Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
EXECUTIVE BOARD OF EDITORS
Dr. Mitul Trivedi Prof. Piyush Joshi President H M Patel Institute of English Training and Research, Gujarat, The Global Association of English Studies INDIA.
Dr. Paula Greathouse Prof. Shefali Bakshi Prof. Karen Andresa Dr M Saravanapava Iyer Tennessee Technological Amity University, Lucknow Santorum University of Jaffna Univesity, Tennessee, UNITED Campus, University de Santa Cruz do Sul Jaffna, SRI LANKA STATES OF AMERICA Uttar Pradesh, INDIA Rio Grande do Sul, BRAZIL
Dr. Rajendrasinh Jadeja Prof. Sulabha Natraj Dr. Julie Ciancio Former Director, Prof. Ivana Grabar Professor and Head, Waymade California State University, H M Patel Institute of English University North, College of Education, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Training and Research Varaždin, CROATIA Gujarat, INDIA Gujarat, INDIA
Dr. Momtazur Rahman Dr. Bahram Moghaddas Prof. Amrendra K. Sharma International University of Dr. Ipshita Hajra Sasmal Khazar Institute of Higher Dhofar University Business Agriculture and University of Hyderabad Education, Salalah, Technology, Dhaka, Hyderabad, INDIA. Mazandaran, IRAN. SULTANATE OF OMAN BANGLADESH
Prof. Ashok Sachdeva Prof. Buroshiva Dasgupta Prof. Syed Md Golam Faruk Devi Ahilya University West Bengal University of Technology, West King Khalid University Indore, INDIA Bengal, INDIA Assir, SAUDI ARABIA
Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
Contents...
01 Training as a Scaffolding Tool for Esl Professional Development Dr. N V Bose
A Study of Unique Collocations in Indian English : An Outcome of Language Contact 02 Phenomenon Ritika Srivastava
03 Situate Words/sentences in Various Contexts to enhance reading & writing Amita Patel
A Teacher’s Tale of Challenges and Difficulties Faced in Primary Level E.L.T. 04 Classroom in Rural Gujarat : Some Reflections Riteshbhai Kasambhai Vaniya
05 Internet: A Helpful Tool to Learn English as a Second Language Ms. Binny Vaghela
Defining the Relationship Between Culture and Language Through Advertisement 06 Jignesh Panchal Nikita Joshi
07 Translation, History and Literatures in India Vishal Bhadani
Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
Training as a Scaffolding Tool for Esl Professional Development
Dr. N. V. Bose
Principal Institute of Language Teaching Jamnagar, Gujarat, INDIA.
Abstract
Modern century has brought paramount change and need in developing holistic view of education. There is a formative redesigning in innovations, competitive field, psychological development in employees/teachers/students’ attitudes, approaches and eventually catering need for personal as well as professional development. In every field, there is a need for development holistically.
Education is a field which regales all the demands of students, teachers and of the institutions. Only this field has wide variety of activities so as to form overall development of the person. But on the other side, our teachers who are expected to be goal-oriented, active and researcher are less motivated and goal-oriented. Many of the educators do not want to develop themselves professionally and eventually there is a dearth of holistic development of the teachers as well as of students. Professional development and self-reflection are the tools which give ways for the further initiatives leading towards competitive environment and hence quality education. There is a need for such training and education. ELT field is ever developing field with every nuances of it. It has given scopes for many researchers to be professionally developed. The current paper will focus on the need and scope for teachers’ continuous processional development (CPD).
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Introduction
“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action”. - Herbert Spencer
Teaching and learning are considered as two paramount tools for the development of any field. In fact it is the root for any development and thus has dearth for more knowledge in it. The best of all knowledge are stored in book forms which are available in different libraries of various schools or colleges. There was time, earlier, during Ashramas system, when there was incessant training given to students based on one’s physical, psychological, mental, emotional and spiritual development. Even the gurus/preachers/trainers were expected to be highly talented and scholar.
In today’s time there is a need for such training and values to inculcate. There are many teachers who believe that they just need to be a teacher and no need to be a special trainer or develop or learn new things. Now the question is, are our teachers developed enough to bring change in the current academic field? Are they charged enough to motivate and influence the psychology of the students? Are they willing to change their own-selves? Are they keeping themselves involved into various development related programs? The answer would come to a very meager level. It is here the need for teacher's training required to make the 'man-making' (Swami Vivekananda) process. W. J. Yeats has rightly said,
‘Education is not the filling of a bucket. But the lighting of a fire.’
In this age of information, it has become necessary for the teachers to be continuously developed by learning new courses, being skillful, researchive, updating one's knowledge, changing teaching/learning strategy, goal-oriented, being a part of different associations, contributing new scales to their existing knowledge and taking initiative for the new learning that will bring change as holistically into their overall personality. With the rapid advancement in technology and in the entire competitive field, it has even become more necessary to train the students with more pedagogic training, innovative presentations, seminars, workshops, using authentic materials, making more interactive classrooms etc. Teacher should here determine not only the development of the students but their own. Albert Einstein has said that,
‘Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop ______.’
One should, here, be asked to give the answer of the blank given. Each answer would represent one’s mentality, strength or weakness.
India, though a developing country, has not yet that well developed plan for teachers’ development. It is tried to incorporate the best possible topic for students’ overall development in the course curriculum but less has been incorporated for the teachers’ development point of view. In the fields like Law, Medical science, I.T. Engineering there are new updates which take place every time and the practitioners in the fields have to be updated with the latest innovations while in academic field where equal way of development is expected, we find teachers to be not enough trained, motivated and developed.
The reasons are lack of motivation from the management where they work, social background, financial condition, unwillingness from their own self or too much of dependency to live in a comfort zone etc. In the colleges especially, where more rigorous training required from the college teachers, there is a dearth of good motivated teachers and hence the crowd, passed out, are not worthy enough compared to the
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students of other country or states. Here the significance and need for college teachers' continuous professional development (CPD) requires a lot.
In order to make the foundation strong there should be some initiatives taken. India is though a developing country but still it does not have that well planned CPD initiatives. Even the classrooms, in most of the states, are not well equipped enough in terms of language lab, material resources and the so with the teachers' development. Continuous professional development (CPD) should be made compulsory for the teachers.
INNOVATIONS IN ELT
There are lots of innovations taking place in English Language Teaching field. There is twist in the attitude and approach towards teaching and learning of English nowadays. The traditional way of teaching has been forgotten and the new techniques have been taken place which are rather more dynamic and influential. Even innovative practices were not sufficient for the holistic development of learners hence we have incorporated technology into the classroom of English Language Teaching. There are now bountiful ways of adopting new methods for the language practices and the so with teachers’ own mental framework. Here there is a question on teachers’ own development as how he/she would be initiating the process of development in the best possible way.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
Witnessing the paradigm shift currently in the field of education (in ELT) in terms of change in the curriculum, students’ needs, infrastructure, employability, national tests, technology, vocation etc. it becomes essential that a teacher/trainer become more active, goal-oriented and reflective as well. In this regard teachers should be able to upgrade their skills and approach towards looking at the things differently in education. Teachers are expected to take part in activities like,
1. Engaging in self-reflection and evaluation 2. Developing specialized knowledge and skills about many aspects of teaching 3. Expanding their knowledge base about research, theory, and issues in teaching 4. Taking on new roles and responsibilities, such as supervisor, mentor, teacher trainer, teacher- researcher, materials writer etc 5. Developing collaborative relationships with other teachers
(Jack C. Richards, 2005)
It is needless to say even government bodies like NCTE, NCERT, NCFTE, AICTE, UGC etc. are offering various teacher training programs so as to develop the current level of college/school teachers. Though the attitude towards it by college/school teachers are still pessimistic. Even school/college or management authorities also should take certain initiative (top-bottom initiative) to motivate teachers and provide professional development related activity.
In the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) there are multiple avenues available to develop language teacher professionally. Some of the ways are
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1. Many academic bodies/websites offer free online courses: NovoEd, Coursera, Open2Study, EdX, WizIQ, Futurelearn (part of MOOCs) and many others. They even provide certificates of completion of different renowned universities as well. 2. Bodies like RELO, AITEFL, Cambridge English Teacher etc. offers free E-Teacher Scholarship for the English Language teachers. 3. Being a part of different National/International Associations also helps language professional to be in contact with the latest knowledge, issues, innovations and other development. 4. Publication is one of the CPD ways that shows teacher as researchive and active in academics. 5. Interacting with colleagues, sharing and taking good knowledge are again some of the CPD ways. 6. Participating and presenting in seminars, conferences, workshops etc. play a good role in forming good base for professional development.
There is a good link for professional development related activity and for the one who want to update their language and technological skills. www.edvista.com/claire/relo/resources.html
REVIEWS AND COMMENTS OF ELT PRACTITIONERS ON THEIR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
“I’d like to work further on knowing the subject. While I am fairly confident with the language now, it is the subject content of teaching that I want to look into. I have been reading up on a fairly wide range of ELT books but I would also like to attend seminars and ELT conferences to expand my perspective.”
_ Saloni Zimba
In my opinion the ability to plan lessons forms the foundation of a successful teaching career. I would like to harness and apply the experience I’ve gained in that respect by assuming a leadership role, which would include mentoring teachers who are just starting out. Not only will this help them, but it will also allow me to reflect on and fine-tune my own lesson planning skills.
_ Yasir Husain Source: www.britishcouncil.in/teach/continuing-professional- development
NEED FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT
We may call whether self-assessment or reflection both aim for questioning to one’s own way of working or attitude. In order to develop a holistic view of education one must be as reflective as possible. The jinx of self-reflection is never ever been so positive enough in educational context. Generally, we teachers never reflect on one’s psychology and activities.
This is a question to ask to all the teachers that how many of us do ever think after the classroom teaching whether how well did it go? What went wrong? What improvement one needs to make? What sort of changes one needs to do to make classroom teaching more interactive? How should one encourage students more deeply? The answer to these questions come to a mediocre level.
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As mentioned above, the process of self-reflection or self-assessment starts with asking a question to oneself, then acting upon it, evaluating oneself, learning from the weaknesses, applying those learning tactics and then again asking question to oneself as what I, as a teacher, did learn out of the whole process of self-assessment. Some of the stages of reflections are: write descriptive, factual writing, descriptive reflective, dialogue reflection, critical reflection etc. as a part of system of evaluation. One should not forget here that a teacher should look at all the problems of classroom as challenges.
