part for the movement feel when they see that we are continuously mixing Bangla and English and sometimes Bangla, English and Hindi? How do they feel that many prefer to speak in Hindi or English? I am sure readers would agree that it is better to know other languages, but loving those foreign languages more than my own language really indicates my lack of patriotism. Those who prefer to speak in other languages to Bangla, their mother-tongue only for the sake of so-called 'smartness', they surely live in fool's paradise. The use of mixing of Bangla and English everytime we speak is very disheartening. If you open television dramas, you will hear extensive mixing of Bangla and English. In one sentence, there is some Bangla or some English, or one sentence in Bangla and next sentence in English and again next sentence in Bangla. Some of the FM channels, very favourite to the young generation, also are using mixture of Bangla and English day and night. It is time we love our mother tongue. We need to respect our beloved Bangla. We need to practice good Bangla. When we, students, teachers and all will practise correct Bangla, the environment around us will be more pleasant for us. We will keep our ears open and we will all the time--in the bus, train, schools everywhere-- listen to good Bangla and learn and practice the language. If learners practice the correct spoken Bangla, their thinking power will develop. They can write Bangla easily and they will be able to write good Bangla. They will be inspired in creative writing of Bangla as well. In this month of February, let us remember the popular saying by Rabindranath: "First we need to use the base of Bangla, and then we can go for developing the base for English." Let us take the view that we will learn good Bangla, teach our young generation good Bangla so that they can develop thinking power and they can be proud of the language and of the country. May Bangla live forever. May good and pleasant Bangla comes back in our day to day life. May our educational institutes come forward to make students feel proud of the language.