Ni Hao Ma — Learning Foreign Languages for Pleasure and Joy
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 30 Oct 2017
Dr. Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service
26 Oct 2017 – Languages are often a bridge to friendship– making friends with strangers in different countries or even in a different city in a multilingual country like India. The reverse is also sometimes true; if a person does not know the language he may be ignored or may get some directions (to go to a place) that one does not fully comprehend. This has happened with me and certainly other persons would also have experienced similar situations. This may happen not only in a foreign country but even in the multilingual India.
For example, Tamil is the state language of the southern state of Tamil Nadu and if one does not know this language, one can get into all sorts of difficulties. Once I wanted to go to a particular temple in the capital city Chennai and I was told in the lodge I was staying, to take a specific bus. Not knowing the spoken or written language I asked a few persons as to how to reach my destination. I was told in the Tamil language to take a particular bus. Unfortunately, I took a wrong bus. One can imagine my consternation on being unable to reach the temple and having difficulty in getting back to my lodge. However, in the process I strayed into another area of the city and saw a beautiful church where some people spoke English and where I could relax a little bit.
Sri Lanka is a small island country surrounded on all sides by the Indian Ocean and just a short distance away from Tamil Nadu. Most people speak Sinhalese and in the northern part because of the proximity of Tamil Nadu, many people speak Tamil. There are many similarities between India and Sri Lanka — cultural, religious, Ayurveda system of medicine, food habits etc. but languages are different– Hindi is the main language in India and Sinhalese in the island state. Surprisingly Hindi cinema is very popular in many parts of Sri Lanka even though people do not understand the Hindi dialogues. But people like the Hindi songs and the lilting dances seen in these films. Ask the people and the common answer is “we like the music and dance of Hindi cinema”.
On a recent visit to a few places in Sri Lanka we had to communicate in English with the Hotel staff and a few persons we spoke to. But imagine our surprise when we found that drivers and cooks and a few other professionals could understand Hindi and speak it haltingly. On being asked where they learnt Hindi, the general answer was that they learnt it in the middle eastern countries — Kuwait, Dubai, Saudi Arabia where many Hind/Urdu speakers come for work from Pakistan and India.
I can relate a few other examples of similar situations but one of the most interesting event that I remember is how five Languages were being spoken over dinner in Germany. My wife and I were at a German friend Hans’s place in a small town near Frankfurt. Hans’s wife was from Spain and they spoke in Spanish to each other but with their son, they spoke in German language. The son knew English besides German. I spoke with Hans in French because he did not know English too well and I knew only a few words of the German language. With my wife I obviously spoke in Hindi and with the son of Hans, the language to communicate was English.
So English, French, German, Spanish and Hindi languages were being simultaneously used between the five persons at dinner that evening. Interesting isn’t it?
Many tourists go to France – it is a beautiful country full of museums, historical and cultural sites and the Atlantic Ocean on its western part. The Mediterranean Sea located on its southern part allowed France to have strong relationships with its African neighbors Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco which were earlier colonized by France. The capital city Paris is a world class city with dozens of tourist places such as Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Élysée Palace (official residence of the French President) and many ponts (bridges) over the river La Seine. The river along with its ponts is a tourist paradise with painters, musicians and riverside restaurants and cafés.
The country has had several outstanding literary figures — Nobel prize winners – Romain Rolland (1921), Anatole France (1927), Albert Camus (1957), Jean Paul Sartre (1964, which he declined) etc. and other writers such as Simone de Beauvoir, Francoise Sagan and many others. Another novelist who was from Ireland was Samuel Beckett who lived in France and wrote in the French language besides some works in English. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1969.
France also attracted artistes and writers from overseas such as Vincent Van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway and others including one from India Amrita Shergill. The museums have some outstanding paintings including the renowned Mona Lisa, a passionate self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh and other masterpieces.
Paris attracts millions of visitors annually but some people have negative experiences since they cannot speak the French language. On the other hand, those who can speak the language have happy memories; I myself had memorable times on the many occasions that I went to Paris because I could speak the language — not fluently but enough to communicate with the local people who were most helpful to me.
Language difficulties are experienced in many countries including in Spain and Portugal where I spent a few days recently. Neither English nor French were helpful – one must know their respective languages otherwise one has to manage somehow with broken English and gestures. Both countries attract tens of thousands of tourists. Many are from China – apparently Chinese tourists are fond of tourism and are found all over the world including in France, England, Canada, USA as well as in Spain and Portugal and other places. Some of them do speak English and also other European languages. I would often go to some of them and try out the two or three sentences I had learnt several years back. One of these was NI HAO MA (meaning how are you?) and these tourists would enjoy and laugh at my limited vocabulary.
There are thousands of languages spoken today –hundreds of languages are threatened and are facing extinction. But learning languages and the associated cultures is popular all over the world. It is a joyful and pleasurable experience.
Long Live Learning Languages!
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This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 30 Oct 2017.
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Thanks for this lovely piece Dr. Bhatia. Your article gives a meaningful perspective on how we connect using language. Hearing one’s own language in a foreign land is music to ears and after trying to make heads and tails of what people say, a familiar tone is not just welcome but refreshing.
I see you contribute almost weekly to TMS and I look forward to reading your piece every time. Thanks for your dedication.
Thanks Shobhit for your lovely and refreshing comment. It has given me a lot of pleasure that you share my feelings towards foreign languages and our own Hindi.