As a part of professional development, some of the common reflective questions to be asked to oneself, those are
What are your plans for your professional development in the next few years? What kinds of self-development activities have you found most useful? What sort of collaboration is there at your institutions? How have you been able to apply knowledge to your teaching which you learned in your Masters? If yes, then how much and if no then how you can bridge the gap? What are some of the classroom realities that a university degree may not adequately prepare a teacher for? What do you think teachers can learn working on group projects? How you can change the technique of your teaching every year? What change in the materials you would be making for the classroom as every year brings new chapter to learning? What do you learn from the teaching or learning of your colleagues? And how you implement the same in your teaching? etc.
TEACHER TRAINING AND TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
A teacher can develop two kinds of development related initiative: teacher training and teacher development.
TEACHER TRAINING:
‘Training’ pertains to the current state of working that is activities directly focused on a teacher’s current responsibilities. It does aim for learning/gaining short-term goals like imbibing technological skills, refresher course, faculty development program (FDP) etc. For example, pre-service training program like B.Ed is an illustration of teacher training program. In this, a teacher can learn some skills, ability for teaching, classroom management and some power to demonstrate principles and practices. It would be good if a school/college teacher is taught the strategies of supervision, monitoring, getting feedback from students as well as teacher colleagues etc. Some of the examples of a training program:
Learning how to use effective strategies to open a lesson Adapting the textbook to match the class Learning how to use group activities in a lesson Using effective questioning techniques Using classroom aids and resources (e.g. audio/video, podcasts etc.) Techniques for giving learners feedback on performance (Jack C. Richards, 2005)
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TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Teacher development, compared to teacher training, aims for larger goals. It does not only focus on developing techniques for teaching and assessment but seeks to facilitate teachers’ holistic growth which is more wide and broad. Teacher development is thus not seen just as a part of training but as a life-long process, from beginning to end (even after post-retirement period). In teacher development, there are mainly two initiatives that are responsible; top-bottom and bottom-up. Top-bottom initiative focuses on the activities offered by management/school/college authority to teachers/trainers while bottom-up anchors upon learning-centric dimension i.e. taking responsibility on one’s own development without thinking of the formality of academic curriculum completion. Some of the specimens of teacher development perspectives, from the English Language Teaching point of view:
Understanding how the process of second language development/acquisition occurs Understanding how our roles change according to the kind of leaners we are teaching Understanding the kinds of decision making that occur during lessons Reviewing our own theories and principles of language teaching Developing an understanding of different styles of teaching Determining learners’ perceptions of classroom activities (Jack C. Richards, 2005)
Teacher development closely examines the process of reflective analysis of teaching practices, beliefs and values towards teaching and education, peer reflection and suggestions, students’ feedback and improving upon that and assessing one’s role as a teacher.
A HOLISTIC INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Professional development activity could also be seen from institution’s need-based way. Many times, however, teachers’ teaching, their behaviour, knowledge and skills become outdated or maybe they do not fulfill the need of the institution. Here, a teacher should not necessarily compare his/her formal training with the need of the institutions as it may differ. Sometimes, an institution does not require the qualifications of teachers but skills which is the case, nowadays, in many of the private (national and international) schools and colleges.
The possible pragmatic solution of the above mentioned problem could be if school/college provides training for acquiring knowledge and skills. Many times such need-based training is also known as staff development or in-service training (as referred many times in ELT field). Some of the steps could be taken are,
Institutional development: The aim for this is to make any institute more popular/renowned in its own field by giving good result. This is possible with better approach of management (i.e. top- bottom approach), encouraging teachers as well as students, motivating them to attend value- added workshops/seminars/conferences and providing better learning outcomes. Many good organizations consider it on a high-priority and eventually attain the objectives set by the management. Career Development: The focal area of career development is on professional advancement of the teachers, who are in tenure, to higher positions i.e. senior lecturer to assistant or assistant to
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associate professor etc. by providing necessary training for knowledge and skills. Though it should not be made compulsory as sometimes (or many times) some senior coordinator do not work well by gaining the senior post. For such school/college teachers there should be professional evaluation from the entire angle and then should be given consideration; whether promoted or demoted. But otherwise, advancement in one’s career gives job satisfaction which ultimately leads to betterment of the institutions. Enhanced Levels of Student Learning: The ethical goal for any academic organization should be to give quality education and make the generation strong and motivated enough. The focus should not be just on the academic achievement but holistically overall i.e. physical, mental, emotional and intellectual. It is undoubtedly to say that the enhancement in the learning of students ultimately makes the institution reputed.
A VIGNETTE FROM A TEACHER
As a part of CPD process every teacher passes through a change. As we mentioned earlier that there are multiple ways for developing oneself professionally a teacher can adopt any technique or activity to bring change in mundane teaching practices. The following is a vignette from a teacher in Pakistan. She wanted to learn and observe the teaching and assessment tactics adopted by some teachers. Here, she discusses the process of designing her own checklists. Again it should be considered as a part of professional development activity. In her own words,
For me, a classroom observation checklist must not contain too many items. This is a lesson I learned from a few observations I conducted. Sometime back, in order to appear very professional and show off my newly acquired knowledge, I developed wonderfully detailed checklists divided and subdivided into many topics. The checklists looked very well done and highly useful, but in practice that was not the case. I ended up with too much to look for in too little time. So now, when I design checklists I restrict myself to looking at one or two aspects of my teaching and I do not devise too many questions, nor do I have too many categories. If you keep your checklist concise and stick to the most important points, your observation will be “good”. - Amana Khalid (Her confession)
LITERATURE REVIEW
As a part of such reflective study, there are, fortunately, some research works have been done in India. Here, to give an example, two books are referred which the compilations of works are done on Continuous Professional Development (CPD), in ELT field. The books are:
1. Continuing Professional Development: Lessons from India, Edited by Rob Bolitho and Amole Pad wad, published by British Council, India, 2012. 2. Continuing Professional Development: An Annotated Bibliography, by Amole Pad wad and Krishna Dixit, published by British Council, India, 2011.
This paper has a framework for teachers’ professional development which is general in nature. For the studies in India, on CPD, there are some names/writers/scholars, given in the above mentioned books, who have thought, observed, reserved time, surveyed, researched and contributed something in the society for the future teachers to be more goal-oriented, dynamic, determined for one’s CPD and be a reflective practitioner.
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CONCLUSION
Thus, a study on teachers’ professional development will give us an overview about the current level, attitude and approach towards taking academic initiatives and providing a thought for the need for the development to happen. The time has come to show our worth not just by achieving academic degrees or completing course curriculum but also by inculcating skills which are more essential for the quality education and giving holistic view towards the same. We need to change our approach by taking into consideration some of the following key thoughts,
1. To see teaching as a vocation
2. A propensity for reflective thinking
3. The need for on-going teacher professional development
4. The importance of school support, and
5. Taking initiative for life-long development
References
Berliner, D. C. (1987). Ways of thinking about students and classrooms by more and less experienced teachers. In J. Calder head (Ed.), Exploring teachers’ thinking (pp. 60-83). London: Cassel.
Continuing Professional Development: An Annotated Bibliography, by Amole Pad wad and Krishna Dixit, published by British Council, India, 2011.
Continuing Professional Development: Lessons from India, Edited by Rob Bolitho and Amole Pad wad, published by British Council, India, 2012.
Richards, J.C. & Farrell, T. (2005). Professional Development for Language Teachers. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J.C. & Farrell, T. (2011). Practice Teaching: a Reflective Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
A Study of Unique Collocations in Indian English : An Outcome of Language Contact Phenomenon
Ritika Srivastava
Visiting Faculty at The English and Foreign Languages University, Lucknow Campus. Lucknow, UP, INDIA.
Abstract
English language that began as a crude linguistic tool of the Anglo-Saxons has transformed into a powerful instrument of expression and an effectual and cosmopolitan mode of communication. In the modern day and modern linguistic scenario, English should be viewed as something that has multiple varieties and forms and not as a single, monolithic entity. There are several native and non-native varieties of this language and the non-native speakers of this natural, living language outnumber its mother tongue users. Mesthrie and Bhatt (2008) have discussed various perspectives from which one can study the global rise and spread of the English language; “Language Contact” being one of them (Mesthrie and Bhatt 2008: 1). In the present multilingual scenario, language contact is no longer seen as an exception, rather is a norm. All languages involved in the process of contact get affected though the degree might vary. Different linguistic and social conditions of the geographical areas in which English entered and the changes brought in the language by contact phenomenon has lead to several different outcomes. Such is the case with Indian English which is an offspring of the phenomenon of languages in contact (contact between English and the indigenous languages of India). The plurilingual society of India has casted its impression on several grammatical units of English. The local colours added to such grammatical units are noticeable in the speech and writing of educated Indian users of English language. The use of collocations by educated Indian bilinguals is one such unit. Collocations as used in India are slightly different from the British Standard English and should be viewed as something unique or variant. In the present article such unique Indian collocations will be elaborated upon.
Keywords: Language contact, Indian English, Collocations
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1.1 Languages in contact
History stands witness that all the languages at some point of time have had a common and constant linguistic phenomenon of “contact”. Either languages or the dialects come in contact with the other languages and dialects. History of a language entails the history of the users of the language. It is the history of how different groups of people come in contact and the political relationships between them. The phenomenon of language contact involves two or more linguistic systems. These systems may be genetically related or unrelated. Ever since the first publication in 1953, Weinreich’s (1968) work is considered as the standard one in the area of language contact. According to Weinreich (1968), ‘…two or more languages will be said to be IN CONTACT if they are used alternately by the same persons. The language-using individuals are thus the locus of the contact’ (Weinreich 1968: 1). There are various causes that bring languages in contact leading to some kind of linguistic change. Meierkord (2012) gave several socio-historic conditions which promote languages to come in contact with one another. These are: ‘mass migrations, which were mainly brought by trade, missionary activities, conquest, occupation, invasion, and eventually colonisation, importation of labour force, indentured labour, and slavery’ (Meierkord 2012: 49). A language in contact is dual faced. It has it original face, that is, the original form and function of the language and the other face, the acquired one. This acquired face is different and this difference is due to the language with which it has been in contact with and influenced by – gradually bringing about changes in the form and functions of the other language. The degree of contact varies from the lexical borrowing that takes place to severe mixing of units. Once languages come in contact and definite roles have been assigned to them the next step is to make a choice, that is, which language is to be used where, in other words the concept of “language choice”. Choice of language made by speakers in a multilingual community is one of the most observable ways in which languages in contact affect each other.
