Dhobi ka Kutta!


Many of us who live outside our motherlands study at universities abroad, mainly the USA and UK, and Germany is also a popular destination for engineers and Mathematicians. Very often than not we need a certificate of knowledge of English Language in the forms of TOEFL or IELTS to pursue education in these countries.
I have never given much thought to this procedure as I understand that English is after all the 1st language in US and UK and it is their mother tongue. But recently while searching for programs in German Universities I realized that most courses are taught in German, therefore to study them you need certificate of knowledge of German Language and for the courses taught in English you need a TOEFL or IELTS certification; it suddenly struck me that we (especially Indians)do such injustice to ourselves
India is one of the very few countries that has a very strong background of English language knowledge in spite of it not being OUR mother tongue. Some of us actually speak better English than the national language or our native language. As far as I am concerned I certainly express myself best with the help of this truly global language, it truly is our Lingua Franca. In spite of it if we require to prove our command over English through silly certificates then I am really sorry that I cant speak better Bangla and Hindi. That year after year we have studied every subject in English and have prided ourselves over the command over it only to have it tested by people who cannot even construct a proper sentence in english.
Having studied in the Capital city of Delhi I have seen students from all corners of the country having higher education in Hindi and getting through English instructed MA courses. Every reference book being in English only a couple had been translated in Hindi, every lecture was delivered in English.. every writing on the board was english; and these students coped and coped very well, sometimes scoring higher than English medium students. Whether they can speak perfectly or not they could write well enough and better. With this kind of attitude that is fostered in the youth of India it is truly an injustice... injustice to our native languages (some cant even write their own names) and in demanding TOEFL certificates of us! Isi ko shayad kehte hain Dhobi ka kutta, na ghar ka na ghaat ka! Ab iska anuvaad angrezi mein nahi kiya jaata...!!!

Comments

passer by said…
*chuckles at anubaad *
well, TOEFL is necessary, a non English speaking student might do well, but will have an unfair disadvantage when coming to an alien land, they manage in India by virtue of having people around who could help..
but then today it might be easy with so many translation softwares available..
February 7, 2009 at 1:21 AM
Deepanjana said…
you seem to have missed the point!
February 7, 2009 at 10:52 AM
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