Common language necessary or not?

So for starters Stine..you'd agree that the pride in mothertongue/s that is being cultivated in India is for selfish reasons and therefore problematic and against the interest of nation and the people of nation? They are fleecing both ways..taking monies in form of tickets, and taking away children giving them ideas and false hopes. Middlemen and another row of middlemen..

Hi vandana and stine,let us agree to disagree.My assertion is that one must be proud of one's mother tongue and use it everywhere until it is possible.I am not against English or any other foreign language.I have never been abroad,but,as stine said,English may be a compulsory language in Germany,but I am sure they have not made it the medium of higher education.German leaders speak in their own language on international platforms.China too speaks in its own language and so do all foreign countries.The only exception is India.I am against this mentality that I prefer to dub'slavish mentality.'I am proud of all the languages of our country and I learn and try to improve my knowledge of English as well,but I use my own language unless it becomes impossible and will continue to do so.I am unable to understand how taking pride in our own language is selfish and against our national interests.Instead,my opinion is,English has been promoted by our leaders for selfish reasons.They garner votes by using peoples' languages and do 'ghotalas' in English.

else..I explained explicitly ..a movie that comes in English is translated with some modifications of course first in Hindi, then in several regional languages. Therefore, we have film industries in each state. We are employing people to act films, we are not producing anything. Can you understand the difference? You make a book, you are producing something, you make a cell phone, you are producing something, you make a handbag, you are producing something, you make chappals you are producing something..you do farming you are producing something, even the administrative job in offices is an indirect facilitator of production..what is produced is used by the nation and its people. That is our gross domestic product. By producing something we prevent dependence on other nations, we also manage to export somethings. However, with films, that is not true. It is like a gangster collecting small small hafta (weekly payment) and giving shares to his goons (actors, directors, etc.), and passing something to the central government as taxes. Taxes can be collected even through other form of production, why use this non-productive route? Beats me.. If a foreign film is shown in my country, why cant we have subtitles on it? It is their brain, their actors, their storyline, so why do we copy them like monkeys? And to top it all, call it ours!!! And feel proud of our language based on that. I would understand if stories of Rabindranath Tagore were made in regional language, or Sarathchandra, and many other local writers. But we dont read our writers. We dont want to make movies based on our writers. Many of whom have written very original stories mind you. We only bring in what is in the west, and remake it, and then add a few songs here and there, like salt and pepper, and feel proud of it as our film. I dont think that is the right way to go about it. Others dont do it. Germans dont do it the Sound of Music, or Where Eagles Dare, right? Are those film producers trying to say that we dont have brains to understand English movies in English version, that we cant relate to them that they have to be rehashed in that way? That is my contention. Movie industry, in my opinion needs to be cut in size. That can only happen if we dont allow copying of stories and wastage of resources. Effectively, if people want to watch an English story, let them watch it in English and not expect it to be reconcocted in local language. Get what I mean?

Jenn..we have had the Sound of Music copied in Hindi ..Parichay, agreed it has been modified slightly to avoid plagiarism. But then it has been copied in many other languages also..with different actors, and actresses ...why the same story has to be retold so many times? I can understand remaking Predators. Technology has changed since first Predator. So it can make some difference. But same story told in different languages in India ..we have more than 15 languages out here..lol

Latin didnt become universal because we were so very divided like species of individuals with different cultures in different parts of the world. We still are the same, but we have something common holding us together, that is called Internet. So why dont we find another factor that holds us together? A common language may be?

Ok..:) Not seeking it as a right, seeking it as practical solution? lol.. If we accepted Apple and Microsoft in English, why do we have to translate it down to our languages. Has it not become duplication of work?

Hindi would be a disaster... the south and north are divided dear dpk... go to interiors of any southern state, you would find many who understand english but know nothing about Hindi. I faced that personally when I was touring interiors of Andhra during the 6 month of association with Alliance.

#Else: You got me completely wrong here. What I meant was - Hindi as the language for dubbing the movies. Not the language as we speak.

It is not Hindi or any other Indian language that would divide our country along North and South lines,it is our petty,corrupt,vote monger leaders who are potent enough to divide our country in various parts.What's happening in Maharashtra?And what Karunanidhi and co. is capable to do?Why blame Hindi or any other language who have been silently serving as the medium of expression for centuries?If Hindi had been a disaster,then our country would have been split into hundreds of parts by now.It is nothing less than a miracle that our country has been united in spite of these petty,so called leaders.

And Esperanto wouldn't be fair to those who's native language is a Germanic one now would it? Since Esperanto is a Latin basis hybrid... YUK! I saw a book with it back in the 1970's, good riddance to a BAD idea!

actually, I totally agree... while it would make my life easier if everyone spoke English, I don't expect it to become the "universal" language...

Nahhh, then we'd end up with something weird like Navaho...