1.2 Indian English
All the languages involved in the process of contact get affected though the degree might vary. Two such broader consequences of this are: bilingualism and the emergence of non-native varieties of the English language (Parasher 1991: Preface) or simply the emergence of Englishes. In the broader context of English, as it exists in the present day, the ways it has grown and expanded beyond England since the colonial times, has contributed greatly to its popularity, rise and diversity with which it exists now. Different linguistic and social conditions of the geographical areas in which
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English entered, the changes brought in the languages by contact phenomenon has led to several different outcomes. Indian English is an offspring of the phenomenon of languages in contact, in this case contact between English and the indigenous languages of India. Indian English may be defined as a non-native variety of English used by educated Indians in the Indian socio-cultural contexts to perform certain functions in this multilingual and pluricultural society. A lot of processes, debates, changes at different points of time led to what we have with us, among us, our very own Indian English today. The key word while studying Indian English is “variation”. Indian English is in itself a variety of English and within this variety of English again there are several varieties, Butler, Babu and Standard Indian English. Over the passage of time Indian English has evolved and this evolution is brought about by pluriculturalism and plurilingualism of India. The plurilingual society of India has casted its impression on several grammatical units of English as well. The local colours added to such grammatical units are noticeable in the speech and writing of educated Indian users of English language.
1.3 Methodology
Data for the present study has been taken from newspapers, magazines viz., The Times of India (hereafter TOI), Hindustan Times (hereafter HT), The Indian Express (hereafter IExp), India Today (hereafter IT), Reader’s Digest (hereafter RD), Filmfare (hereafter Ff) and Stardust (hereafter Sd) and recorded news, Times Now (hereafter TN). All the sources of data are respectful and are held in high esteem. Also, these sources of data have a good number of audiences. These attributes of the various sources of data authenticate the popularity and wide usage of the items.
1.4 Unique Collocations in Indian English
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (hereafter OALD) 8th edition defines collocation as ‘a combination of words in a language that happens very often and more frequently than would happen by chance’. In other words ‘it refers to the tendency of certain lexical items to keep company with a set of other lexical items... There is a mutual expectancy and a tendency of co-occurrence between certain words in a language’ (Kachru 1983: 80). Some authors incorporate phrasal verbs and some refer to it as ‘the tendency to occur together of content words’ (Hosali 1997 quoted in Prakasam and Tirumalesh (eds.): 1). Collocations as used in India are slightly different from the British Standard English and should be viewed as something unique or variant rather than wrong. Following are some examples of the collocations in the two varieties of English.
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Burn/Burst
According to Oxford Collocations Dictionary (hereafter OCD) 7th edition, many things are “burnt”—such as one can burn calories, charcoal, DVD, incense, wood, etc. and many things can “burst” such as balloon, bubble, tyre, etc. Along with these, Indians “burn” or “burst” crackers too. In Britain, crackers (firecrackers) are let/set off, OALD.
Eg: Post announcement of results security will be beefed up across parts of the city, particularly in sensitive spots. People will be requested to refrain from bursting crackers. [TOI 15th May 2014, p.2]
Char
The word “char” collocates with corpse, remains, ruin and wood OCD. It does not collocate with words referring to living creatures. Indian users of English mostly prefer “char” where a speaker of British English would use burned to death.
Eg: Four members of a family, including two children, were charred to death after a fire broke out in their hut in Gadhepur village… [HT 29th March 2013, p.5]
Chaste
For “chaste” Nihalani et al. (1979) write ‘[i]n BS usage, the adjective frequently has a sexual connotation or is used to refer to style or taste. It does not collocate normally with the names of languages...’ (Nihalani et.al 1979: 47). But in India this is not so.
I lived in a small flat and I used to wake up and my father was taking in shudh (chaste) Punjabi to these distributors. [IT 29th April 2013, p.86]
Illicit
In British English, one can have “illicit” affair, drug, sex, trade, etc., OCD. The verb “illicit” occurs very frequently in Indian English in collocations which would be unlikely in British English. The users of Indian English collocate anything illegal with the word “illicit”—from “illicit” liquor to “illicit” relationship to “illicit” arms factory.
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Eg: ...defence minister AK Antony on Friday ordered the dismissal of a navy officer who was found guilty of being in an illicit relationship with the wife of a superior officer. [HT 13th April 2013, p.6]
Two persons were arrested on Friday for allegedly running an illicit arms factory in Hayatnagar area here. [IExp 16th March 2013, p.4]
She also withdrew over 25,000 cases of drunken brawls and illicit liquor against tribals, citing that they traditionally brewed their own liquor. [IT 22nd April 2013, p.44]
Join
The verb “join” collocates with nouns such as army, cabinet, movement, profession, team, etc. as the object OCD, but not with politics, duty or appointment. The examples given below illustrate that in Indian English “join” is used in collocation with politics, duty or appointment among others.
KGMU junior docs seek NBW revocation
Strike Work But Join Duties Later. [TOI 25th February 2013, p.2]
My movies are doing well at the box office. So, I thought of joining politics. [TOI (Lucknow Times) 25th February 2013, p.1]
A hand written application...for one vacancy job of Chowkidar...Candidate should not have completed 45 years at the time of joining the appointment... [TOI (Advertisement of EX-SEVICEMEN CONTRIBUTORY HEALTH SCHEME (ECHS) BASTI) 28th February 2013, p.7]
Passout
‘In BS, this verb tends to collocate...with nouns denoting members of the armed forces, para-military organizations and similar bodies. Students, however, usually “graduate” or “complete their studies”’ (Nihalani et al. 1979: 137).
Uma, a class V passout, has 13 cases against her [TOI 29th April 2014, p.6]
3 Lakh Class XII Pass Outs To Try Luck Again [TOI 2nd June 2014, p.2]
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Pelt stone
According to OCD, “pelt” is used in collocation with rain. Therefore, in Britain the expression rain pelting occurs, but in India, stone pelting can also be observed. “Pelt with” is a phrasal verb and is fixed. OALD says one pelts somebody with something. Thus, in the 1st example “...some boys pelted water balloons at us” would be changed to “some boys pelted us with water balloons” by a speaker of British English, though in Indian English such an expression is supposed to be correct.
“We were in auto-rickshaw and some boys pelted water balloons at us…” [TOI 26th March 2013, p.2]
The activists smashed windowpanes of the buses and pelted stones at Rao’s car. [IExp 26th February 2013, p.12]
Rank
As against Indian English, “rank” is not used in collocation with exams in British English. ‘A BS speaker would most probably say “I came top in the examination” or “I was first in the examination”. This word is also used by IVE speakers to refer to degree results’ (Nihalani et al.1979: 147).
He has also ranked third in the all India ranking of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)... [TOI 4th March 2013, p.4]
Grades and ranks should lose importance and exams should be research oriented instead of just testing your memory. [IT 4th March 2013, p.57]
Tall promise
“Tall” is not used in collocation with claims or promises in British English. However, in Indian English it is widely used.
...that you should be put up to a lie detector test beside the investigation which is going on against you given the tall claims you are making... [TN (Recorded news) 11th April 2013]
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“Mass copying and regular paper leak is a mockery of the board examinations. The tall claims of the board officials to ensure sanctity of board examinations are left aside...” [TOI 19th March 2013, p.3]
1.5 Conclusion
When we see things from the perspective of linguistics, only then these Indianisms become visible and are compared and contrasted with British English, otherwise we use them without considering them as Indian or British. The linguistic legacy left behind by the Britishers has been, for quite some time now, carefully nurtured within the pluricultural and plurilingual dimension of India. The Indianisms in form of collocations discussed in the present article is not an exhaustive list. The list can continue and can be really long. In no way can these patterns be called “mistakes” or “deviant” usages. Rather they are “variants” and are as unique as Indian English itself. The widespread use of these items surely accounts for the acceptability of such elements. The researcher does not wish to claim which English is right or wrong, good or bad. It is just about the uniqueness of Indian English which should be celebrated and respected!
References
Hosali, P. (1997). “Collocations in Indian English”, in V. Prakasam and K.V. Tirumalesh (eds.) Issues in English Grammar. Vol. I. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, pp. 94-99.
Kachru, B.B. (1983). The Indianization of English. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Meierkord, C. (2012). Interactions across Englishes: Linguistic Choices in local and International Contact Situations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mesthrie, R. and Bhatt, R. M. (2008). World Englishes: The study of New Linguistic Varieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parasher, S.V. (1991). Indian English: Functions and Form. New Delhi: Bahri Publication.
Weinreich, U. ([1953] 1968). Languages in Contact. The Hague. Mouton Publishers.
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ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
Situate Words/sentences in Various Contexts to enhance reading & writing
Amita Patel
Assistant Professor G. H. Patel College of Engineering & Technology V V Nagar, Gujarat, INDIA.
Abstract
Numbers of thoughts in the mind, but no words to express them. Numbers of ideas are there but unable to use them.
What can be the reason for such situation for a reader/student? It can be assumed that either they are unknown to the use of language or they don’t have enough and appropriate vocabulary. Moreover, it can be said that they may be poor reader.
This is the real scenario of the language user either outside or inside of the classroom. Appropriate use of language is the chief element for the language learner. Learner of the language must be aware of time, place and way of using language in various situations. These are the steeping stones for developing vocabulary, speaking, reading and writing skills for the competent language user otherwise recession is there in our career and one has suffer a lot academically, professionally, economically and socially, too.
In the controversial situation it may happen that a person is strong communicator but weak at vocabulary or strong vocabulary but weak communicator. These are the issues that somewhere we also became the victim of such situation. Here, comprehensive reading-writing come at rescue and show a meaningful way to the learner to enhance the language skills. So why not we put a small but sincere effort to learn how to situate words/sentences in various contexts to enhance reading and writing skills/our language skills.
Key words-use of language, appropriate, enhance, lack of, competency
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Numbers of thoughts in the mind, but no words to express them. Numbers of ideas are there but unable to use them.
Introduction- This paper is mainly going to present classroom teaching experiences and conscious observation while teaching language/soft skills and communication skills to engineering students and the researcher has found that at UG level it is very obvious to have some idea about the use of language but when it comes to use it at the advance level(Revised Blooms Taxonomy), it becomes the perilous situation in the real sense and failure result will occur either in the form of mark sheet/placement process or at the workplace and at personal level, too.
