Daily Times

Punjabi language that has been made the third national language in the parliament of Canada is still considered a foul language to where it truly belongs: in Punjab. We, the real owners, take pride in dissociating ourselves from our language and culture. And yet a land seven sea crossings away associate and accommodate to our language because they are civilised and educated people who can understand that a language is a language and nothing else.

Language is just a language, neither bad nor good. It is we the speakers who have associated it with connotations of inferiority or superiority, for that matter. Every home and school has its own culture. Language is one aspect that comes under the influence of culture. It is upon the elders of the house how they retain their culture. It is understandable if you want to speak Chinese language in your home and not English. Similarly, if you want to create a culture of English language and you do not want to speak Punjabi language that is fine too. But you do not have any right to label Punjabi language as foul. Is the literature of Sultan Bahu, Baba Bulley Shah, Baba Farid, Shah Hussain and Waris Shah ‘uncultured’? Does their literature give rise to indecency, insolence and discourtesy?

If you really do not know Punjabi language or Punjabi literature, you cannot truly understand the culture of Punjab where you are born. Forgetting, or more specifically not even knowing, about your own roots, you are seriously a victim of an identity crisis.

It is not just Punjabi but any language can be used in an unpleasant manner. It is the speaker of the language that makes it foul, not the language itself. Respect is present in the very words that one chooses to speak, and every language has some respectful words and some disrespectful ones. Every language becomes an abusive language when it is used that way. What educational institutes need to focus on is to make sure that their students learn the etiquette to communicate, and understand manners to address and greet properly. That would imply how to be respectful with elders and courteous towards people — the real values that we seem to have forgotten.

It is also truly understandable that due to the pressure of our English medium educational system that everything should be taught in English, the survival of our education and jobs now revolves around English language. The competition of English language has risen to that height where children who cannot speak English due to not having enough money to study in English medium schools feel inferior, and ultimately, most of their talent is wasted in this world of strange standards.

Moreover, competition of surviving in the business world is another issue. Obviously, when students of one school perform better in board examinations than the students of another school, it builds the positive image of the former school in terms of good results. Educational institutes are in a race to compete with each other for getting better results; that is also used as an advertisement for attracting brighter students in the next application cycle. This could be one of the reasons why the school in Sahiwal labelling Punjabi a foul language prohibited their students to use it while in campus premises; the real issue here is the wording that they used. Subsequently, the tone and syntax of the notice led towards outrage on social media.

Notwithstanding the reason, there is no real excuse to forbid students to speak Punjabi. Speaking the language of choice is a national issue, and a change is required at the government level. If Sindhi language has recently been made compulsory in Sindh, why can’t Punjabi language be made compulsory up to class 8th or 10th in Punjab?

We actually would have to admit that we do not know Punjabi language, which is the real reason that we do not promote it. We mostly hear Punjabi being spoken amongst ‘ill-mannered people’. Go to any low-income area in the US, for example, and once you hear people speak, you realise that no language is inherently ‘bad’; it is the speaker who makes it foul or decent.

We would also have to admit that we do not really work on our Punjabi language the way this language demands improvement on a societal level. I feel bad for all those parents who deliberately forbid their children to learn Punjabi language, and even more for those who take pride in their children that they cannot even speak Punjabi language, to begin with.

It is also the insecurity of those who think that Punjabi language should not be given importance in any way, because then the difference between an ‘English medium’ student and an ‘Urdu medium student’ and rural and urban dwellers would be diminished. And that it would bring them on an equal level to debate on important issues, and to have equal chances of securing admission in educational institutes and competing for jobs in the market. Sadly, this is what we seem to have been unable to accept for decades now. Before my comments annoy anyone, I think I should ‘mind my language’, lest I be also considered a ‘hashtag activist’ or a ‘social media vigilante’ who is trying to defend a language that is not taken seriously by many people.

The writer is an organizational psychologist and serving as the director of Compass Training and Consultancy. He tweets at @Ahmed_Bilal01