Hello my friend vandana7 Ji, Well, I totally decend, I would like to give helping hand for anything to improve life and live longer, even if it is mere local language, because local languages are diminishing, our all rituals are also dying and one day religeon also will die. No , we must prserve them try and find out some means so taht they remain. May God bless You and have a great time

Ok..here are the choices.. You have 1000000 ..would you use it to help the language survive, or would you use it build an operation room in a rural hospital? Your time starts now..

Yes, dubbing is waste of resources, remaking is waste of resources, if we can have subtitles in one language, it should do. In this context, I also feel that though governments encourage it, people come into acting profession because of the monetary and fame attraction. If we reduce production, it will become difficult for people to get into this profession, and more productive professions such as farming will not suffer. As things stand, people spend a lifetime trying to make a grade in acting profession, which has little or nothing to contribute to GDP.

No..actually it helps to understand the language better. Stine if the same movie is remade in my language and another language and I am forced to watch it oh so many times not because it is telecast many times in English because it is telecast Thrice in English, and thrice in Telugu which is my language, and Thrice in Hindi, which is a language I follow well, you are limiting my choices honey.. And as I said..such activity is non-productive. It may fetch the government some revenues, but it does not add to the GDP. Therefore, it is waste of resources.

Stine..you accept that one language can solve the problems of my country? Great.. So wouldnt one common language solve the problems of the world?

I am not saying bury the language. I am saying have a common International language, and have your national language ..two languages to learn. Internationally, we all should be able to converse in one language. As to accents and slangs, over a period they will all become alike. I feel. There are many people who shift from different countries to the US, and over a period, their accent changes. So we will all be able to do that over a period.

Yes, why waste time translating things, it slows down the speed, and we are never sure whether the translation is perfect. So it can create unnecessary misunderstandings. In the past, it was fine. But now, with the world merging through Internet, it seems we are holding on to our languages unnecessarily.

I think they keep the basic theme the same, and sort of change the version, which is rotten way of plagiarism if you ask me. The original story teller does not get to complain, in all probability, he or she is not even aware of existence os such a thing. :) We have some Indianised versions of taming of the shrew. :) At times, only the basic story is picked and included somewhere.

Mandarin sweetie..

I guess I am up against an army of blonds here..

Well, you came running to support my blondie on her blond statement..

We have a strange situation out here. Those who talk in mother tongue and are educated in mother tongue are often looked down upon as "Vernacs". Indeed, we have more print wasted on same stuff translated and expressed possibly differently in different language since translation does alte the meanings slightly. People from "vernacs" tend to have more dramatic way of expressing what BBC would report with a sullen face. lol

Oops..people from "vernac" backgrounds...

Thanks for asking that stine..people want to make monies stine.. Now suppose Sound of music succeeds in the US. If it is shown here, it will succeed if it is not remade in local languages. So people who make such movies would earn more. What such people do is ..they do the middleman's job. They make the movie with different set of actors, at times with slight modification to the story. And earn the profits..some share of profit effectively moves their way.

Dubbing wont fetch profits to different set of people..right? :) So if you made a movie and released it..and it was successful, I would remake it in my language, and earn profits on it. Your movie would lose an audience out here and so will it lose profits, while I would have cleverly earned some making dent on ur profits..capish?

Oh dear..I didnt mean to be rude at all sweetie..I love blonds anyway they come.. Ok..copyright is applicable if the story is taken in toto..right? What if only underlying theme is picked and amovie is created "Indianizing" or "localizing" the story..lol So as I'd mentioned Roman Holiday somewhere..the princess escapes her palace, and the journalist gives her a chance to experience the life of the commoner, right? He does it with an intention to later cash on the story. Now listen to the Indianized version of it..the rich girl escapes from her home becoz she loves somebody and her pa wont approve of it ..and the journalist gives her a chance to experience the life of the commoner, and he does it with an intention to later publish the story..sounds familiar? But where is the copyright violation here? :) Cut copy paste..lol In the original..Hepburn does not marry Gregory Peck..that would be so .. In Indian story..the heroine marries and hero and they presumably live too happily forever having half a dozen kids..to prove their point. I might sound too cynical but ..give me a break..I cant watch that stuff even once ..other than in the original.

I am so glad to find some support. I too think that English will be the language that will survive primarily because compared to other languages it is easier to understand and communicate in. We have different forms of you for elderly, same aged people, and youngsters dont we? But English has only one you ..nothing different to give expressions of respect or disprespect. Even grammar is simpler.

I am not saying that their languages be eliminated. I am saying if they love their language, they are welcome to learn it and even converse in it. But a common language at International level would help us perform better as a community of human beings.

Urban..same religions are inspire wars. If what happens in middle east is any indication, and we did have England and France at war, right? So having some form of uniformity may not help as much. :)

Yes..it is so wide spread that more countries would accept it more easily than they would accept Mandarin, German, French, or Spanish..may be Spanish or French would be the next contenders. :)

Yes of course, practicability is an issue but it is nice that you noticed that such a move would improve communication and result in some savings. :)

Oh but English is not considered a universal language.. I am merely asking that we make it Universal language so that we dont have to read any other language on the Net, or can watch movies of other parts of the world with English subtitles. :)