Though advancement at scientific and technological level happens but something is lacking and that has to be empowered, especially here focus will be on embryonic vocabulary skills to enhance reading and writing skills. These are the crucial skills that have to be empowered, because they help to generate ideas and to develop creative and critical thinking, too.
Of course at some what level the technology has brought tremendous changes in the classroom teaching learning method but the use of language is slightly updated and more hampered by technology. That doesn’t mean the diversify only worst situation that’s focusing, there are benefits, too, likewise variety of live examples/situations/videos are available on internet, various kinds of apps, so that one can approach and learn the language.
Real classroom scenario- As I have stated earlier that though learner has ideas but sometimes unable to put in words or become expressionless or put him/herself in confused state, all these happen because of lack of vocabulary, unknown to the use of language at appropriate time and place, lack of reading habit, his/her background and lack of exposure s/he gets in the classroom, like these numbers of reasons are responsible for above stated situation.
No doubt appropriate teaching learning method come at rescue but one has to take initiative to develop oneself in terms of use of language at each and every step of life. It’s necessary for the learner to look in his or her surrounding and try to learn and understand as much as possible. Conscious and active observation will definitely help the learner to develop new words, new contexts, how to utilize them in various situations, how it will assist to develop reading and writing. Necessasity of vocabulary- Practically speaking, in verbal communication it is the only way to express your thoughts/feelings/ideas, etc.
How to develop it?
Listen/read and write as much as possible.
In daily communication, listening plays an important role. Research has demonstrated that adults spend 40-50% of communication with listening, 25-30% speaking, 11-16% reading, and about 9% writing (Vandergrift, 1999). All these skills are crucial elements of language skills; moreover they are inter- related with each other.
Here, reading plays a pivotal role because it is one of best ways to learn and develop vocabulary and literature is the best resource for developing language skills.
Literature is the best resource-because while reading literature an active reader comes to know how to use words and use them in various/appropriate contexts. If a learner is interesting and active enough to develop vocabulary, obviously s/he is reading fair variety of material on various topics, trying to create mental interaction with text and respond, too.
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Situational based teaching- If a teacher wants to enhance learner’s vocabulary, wants to develop sense of put words at apt place and lead them towards development of reading and writing: talk a lot on various topics, may be day to day issues, arguments, talk on daily routine, specific description, etc. these discussion will definitely lead them towards to develop their imagination, thinking, team work skills, etc and come with their answer. Sometimes it may not be satisfactory but they have use those words using their own thinking (may or may not be appropriate) but they have tried to use words/situations using various contexts. They may re-call news/articles/live session/film or social scenario/own experience, etc. and may come with the new idea in the class. These will definitely promote reading and writing.
How- Appropriate and correct and well designed instructions will help to enhance reading writing skills. Just as a teacher Guide and Instruct the learners properly, half of the work has been done by the students, remaining will be teach by us. For example –talk about burning issues of the society/state/country/world. Simultaneously write down related used words by students while they were discussing- Tell them to use these words and make a meaningful paragraph/notice/letter Give correct title So they will come with their answers. It may be pair/individual work.
Some of the practical ways that normally teachers are using in their classrooms discussed. Now let’s refer what the Research says more about the title.
Best instructional strategies for vocabulary development
A recent NAEP study demonstrates that one of the main reasons students read below grade level is due to vocabulary deficits. In addition, the Common Core finds that vocabulary instruction across disciplines is inconsistent, sporadic at best. There is an urgent need to teach vocabulary systematically in order to improve students' reading skill so they can tackle complex texts. To develop proficient readers’ research, recommends that teachers across disciplines present ten to fifteen minute daily vocabulary lessons using The Big Ten.
The Big Ten Approach - The Big Ten help the teachers’ build students' vocabularies and reading expertise because the lessons use reading materials from the curriculum, giving a way to consistently teach vocabulary while investing in students' development as readers.
1. Promote Meaningful Talk Research on early childhood and vocabulary learning shouts the significance of talk, listening to others talk, and creating our own oral texts. Clearly, the value of talk at home and in school needs to be re- examined. Meaningful talk is crucial to language development and children's ability to speak, think, understand, read, write, and communicate. Children learn words by hearing them used in diverse contexts, by asking adults questions about words to clarify their understanding, and by discussing them with peers and teachers. This is applicable to the 1st year students in the college, too because there is a complete different atmosphere for them rather than school.
2. Study Word Parts: Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes Knowing the meanings of Greek and Latin roots and constructing a set of words related to a root enlarges students' vocabulary and knowledge of word relationships. From the Latin root spec, come words such as inspect, inspector, spectator, spectacle, and perspective, circumspect, introspective, and retrospective. Tim Rasinski points out that student learn 1,000 to 4,000 words a year. The study of roots, prefixes, and
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suffixes can enlarge students’ vocabulary because they learn eight or more words related to a root and tip word learning closer to 4,000 than to 1,000 words annually. It's crucial to bring this type of word study to all disciplines.
3. Attend to Figurative Language and Connotative Meanings Interpreting figurative language and the connotative meanings of words aids students' comprehension of complex texts. Teach students how to use a text to validate their interpretation of figures of speech and to explain the shades of meaning or connotations of specific words in a text.
An understanding of figurative language in a text can help readers visualize an abstract idea by using an example from the real world. Figurative language assists readers with recall and deepens their comprehension of concepts. For example, in The Great Fire by Jim Murphy, the author tells readers that in 1871 Chicago was "bound by a combustible knot." The metaphor of a knot, tying things securely together, heightened students' visualization of Chicago, as a city with wooden buildings surrounded by wooden streets and sidewalks that was ready to ignite.
4. Situate Words in Various Contexts Once students have studied and discussed a word, talk about specific situations that a word works in. Knowing situations supports students writing to show their understanding of a word. For example, take a new word, gargantuan, meaning huge, very large: A list of situations where gargantuan can be successfully used include: describing Godzilla, the Yeti, a spaceship, airplane, mountain, an alien creature, an elephant, or skyscraper.
Providing model sentences that show students how you use a new and related word in a specific situation can help them craft their own sentences as well as gain additional insights into how a word functions.
5. Use New Vocabulary in Writing Students can write using words and pictures to express their knowledge of words' meanings, of figurative language, and connotations, of how words work in diverse situations, and to show relationships and connections between and among words. When the English novelist E. M. Forster wrote, "How do I know what I think until I see what I say?" he called our attention to writing as thinking, analysis of ideas, and problem solving.
The litmus test for whether students have absorbed words into their long term memories is this: Can they think and talk with these words and use them in essays and stories? A goal of comprehensive, consistent vocabulary instruction is for words to become part of students' DNA so they use them to analyze, think, and problem solve.
6. Build Concepts/ideas
Situational based clues will support to build learner’s concepts in multiple directions. creativity and complexities both are possible and it depends on students thinking. Learning words involves more than knowing a definition and how to use a word to show understanding. Effective word learning includes being able to categorize or group words to show the relationship between words and a concept. For example, instruments, is a concept with diverse categories. One category of instruments relates to the orchestra: percussion, strings, brass, and woodwind instruments. These four categories can be subdivided into the kinds of string, percussion, brass, and woodwind found in orchestras. Concept connections can also look at the instruments included in baroque, symphonic, chamber, or jazz orchestras.
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Another way to categorize the concept of instrument is to think of specific professions. A surgeon uses instruments: scalpels, lasers, scissors, clamps, staples, and needles. A carpenter uses instruments: saw, screwdriver, hammer, nails, levels, and pry bar. The ability to categorize words by concept is complex and students benefit from practicing this skill.
7. Connecting dots This word is used by Steve jobs and very effectively he worked out with this phrase. It’s helpful here, too. Connections or associations can help learners remember new words. This strategy is especially helpful for English language learners. Encourage students to make as many connections as they can because these connections will construct deeper understanding and support recall. Take the word enervating, meaning to weaken or exhaust: connections can include noting synonyms--to drain energy-- and antonyms--to add energy or strengthen. Students can list things that enervate and connect the new word to their prior knowledge: the flu, running a marathon, extreme heat, dehydration, a high fever, or associate a personal experience such as feeling enervated after taking a long exam.
Discussing and understanding denotative and connotative meanings foster connections beyond literal meanings and improves visualization and close reading to explore multiple meanings in a complex text.
8. Tap into Technology Scientific and technological advancement is also play an important role in terms of developing these skills. Technology is an integral part of students' lives, students should use technology to learn words and their multiple meanings. Using twitter, blogs, wikis, and interactive computer word games asks students to play with words. Playing word games deepens their knowledge of how specific words are used in texts and nudges students to move beyond contextual meanings to understanding words' multiple meanings and relationships.
9. Encourage Independent Reading Research shows that students who have rich independent reading lives and read long, diverse texts grow large vocabularies and build extensive background knowledge. Independent reading enlarges students' word knowledge as readers repeatedly meet the same words in diverse contexts over long periods of time. In addition to instructional reading, students need to read 40 to 60 books a year and share favorites in book talks, book reviews, and in discussions with peers.
10. Deliver Daily Read Aloud When teachers read quality literary texts aloud, they tune students' ears to complex syntax, new vocabulary, and at the same time build students' listening capacity and background knowledge of a genre and a topic. Moreover, teachers can raise students' word consciousness, an awareness of an interest in words and their multiple meanings, by briefly pausing to discuss figurative language or an unusual word.
As you plan daily vocabulary lessons keep The Big Ten at the forefront of your mind. Help students develop word consciousness. Be diligent in encouraging independent reading, as nonstop reading is the best way to enlarge vocabulary. The big payback is that as you improve students' vocabulary you will be moving them closer to reading and comprehending grade-level, complex texts. That is also help to develop writing skills, too. Because good reader may try to be good writer and for that reading is pre- requisite element, otherwise what to write and how to write will be the problem.
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Amy Benjamin is a teacher, educational consultant, and author who’s most recent book is Big Skills for the Common Core (Routledge). When considering how you teach words, ask yourself three questions: 1) Does my strategy remind me of how a toddler learns words? 2) Does my strategy remind me of the best methods that were taught to me when I learned a foreign language? And 3) is my strategy going to be fun and social?
If you can answer these questions affirmatively, then your strategies for vocabulary growth probably comport with natural language acquisition, which means you should rely on them. After all, learning vocabulary is one of the best things that the human is good at. Great at. Comfortable with. Enthusiastic about.
