Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Annexes
- Notation Used for Transcribing Non-English Words, Names, Etc.
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit
- 3 Arabic, Persian and Turkish
- 4 Armenian, Portuguese, Dutch and French
- 5 East India Company and The Indian Languages
- 6 East India Company and The English Language
- 7 Conclusion
- Index
Foreword
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 October 2011
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Annexes
- Notation Used for Transcribing Non-English Words, Names, Etc.
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit
- 3 Arabic, Persian and Turkish
- 4 Armenian, Portuguese, Dutch and French
- 5 East India Company and The Indian Languages
- 6 East India Company and The English Language
- 7 Conclusion
- Index
Summary
I am a chemical engineer. Being asked to write a foreword to a scholarly work such as this is clearly an occupational hazard. However I do feel honoured that Prof. Shreesh Chaudhary has requested me to do so.
On 2 February, 1835, Lord Macaulay is reported to have spoken in the British Parliament about India:
‘Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country unless we break the backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation’
Unfortunately for India his recommendation was not only accepted but implemented very effectively. Indians hastened the process by asking for it. After independence, contrary to Gandhiji's expectation, our ‘infatuation with the English Language’ did not go. The process however left us with a legacy of a rich language which, like every thing that came into our country, we duly Indianised. There is finally a new identity that India has acquired in the global scene, a new clarity amidst the turmoil of change, which my colleague captures so well on the language front in this book.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Foreigners and Foreign Languages in IndiaA Sociolinguistic History, pp. viiiPublisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2008
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