The Overrated Language.

English is not simply a language, but a parameter to determine one's ability to think, process and forge ahead in life. Learning English is perhaps the basic rule of life in India.

While the colonisation is over,the colonialism isn't. Up to this day the predominantly urban middle class of the society, still reflect the cultures and traditions of British. The very fact that we speak English is a proof in itself.

Even though a mere 12.18% of our population speaks English,almost hundred percent of the medium of communication in higher Bureaucracy, Judiciary and High end business houses is English. Such is the demand of this language for suits and boots, that children from a young age are taught that speaking English is equivalent to being civilised. Thus, it is safe to say that the socioeconomic strata of a single person depends on his knowledge of both theoretical and practical application of this language.

It remains that Indians have come to believe that their nation’s prosperity, as well as their own, is wholly dependent upon not just learning English, but exclusively learning it as a first language. The government and multinational companies believe in restricting their terms and conditions in English rather than reaching out to people in their native language. Well in a country where people walk English,people talk English this was the expected scenario.

Every aspect of development begins with education and education obviously branches out language. Language is the basic foundation for communication. Yet, language is much more than a means of communication; it determines the books one reads, the television programs one watches, the ideas one is exposed to, the values one holds, one’s personal interests, and one’s career opportunities. In essence, it defines our identities. Therefore, what is perhaps most damning is that because of this favoritism afforded to the English language the cultures of India are dying as they lose out on generations of authors, activists, actors, artists, playwrights, innovators, orators, and businesspersons who would have otherwise contributed to, and enriched, their own language.

At the end, we must realise that irrespective of linguistic boundaries, one must have morals and social education. It's always more important to be educated than literate.