Yes, we need dictionaries. But think about how you, as an adult, use a dictionary. Do you just look up words that have been given to you out of context, copy out the definition, and then make up a sentence whose only purpose is to create a sentence that has that particular word in it? That paradigm, still in practice despite its known near-uselessness, does not accord with what real people like you and me actually use a dictionary for: When we go to a dictionary, it is because we have encountered a word in context. Usually, we have some idea of what the word might mean, and the dictionary affirms, alters, or contradicts what we thought. Dictionaries and definitions are only one part of vocabulary learning.
4E's that guide vocabulary instruction that is to result not only in durable word growth, but also in an interest in words: what they mean, how they are used, and what their stories are.
E is for Exposure: We grow our vocabulary as toddlers, as children, as teenagers, and throughout our lives because of repeated exposure to words in rich, varied contexts. When students are in your class, you, in a way control their vocabulary. If you use any given word enough, surrounding it with enough known context ("comprehensible input") then that word will find its way into the unsuspecting student's mind. This phenomenon of natural language acquisition refers more to generic words than to technical terminology. When it comes to technical, domain-specific words, learners still need repeated exposure, but they also need dedicated, explicit instruction.
E is for Explanation:A definition alone is not sufficient for full-range knowledge about a word. A definition isolates a word like a lepidopterist pins down a butterfly, places it within a group, and then distinguishes it from other members of that group. The ability to memorize and recite a definition is not the same as the ability to use the word accurately, flexibly, and fully. The teacher who provides thorough instruction on a word includes not only the definition, but also examples, near-examples, non-examples, forms of the word, spelling, pronunciation, and collocation (other words that are generally used along with the target word). In the course of the explanation, the teacher is repeating the word in various contexts and forms.
E is for Etymology: Root must be strong and clear on which one can build a building. By knowing a word's pedigree; we deepen our understanding of the word, make it less random, and make it more likely to be remembered. Etymology puts the world of words in order. A chaotic, unpredictable world is intimidating and overwhelming. In a chaotic world, we are out of control. But an orderly world is learnable. The etymology of many words tells a story. Eponyms are words derived from the names of actual people or characters from legends. When you hear the story of John Boycott, it is easier to remember what a boycott is.
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E is for Enthusiasm: The linguist Steven Pinker said, "I've never known anyone who is not interested in words." I believe that. You will be more enthusiastic about the words you teach if you take a little time to learn their stories, choose your own words to teach rather than being a "workbook monkey," and give students a chance to have fun with words through games and puzzles. (Incidentally, the word enthusiasm, derived from Greek entheos, meaning "divinely inspired, possessed by a god. I love how the root theos, god, hides in enthusiasm.) vocabulary.com, a free resource with a student-friendly dictionary, fascinating articles about words and language, zillions of self-correcting, self-regulating vocabulary questions.
Some of the competent teachers, without bothering about teaching vocabulary they put stress on extensive and independent reading and discussion about whatever they have read. Because for students words which are reappearing in several contexts, there is a good chance that students will make them their own.
Conclusion- Appropriate teaching methodology, 4 Es’, big ten approaches, well instructional teaching- learning material will surely help to develop sense to situate words in various contexts and enhance reading writing, too.
References: http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading_2013/vocabulary/ http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2015/03/response_ten_principles_for_vocabul ary_instruction.html https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ Vandergrift. (1999). Facilitating Second Language Listening Comprehension: Acquiring Successful Strategies. Retrieved March 20, 2005, from http://docutek. Canberra.edu.au/coursepage.asp?cid=49 www.vocabulary.com
Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
A Teacher’s Tale of Challenges and Difficulties Faced in Primary Level E.L.T. Classroom in Rural Gujarat : Some Reflections
Riteshbhai Kasambhai Vaniya
Ph.D. Research Scholar CASE, Faculty of Education & Psychology The M S University of Baroda Vadodara, Gujarat, INDIA.
Abstract
This paper is an outcome of personal experiences and encounters in rural Gujarat as I am working in a Government primary school of Anand district since 4 years. This paper focuses on the main difficulties English Language teachers have to face when they have students from different and distant communities in rural areas of Gujarat. Moreover, challenges and problems such as lack of adjusted material, lack of proficiency of English language both as a subject or language in rural areas, lack of literature books, movies, long distances to arrive at school, lack of investments in rural education, different cultures living in the same rural community, lack of interests in learning English, English as a phobia, substandard teaching material, non-availability of basic infrastructure, hostile socio-cultural factors are also the drawbacks for teachers of English. This paper also focuses on the various activities and strategies that were designed and utilized as a part of action research for increasing teacher’s competency, confidence, self esteem and pleasure of teaching. The present paper discusses the field experiences and ground realities of a primary teacher who conducted a small scale research using Action Research as a method. The report presents the findings on how learning difficulties of students were identified and rectified using Action Research. The action research was based in Gujarati medium Primary school - Tarpura in Umreth taluka of Anand district in the year 2014- 2015.
Key Words : Action Research, E.L.T., Primmary level Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
Introduction: This is a report on an action research project which describes the investigation of the extent to which group learning can help pupils learn English as their second language in a local government organized Primary school at Tarpura in Umreth taluka of Anand district. It documents a teacher initiated, classroom- based action research which turned English reading and writing skills from traditional types into innovative one in a primary class. Respondents came from a sample of 26 pupils from std.7 class in the school. The researcher compared pupil's perspectives before and after the study and reported the consequent changes in pupils' perceptions of their reading and writing skills. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through two sets of questionnaires and teacher's class observation. 1. Methodology
Statement of the problem:
Difficulties faced by pupils of Std.7 of primary school – Tarpura in reading and writing English language.
Population : The population of the study was comprised of all the students studying in primary school - Tarpua following GSHSEB syllabus in the academic year 2014 – 2015. Sample : Pupils of std.7 of Primary school - Tarpura located in the rural area of Anand district was selected purposively . Objectives of the study : 1. To find out causes of difficulties faced by pupils in reading and writing. 2. To analysis the causes to administer important teaching strategies faced by pupils in reading and writing. 3. Pupils understand and learn English with clear pronunciation. 4. Pupils understand and write English. 5. Pupils read and write in English on their own.
Tools : 1. Pretest – Post test 2. Questionnaire 3. Oppionnaire
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2. Probable Reasons/ Causes : Sr. Reasons Base of Can teacher do Preference No. Reason anything ? Fact Assumption Yes No 1. Pupils don’t have 7 interest toward √ √ learning English. 2. Don’t like English. √ √ 8 3. Don’t know proper 3 pronunciation & √ spellings of word. √ 4. Can’t understand 1 the vocabulary of √ √ lessons given in English textbook. 5. Don’t do 4 exercises/ activities of lesson √ reading and √ writing. 6. Feeling of 5 inferiority √ √ complex for English language. 7. Can’t get proper 6 environment to learn English from √ √ parents and friends at home. 8. Teachers don’t use 2 T.L.M. to help √ pupils learn √ English. 9. Teacher doesn’t 9 teach with interest √ √ and activity based English. 10. Teacher doesn’t 10 provide enough √ √ time to practice speaking, listening, reading and writing.
3. Data collection : In the first week of January – 2015, the pre test was conducted on pupils of std.7. Orientation was given to pupils. Action research was applied in this study because it enabled the researcher of this project to follow the steps in the spiral that helped him reflect upon his teaching and improve his pupils’ situation.
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He intended to see if the plan would work well or if any necessary modification would be needed to improve his pupils’ language learning. Pupils of std.7 were selected as sample for the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was conducted at the start of the study to collect data on pupils’ perceptions of their traditional reading and writing lessons. Then, a variety of innovative activities were introduced to replace the traditional reading and writing exercises pupils used to have. Finally, an additional oppionnaire was distributed to pupils to collect their overall opinions about their reading and writing lessons after their new experiences. Pupils’ perceptions and Opinions before and after the changes were compared to and analysed along with the results of the pretest and post test. The data collection took 70 hours. Innovative English reading and writing activities: Sr. Time Activities Tools & No. techniques 1. 10 hours Pupils were introduced to letters of Alphabets of Animation English using animation cd and computer. And CD it was practiced for a week. 2. 15 Jig – show dictation Group work 3. 15 Partial dictation Group work 4. 15 Running dictation Group work 5. 15 Grammar based diction Group work
During the study, five different innovative dictation activities were implemented in ten weeks to replace the traditional dictation exercises. Pupils’ interest and ability were considered. The activities were intentionally set from the easiest to the more challenging. Each activity was conducted twice to make sure pupils understood the rules and got used to the ways the activity worked. Clear instructions were given before the start of the activities so that pupils understood well what they were going to do. Considerable teacher’s support was provided to pupils who had difficulties during the activities.
At the end of each task pupils were given five to ten minutes to check their spelling mistakes using their reference books such as course books and dictionaries. The dictation activities used in this project were adapted from Davis & Rinvolucri’s (1988) Dictation, and Wajnryb’s (1992) Grammar Dictation. They include:
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a. Jig-saw dictation Pupils listened to a short text read by the teacher. They wrote down chunks of the text in the form of phrases or short sentences. This helped pupils develop their skills in understanding and listening to the gist of the text. b. Partial dictation Pupils worked in pairs. A text was divided in half. One read his/ her half of the text for his/ her partner to dictate. Two of them worked out the whole text. This provided pupils with an opportunity to complete a reading, speaking and writing task. c. Running dictation Pupils worked in groups of five to six. One member was responsible for writing the text while other members took turns to read out the text sentence by sentence. This provided pupils with an opportunity to work co-operatively. d. Grammar dictation Pupils worked in groups of four to five. They listened to a short text read by the teacher at normal speed and jotted down some important words. Then they pooled their resources, discussed and worked together to compose the text as nearest to the original text as possible. This enabled pupils to work out a speaking and writing task collaboratively. e. Composition dictation Pupils worked in groups of three to four. They listened to a text read by the teacher at normal speed and jotted down familiar words as they listened. Then they made use of their limited number of isolated words or fragments of sentences to reconstruct their version. Their texts did not need to be exactly the same as the original text. Pupils were allowed to discuss, compare, seek help from peers and edit their texts before the final submission. 4. Data Analysis: The data were analysed after post-test and the results were compared with pretest. 5. Findings and discussion: 1. Pupils who had difficulty in reading and writing, got more marks in posttest in comparison to pretest. 2. Pupils could comprehend and read the English textbook after completion of the experiment. 3. The level of confidence in reading and writing English had increased in the pupils at the end of the experiment. 4. The pupils enjoyed learning English through group activities of reading and writing, which decreased the negativity of pupils for English language.
