Striking balance
Rakesh Kalshian's "Lost in Translation" (1-15 June, 2018) was extremely thought-provoking (as all his articles generally are). He quotes K VijayRaghavan, who makes a case for the use of vernaculars in teaching science in India, as well as linguist David Graddol,
who says forcing English on schoolchildren will produce under-educated students, stifling their intellectual creativity and originality, creating at best what VijayRaghavan calls "eloquent paraphrasers of the ideas of others". So can we go back to teaching our primary and secondary students subjects in our own languages? While I understand the near-impossibility of translating all scientific terminology into vernacular, my question is, why do we need to do that? Our next generation uses English terms naturally in everyday communication. Why don't we turn science teaching into a truly bilingual experience by retaining the familiar English terms? Languages grow by borrowing vocabulary from each other. Most English scientific terminology comes from Latin. So, let us not be linguistic chauvinists. It will help in many ways: teachers will not have to re-learn basic or complex terminology; students who go on to study in English later will find the transition easy; intra-regional scientific discourse will be smoother; and, scientific thinking will be much easier to inculcate throughout the country.
SHYAMALA KUMARADAS BENGALURU, KARNATAKA
Language and study of science in India and education, especially in vernacular as desired by the Prime Minister, might be to satisfy the population of the Hindi belt, as rightly pointed out by the author. Colonisation and the legacies left by the British include the English language, which has given a multilingual nation like India some semblance of a unified country. Our Constitution and laws are written in English and their translations are not available in vernacular. In case of a legal tangle, the judiciary also goes by the English version.
It is true that the vernacular did not prevent our literature or scientific growth and that marvels like the "Big Temple" in Thanjavur or the Taj Mahal in Agra came up without an English-medium educated architectural engineer. What is also true is those who get selected in Western countries for higher studies have a subject knowledge in English. Scientific research and sharing of information is through English. M S Swaminathan, Verghese Kurien and Abdul Kalam studied in English-medium Indian institutions. While efforts to promote vernacular in all spheres, not in science alone, are welcome, we can't shake off the political implications if the change is forced. Care must be taken to ensure that all vernaculars get the same preference. Any tinkering without high-level preparedness will lead to chaos, and is unwarranted under the present circumstances. B SUNDAR RAMAN MAYURI COIMBATORE, TAMIL NADU