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5. Pupils learned reading and writing through group activities and peer teaching. It developed a sense of helping each other in learning English in pupils. Findings in terms of Oppionnaire : The pupils stated that they always spent at least a half to one hour to prepare for their traditional dictation lessons before changes. They all viewed dictation as a kind of spelling-checking exercise. 23 out of 26 pupils (80% of the pupils) indicated they were working under stress and threat. 100% of the pupils declared that they were always trying hard to get high scores to satisfy their parents. They all thought that every learner had to undergo dictation lessons in their language learning process. All of them had strong belief that dictation helped their learning. They had never thought of any possibility of change in the way dictation could have been conducted. Some pupils expressed their concerns about having changes. They were insecure over any new ways of dictation which they had never experienced before and they did not have confidence in getting satisfactory results in their work in new ways of doing dictation. After the introduction of the innovative dictation activities, pupils began to enjoy their dictation lessons. Some pupils immediately asked whether they would have the same kind of activities in their coming dictation lessons once the lesson was over. They looked forward to having the lessons again instead of avoiding them like what they did in the past. Data collected in the questionnaires revealed pupils’ consistent and strong belief in the use of dictation in their learning. The figure was even higher than it was before the study. There was an increase of 17 pupils representing 65% of the sample. This is an encouraging finding because it reveals that pupils not only treat innovative dictation activities as interesting games but also as learning processes. 15 more pupils, an increase of 57.69%, found happiness in their dictation lessons and the satisfaction pupils gained from the innovative dictation lessons also increased by 46 % or a total of 12 more pupils.
Pupils who were previously worried about changes realised that dictation lessons could also be fun. 16 out of 26 pupils, representing 58.8% of the sample, either gave the responses of ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ on having more dictation lessons. There was an increase of 15 pupils representing an increase of 57.69 % who held positive responses when compared with the figure at the beginning of the study. In the final questionnaire, 78% of pupils expressed that they enjoyed their innovative dictation activities while 76% of the pupils expressed their preferences in having the new innovative dictation activities to the traditional exercises they used to have. The rise in figures implies that pupils have developed a positive attitude towards their dictation lessons. They began to believe that learning could take place in relaxing and enjoyable dictation lessons. Their positive attitude led to their willingness in having more dictation lessons that might eventually enhance their language learning.
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6. Conclusion : The findings of the study answered initial questions about difficulties faced by pupils in reading and writing of English language. After this programme, most of the students improved their phonemic awareness, word recognition, reading comprehension, and spelling. In addition, significant increases in students’ learning attitudes towards English reading and writing were also noted. The quantitative data showed that almost all the pupils had made adequate progress in their reading and writing development. It was found that pupils demonstrated more confidence in reading and writing, increased sight vocabulary, better phonemic awareness and ability to use phonics, improved comprehension and increased attitude towards reading and writing. Some general findings are as given below : 1. It built a positive atmosphere for stronger learners who could collaborate with the low level learners to create a healthy environment. 2. It built up pupils’ confidence and enhances pupils reading and writing not just in school but also at home. 3. Improve in phonic skills, reading comprehension, and ability to complete simple written responses in pupils. 7. Reflections on challenges faced & lessons learnt during field research : The researcher being a teacher in a rural government primary school faced challenges and problems such as lack of adjusted material, lack of proficiency of English language both as a subject or language in rural areas, lack of literature books, movies, great number of students in the classrooms, lack of investments in rural education, different cultures living in the same rural community, lack of interests in learning English, English as a phobia, English treated as elite over other languages, English taught like any other subject, notional introduction of technology, substandard teaching material, non-availability of basic infrastructure, hostile socio-cultural factors. The first day of the experiment was full of surprises and chaos for both the researcher and the pupils. As most of the pupils hailed from rural background, first generation learners of English language, they were facing difficulties in following instructions of the researcher. There was also challenge in teaching English to pupils in a congested classroom without infrastructural facilities. But the researcher was able to conduct experiment after explaining the benefits of learning English to pupils. As the pupils prepared themselves to participate in learning English language enthusiastically. During the experiment, there was chaos at the time of group activities of reading English. Later on, as the pupils became accustomed to the group learning, they themselves managed the group activities. Throughout this inquiry into practice, the researcher identified some important aspects of a successful reading and writing programme for struggling learners of English language. First, the researcher noted
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that the pupils with difficulties in learning English should have an intensive programme, which will ensure more time for building their reading and writing skills ability. Through smaller group and activities by more specific instruction in applying vocabulary, phonemic awareness, phonic skills and more beginners reading and writing, the pupils will enable to increase their reading and writing ability and motivation of learning English. Second, the researcher discovered English teachers are supposed to provide pupils with reading material in order to improve their comprehension. There are several teaching strategies that are effective in supporting children. The strategies of reading partners, guided reading and writing, the use of the word study, rewards and incentive programmes, making word activities and games, and the use of variety of level of fiction and non-fiction reading material will balance the pupils’ learning. Third, as a practitioner or English teacher should use pictures and words in pictures, storybooks, cartoon strips, other authentic materials and multimedia to create lively edutaining environment which fosters pupils creativity and imagination. Fourth, the teacher should use more group activities as the students learn more from each other. And the teacher himself should also take part in the activities as being one of the learners. References : Davis, P. & Rinvolucri, M. (1988) Dictation : New Methods, New Possibilities. Cambridge : Cambridge University press. Wajnryb, R. (1990) Grammar Dictation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
Internet: A Helpful Tool to Learn English as a Second Language
Ms. Binny Vaghela
Assistant Professor, SAL College of Engineering, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, INDIA.
Abstract
The list of basic needs of the people becomes extensive day by day. Nowadays, we can say that Internet is one of the basic needs of the people. Internet is not just a medium of entertainment. Internet helps people in many ways. There are some good and bad sides of internet. We can get knowledge of anything about any field at anytime and anywhere. We can use internet in multiple ways but learning is the best sides of using internet. Internet is considered as the most useful tool especially for the students. People can learn any language from the internet. They can learn English very easily from the use of internet because most commonly found language on internet is English. They can improve their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of English.
There are many scopes and online materials to learn English through websites, online materials to learn English through websites, online applications, messenger, video/audio and social networking sites.
Learning process sometimes becomes boring but learning with the use of internet makes fun and convenient for the students. If any query or problem occurs in learning than you can easily solve your problems by the use of most powerful tool on internet “Google”. Google helps to learn English (vocabularies) of other fields also.
Internet also makes your work faster like communication or exchange of any information from the people who live in foreign country or far from your place. Internet also helps to get in touch with new meanings of words, new metaphors, features and everyday English. Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
Introduction: Internet is the backbone of man. Internet is one of the most popular tools to connect ourselves with the world. Internet is used far and wide to learn or teach, to get information and for multiple purposes. Internet helps to learn second language very easily and quickly with your comforts. English is considered as a global language and it is mostly applied language on websites. Internet is updated with latest technology, news and innovations etc. Internet has successfully guided the people all over the world. Internet has made many things useful in every field like trade, education, entertainment and so on. This paper contains some topics like English on internet, use of social networking sites in learning English language and Good and Bad impact of internet on education in learning English language
English on internet
Most of the languages are found on the internet. But majority contents are found in English language. It may be English as the global language and people want stuff in English to understand or to get information. Let’s see position of English language on internet.
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This chart contains top ten languages in the internet and those are in sequence English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Japanese, Russia, German, French and Malaysia. Out of 900 million of users 800.6 million users use English language on internet, 649.4 million users use Chinese language, 222.4 million users use Spanish language, 135.6 million users use Arabic language, 121.8 million users use Portuguese language, 109.6 million users use Japanese language, 87.5 million users use Russia language, 81.1 million users use German language, 78.9 million users use French language and 75.5 million users use Malaysia language.
This chart shows that most of the people of the world use English language by the use of internet in comparison to other language.
Now let’s see that which countries use how much internet.
This pie chart shows that 74% users of internet are from top 20 countries. 26% users of internet are from rest of the world.
Now let’s see list of top 20 countries with the highest number of users.
Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
This chart shows the millions of users from top 20 countries. 620.9 million users are from china, 268.5 million users are from United States and 195.2 million users are from India. So Indian is on the third position in the list of top 20 countries.
The above charts show that highest users use English language on internet and 74% users are from top 20 countries in that India is on the third position so Indians use English language in using internet and can learn language easily.
English language is compared to the beats of heart of the internet. If you just click a button, you can get innumerable information and databases on education readily. So many sites are available which are designed particularly for learning English. These sites allow the learners of language to do the conversation. They (the sites) give the chance to talk with native speakers. They even give the permission to create informal networks without any limitation of region.
Not only textbook, but also holding tests is enough in learning English. Modern technology and lots options are helpful for improvement of English skills. To know about cultures one should remain in touch with social networks regularly. We can also have zest.
Many sites give chance to try exercises as well as to chat fellow a language learners. Many people have liking for a actual international classroom. Many others can’t do so because of time limit as well as cost.
Many websites (eg.dictionary.com) send a particular word regularly. We use that word in a sentence.
Social networking sites
In today’s generation, Social networking sites are not just for entertainment. People can use it in education also. It is depended upon the purpose of people that how they want to use it.
If you have desire to speak with correct pronunciation many sites are available to join chat groups. Within no time they will offer to help to learn the language. There will be the balance of exchanging knowledge in the process of learning.
Here are some social networking sites listed and their use in learning the language.
1. Twitter: Twitter is one of the well-known social networking sites. Twitter aks you, “What’s in your mind?” People have to “Tweet” in 140 words. People follow the post of others. There is a limitation in use of words is 140 so people have to think message in 140 words whatever they want to convey. So from this people do not use unnecessary words and information in writing. It helps them to improve their writing, vocabulary. They start using precise vocabularies and also abridged message. People can also get knowledge of vocabulary and writing, reading skills by following others.
2. Facebook Facebook is a social networking site through which people can make their profile, groups, connect with friend without any boundaries, can exchange message, can do video chat, voice call, can upload videos, photos, location etc. But now Facebook doesn’t mean only for all these things but it is helpful for teachers to share educational materials to their hundred of students. Learners can also easily learn from those materials anywhere and anytime.
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From Facebook learners can connect to the native speakers by doing chat, video calling and voice call also. Exchange of message helps to learn vocabulary, sentence structure, usage of words in the sentences means writing skills. Voice call helps to learn pronunciation means speaking and listening skills. Learners can get in touch with fellows by becoming member of their groups.
3. YouTube YouTube provides videos. People can upload, share and watch videos of different fields. TV Serials educational videos and any type of videos are obtainable on YouTube. Learners can learn English language with the use of youtube. People can also upload videos on youtube if they are registered.
By watching videos and reading comments learners can learn or develop their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
4. Flickr Flickr is a website through which people can share videos and photos and also follow others and can make a group of people who can be helpful in learning English language.
5. Skype Skype is an application which people can use in mobile devices and computer to do video chat, video calls, messaging, exchange of files, photos and videos very easily and quickly. Learners can communicate with native speakers and language fellows with the use of microphone (voice call), webcam (video call) and message. It is just like face-to-face communication. It encourages international language learning. People of all the corners of the world may connect with each other and can exchange knowledge. Skype makes easy for learners to learn from experts personally. Teacher can also use it in the classroom to make an active classroom.
6. LinkedIn LinkedIn is a professional website which is actually beneficial for getting good chance to find out efficient employee, good chance for good job and make better professional connection. The learners can search professional experts in their area of interest and can learn their subjects.
Ajjan & Hartshore (2008) indicates that using social network in class increases the student’s course and learning satisfaction. Madge, Meek, Wellens & Hooley (2009) report that students view networks like Facebook as purely social means although they believe these networks are at times used informally for educational purposes.
Good and Bad impact of internet in learning
The best side of internet is vast amount of information which can be seen online anytime and anywhere. Internet always updates information quickly so people can get the latest and updated informations. Many online materials are available on the internet like online library which helps to find out online documents, papers and books and articles.
Internet is helpful in learning vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, pronunciation etc. Students can be self-centered in learning with the use of internet. They can learn in collaboration.
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Email is also a very beneficial tool which can be used to communicate. It is helpful for shy students who hesitate to speak in the classroom.
There are some online websites, applications and software that record the voice so learners can record their voice and listen it then find out the mistakes or error done by them. From this learners can improve their speaking and listening skills.
Online dictionaries also help to pronounce words according to phonetics. For example, Online Oxford Learner’s dictionary helps students to listen the pronunciation as well as to get the meaning and usages of the words in the sentences.
The classroom becomes student-centered rather than teacher-directed if teacher use internet in the classroom. But teacher plays an important role to guide and correct the students.
The worst side of using internet is that the informations which are available on the internet are may mislead or incorrect because anyone can upload useful data on the internet. Because of that it can happen that some may upload wrong information.
Cunningham and Anderson stress the fact that there are no publishing restrictions on the internet; anyone can publish what they want, which is also emphasized by karchmer(2001:446).
So teacher should keep in mind some things when they use internet in the classroom. Collaborative learning also helps students to use internet.
Main problem is that the internet is not always accessible by all learners and teachers though English as a second language all over the world is taught widely. Statistics (The World Bank, 2004) indicate that internet use depends on the financial situations of countries.
One of the bad impacts of internet is that learners may start using wrong spellings because they use short forms of words in the exchange of messages.
Ex. U = you
Ur = your
D = the
Msg = message, Nt = not
References
Ajjan, H., & Hartshorne, R. (2008). “Investigating faculty decisions to adopt Web 2.0 technologies: Theory and empirical tests”. Internet & Higher Education, 11(2). Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
Cunningham, Una & Andersson, Staffan (1997). Läraren – eleven - Internet. Stockholm: Liber AB.
Internet world stats usage and population statistics http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm
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Internet world stats usage and population statistics http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm
Madge, C., Meek, J., Wellens, J., & Hooley, T. (2009). “Facebook, social integration, and informal learning at university: it is more for socializing and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work”. Learning, Media & Technology, 34(2).
The World Bank, (2004). http://web.worldbank.org/
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ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
Defining the Relationship Between Culture and Language Through Advertisement
Jignesh Panchal
H M Patel Institute of English Training and Research Sardar Patel University Vallabh Vidyanagar Anaand, Gujarat, INDIA.
Nikita Joshi
H M Patel Institute of English Training and Research Sardar Patel University Vallabh Vidyanagar Anaand, Gujarat, INDIA.
Abstract
21st century is blessed with highly advanced information and communication technology which has been proved a great source / help to the people in getting connected with everyone in many ways through various mediums like Print Media, Electronic Media, Television etc.
The present paper aims at throwing some light on what an advertisement is and how various companies, through the medium of television, try to approach, appeal and relate the things with our life and persuade us to use their products. The paper analyses some pieces of advertisement linguistically and relates its language with society through its usage. The authors will try to define the term ‘advertisement’ and talk about its importance from the socio-linguistic point of view.
The paper talks about the ethicality of advertisement. It sheds some light on how deceptive and tempting advertisements are and how linguistic innovations are brought about in the discourse of advertisement. The authors would conclude the paper by talking about how the principle of AIDA is deployed in the discourse of advertisement that Jean Baudrillard talks about. The paper would delineate the current level of interrelationship between the advertisements; the target language deployed in advertisements and its effect on a particular social group especially the youngsters.
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What is an ‘Advertisement’ and what it aims at?
The term advertisement is derived from Latin word ‘Ad-Vertre’ which means “to turn one’s attention towards”. So, the function of advertisement is to make something known to the people. It aims at converting the customers into consumers. It works as a medium for the representation of information. The people of Indian society tend to get fascinated from what they watch on television. For instant, girls buy very expensive shampoo just by seeing a celebrity in the advertisement of shampoo. Google says that advertising is a form of marketing communication used to persuade audience to take or continue some actions with respect to a commercial offering, political or ideological support.
Canadian –US adverting pioneer, John. E. Kennedy (1864-1928), opines that an advertisement is “salesmanship in print”. There are various kinds of advertisement like; Print advertisement, Outdoor advertisement, Broadcast ads, Convert advertisement, Surrogate advertising, Public service advertising etc.
Advertising comprises language, pictures, music; it contains information, and invokes emotions and imaginations. A good piece of ad easily captures all five senses. As a genre, it seems much diversified. Generally, an interference of styles and registers is found in the discourse of advertisement. Therefore, it becomes much difficult to classify advertising stylistically.
Review of Related Literature
According to the Investorwords glossary advertisement is a “description or presentation of a product, idea, or organization, in order to induce individuals to buy, support, or approve of it.” Cook is of opinion that “advertising is not some external curiosity which we examine, from which we are separate and superior, but something of which we are part, and which is part of us” (Cook 1996: 182). Goleman (1983) sets out to address psycholinguistic aspects of the interaction between the encoder and the decoder in an attempt to explain how consumers of advertising come to understand what they do.
Importance and Need of advertisements:
The world is full of competition where earning more and more profit has become burning desire of every entrepreneur. We have tried to investigate the intentions and techniques of consumer product companies to reach more consumers and sell more products. Advertisement is the most pervasive, influential and inescapable discourse of the 21st century. Advertisements are prepared under certain strategies. A good
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piece of an ad is one which follows the principle of AIDA which Jean Baudrillad, a critique of consumer’s society, talks about. He outlines certain strategies of ad which includes the principle of AIDA. Ad aims at grabbing the attention of customers which makes them take interest in it. Once the interest gets created, it leads the customers toward the desire to have it; they get tempted; that temptation persuades them to take an action-to purchase the product. In this way customers are turned into consumers. It not only increases the sell, the advertisement also makes the product in lime light. Various national and international companies, social institutions, NGOs and even Government put their views or ideas among the people by giving it a face of a commercial socialization.
Advertiser makes generally three to five minutes ad but within that time it does its job tells much about the product being advertised. Creative imagination, colorful background, use of new words, rhythmic combination, celebrities in advertisement etc. are the major qualities of advertisements through which it grabs the attention of common people of society. Ad is presented in the way which appeals to the psyche of viewers. It claims to satisfy one’s needs and desires. What advertisement does within very limited period of time is not possible to do through any other medium.
Slogans and rhetorical devices in the discourse of ads:
Advertising has progressed beyond the use of simple techniques for announcing the availability of products or services. It has entered into the domain of persuasion, and its rhetorical categories have become omnipresent in contemporary social discourse. Because of the growing effectiveness of its persuasion techniques, advertising has become entrenched into social discourse by virtue of its wide spread diffusion throughout society. Everywhere one turns, one is bound to find some ad message designed to persuade people to buy a product. All this leads to the inescapable conclusion that advertising has developed, since the first decades of the 20th century, into a privileged form of social discourse that has unparalleled rhetorical force. Slogans are used in such manner that attracts our attention towards the particular products. It becomes the symbols of that product.
For instants, ‘See yourself as a king’ (Virginia Slims cigarettes), ‘Don’t be vague. Ask for Haig’ (Haig whisky), ‘Melts in your mouth, not in your hand’ (M&Ms Candy), ‘Everything you want, nothing you don’t’ (Nissan Automobiles), ‘when it rains, it pours’ (Morton salt), ‘Should a woman have to worry about tires? Goodyear says no!’ (Goodyear tires), ‘Takes the ‘lug’ out of luggage’ (Karry-Lite Luggage), etc.
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Culture in general:-
George Yule is of opinion that culture is socially acquired Knowledge which means it is a combination of habits, hobbies, tendencies, rituals, conventions, festivals, art, music etc. acquired by the particular social groups. In western culture freedom is the most prominent feature but it’s not the case with Indian culture. We live with family and believe in following the traditional customs. In ancient time we used to communicate through signs, but, now a day, we live in a culture where we use language for communication. This is the digital era where ‘massage should be conveyed’ is more important than language accuracy. Advertisements follow the same pattern. We may find many grammatical errors in any piece of an advertisement but at the same time, even after not having correct language, it conveys its message very simply.
Samples of Advertisement:
Two pieces of advertisements are taken in this paper for analysing it from the language point of view. The paper sheds light on different aspects of language and shows the relationship between Indian culture and language.
(i)
“Couch potato,
Excuse me..!
Which place is Connaught place?
Madam I tell u…
Uh…Lal fort Left
India Gate Right
And Connaught place stand up.
Myself Romeo
Aap sitting?
No … Thank you!
No? Thank you…!!
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English…!!!
Hello…!
Nice Book..!!
You also English medium..?
(Expression of irritation or boringness)
No…??
Love hurts…!!!! Shhhh…….!!!!
Hang There, My verse, In Witness of My love,
O Rosalind, There Trees Shall be My Books,
And In Their Barks My Thoughts I’ll Character.
O.. Broken khidki se light
Tu he Sun or Moon semore Bright…
Sir kyahua..??
O…My Broken English
KaTootaBhashan
Turning into A Trending Fashion..
All I did is samasyakaMUNCHification….
Action….!!
Reaction…!!
Sensation…!!!
MUNCHification….!!
Broken…!!!
Bhashan…!!
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Bana Fashion…!!!
MUNCHification…!!!
Fun AA Fun…!!!
Tun AA Tun…!!
Dhun AA Dhun…!!
MUNCHification…!!!”
Nestle MUNCH khaoapne Munch peaao…
Tagline:- GOOD FOOD, GOOD LIFE..
(ii)
“Kiss me… Close your eyes…
And Miss me… Close your eyes..
And Kiss me….
I can read your lips and your fingertips…
I can see your smile cm’ on my lips …
And happiness in your eyes.
Kiss me… Close your eyes...
And miss me… Close your eyes…
And Kiss me…!!”
Tagline:- Discover the Joy Cadbury Dairy milk Silk…
Have you felt silk lately……
In the first one of the two ads above the advertiser has tried to focus on conveying the massage, not on language accuracy. There are many mistakes from the grammatical point of view, but communication takes place. There is verbal and non- verbal communication used to convey the message. There is code- mixing and code-switching in the ad, which is very close and pleasing technique for using English. The advertiser has applied neologism by coining new word like
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MUNCHification which resembles Rashudi’s Chutnification that he employs in his controversial novel The Midnight Childern. Here, a new word is coined by adding suffix ‘fication’ to a noun ‘MUNCH’ which sounds innovative. The deploying of language in a new and creative way like “Samsya Ka MUNCHification” appeals to the lay men easily. The combination of little sophisticated language is also apparent in the advertisement. “My broken English ka Toota Bhashan” is close to people especially to the youngsters. When Shushant Shing says, “my broken English ka Toota bhashan turning into a trending fashion”, it throws light on the current trend where youngsters or public want to use English language in a new way; not caring for accuracy. The language is employed very playfully which easily grabs the attention of the audience. The main character is Shushant Shingh which also becomes one of the important reasons for catching the attention. Therefore, when advertiser makes an advertisement, she/he doesn’t concern for accuracy. The mere focus is on conveying a message to the mass because it appeals to mass; not to some particular groups. That’s why the language is deployed in such a way which appeals to even lay man. The tagline of the ad is “Good Food, Good Life” which means this the only good food or due to this good food you can get good life. The sentence “Munch khao apne Munch per aao” shows if you eat the Munch then you get some potential or it is a key of your strength to get on the stage. Even the term ‘Munch’ is used twice in the same sentence; one stands for the name of the product while another means a ‘stage’. Normally, the rhyming pairs of words like Action, Reaction, Sensation, MUNCHification catch our attention very easily. Employing the words like; fun aa fun, tuna tun , dhunaa dhun the advertiser uses playful language for creating free and happy atmosphere.
In the second advertisement, use of the lines like ‘kiss me… close your eyes, and miss me… close your eyes...’ indicates the emotion for beloved but here in this Ad these words are used by the object the chocolate. So, the person is replaced by an object. These words are generally used for the person whom you love, so it easily catches the attention of customer. The rhythm also tempts the person. Words show the dual meaning, the first is emotion related to love and the second is the object which describes the way of enjoying it.
Conclusion: To conclude all that we can say is that advertising is a means of promotion the product, idea, or organization on the market with the aim to give information and to persuade people of the advantage of the product and induce them to take an action (e.g. buy it) through bringing linguistic innovations in the discourse of advertisement.
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References:
Cook, Guy. 1996 [1992]. The Discourse of Advertising. London: Routledge
Goleman, J. 1983. Syntax and Semantics. Vol. 3: Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press.
Retrived From: http://www.investorwords.com/129/advertising.html
Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809
ENGLISHES TODAY I September 2015 I Vol. I, Issue II I ISSN : 2395 4809
Translation, History and Literatures in India
Vishal Bhadani
Assistant Professor Department of Communication Skills Marwadi Education Foundation’s Group of Institutions Rajkot, Gujarat, INDIA.
Abstract
History of translation is also the history of readership and political cartography of the world. Is there any way we can understand the dialogue between translators and their historical context? The study of history in general oversimplifies acts of translation as merely agents of historical discourse. However, the paper argues that it is in fact the other way round; these translations form whole gamut of historical narratives. We cannot have any comprehensive history without translations. For instance, early English translations of the Indian texts in English by Asiatic Society helped the project of colonialism in a big way. Hence, it was not an epistemological inquiry but an imperial strategy. As AK Singh rightly points out that translation “helps in democratization of knowledge.” (Singh: 2014) Early translators like modern translators, were also preys to the political obligations, ideological commitments and some kind of opportunism. The paper is thus divided into two parts: (I) A Brief Survey of History of Translation of Literatures in India and (II) A Proposed Model for Translation Historiography.
Key words: Translation, Historiography,
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Lead In:
Why is history of literary translation absent in the hegemonic history? Why is it absent in Indian literary historiography as well? To my mind, there are several reasons: (1) First reason is, as Devi argues by sourcing it to Western metaphysics, “translation is an exile and an exile is a metaphorical translation- a post-Babel crisis…Western literary criticism provides for the guilt of translations for coming into being after the original” and “Since translations are popularly perceived as unoriginal, not much thought has been devoted to the aesthetics of translation” (187, Devi: 2002). (2) Second reason is, there is a great dilemma among the historians on what should be the science of ‘history writing’ i.e. historiography. Scholars like Francis Fukuyama are pronouncing The End of History. Further, when we add something like ‘translation’ to ‘historiography’, it becomes doubly complicated. Even the notion of ‘time’ is radically different in Indian and Western cultures; hence even if there be any historiography of literary translation, it will always be contested on the grounds of cultural frameworks. When Western world perceives India as “ahistorical” (Hegel hurriedly passed a value judgment!) society and India considers itself as a trans-historical society (it is not required to say so but when said, it sounds like boasting!), one wonders what would be the historiography of translation like in India! (3) Third reason deals with Indian literary tradition wherein the activity of Anuvaad enjoys the status of retelling, repeating and that is why is completely free from the burden of authenticity and originality. For example, in Indian literary tradition the writer/composer and the translator are not separate. Devi tells us, “The true test is the writer’s capacity to transform, to translate, to restate, to revitalize the original. And in that sense Indian literary traditions are essentially traditions of translation” (187). (4) Fourth reason could be problem of disciplinary parentage of ‘translation studies.’ For, when so many disciplines father translation studies, it becomes difficult to historicize specific translation activities. For instance, does historiography of translation include non-literary texts too? (5) Fifth reason is the sense of translation traffic in a multilingual country like India wherein we have mainstream Sanskritic literary tradition contouring so many bhasha traditions. The gulf between Sasnkrit and modern Indian languages is widening like never before. Also, that in ancient times translating from Sanskrit to any other language was considered as an activity of lower standard and for good or bad only Brahmins had educational access to Sanskrit (Which is why no Brahmin taught Sanskrit to Sir William Jones when he wanted to learn it for translation purposes). Historically, the way texts were translated from Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit into so many Indian languages is drastically different from the way European texts were translated from Greek, Latin and Hebrew into English and other European languages. So, we cannot have western theories of translation superimposed on Indian translation studies.
Why is it important to study history of translation? I think history has given us certain mandates, be it that of democracy or pluralism or globalization for that matter for a peaceful existence. However, these mandates were polarized, fractured and suppressed by intricacies of translation in the past. Or should I say, by the study of translation in the history of intellectual discourse, we can revisit the problematic of history itself?
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I
A Brief Survey of History of Translation of Literatures in India:
Is it fair to survey history of literatures in India in translation by following reductive Western style of periodization? One can conveniently periodize history of translation in India into various phases like;
1) Sanskrit-Prakrit-Pali Phase 2) Persian-Arabic Phase 3) Colonial-English Phase 4) Revivalist and Nationalist Phase 5) Post-colonial phase
Or can there be an Indian way telling the same history by some kind of narrative? Though Western model seems to be more convenient, I am tempted to take up the Indian style. Let me tell you a story, which by no means is a work of imagination.
Once upon a time, there lived a sage named Anuvaadacharya – a devotee of Goddess Sarswati. He was a keen student of translation. In order to understand how the act of translation, translates itself from time to time, he took up journey blurring the boundary of time and space.
He was one of those early intra-language translators, who translated from Sanskrit to Sanskrit. This exercise made him realize that translation is not merely a linguistic activity but an enriching activity. After helping anuvaad (not translate), Vedas into Brahmanas, Aranyaks, Upnishadas from Sanskrit to Sanskrit mostly in oral tradition, Anuvaadacharya thought it necessary to make these precious wisdom available to common folks. Though it was not customary to translate these texts from Sanskrit into other language, lest the knowledge gets diluted, he chose to swim against the stream and met Gunadhya.
Gunadhya a poet of high merit and deep perception, wrote a book of stories in Paishachi language, a dialect spoken by the common folk of the North-Western India and entitled it Brihatkatha. It was about 8th century A.D. and in India Sanskrit was still the language of power, scholarship and arrogance. When Gunadhya presented the manuscript to the scholars they rejected it out-right as the book was not written in Sanskrit. It was very frustrating and insulting for Gunadhya and he decided to take the extreme step of burning the manuscript.1 Realizing his mistake, soon he made Somdeva, a distinguished scholar convince Gunadhya not to burn the complete manuscript. A portion of the manuscript was translated by Somdeva in 2400 Sanskrit shlokas and the text is known as Kathasaritsagara. Later on Kshemendra, another Sanskrit scholar of high merit translated the recovered parts into 7500 Sanskrit shlokas and named it Brihatkathamanjari. In order to please Goddess Sarswati Anuvaadacharya got some Pali-Buddhist texts into Sanskrit. [Sanskrit as a language resisted to become a source language but enjoyed the status of a target language. Good translations enrich the target language.]
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After a couple of centuries’ meditation in the forest, revitalized Anuvaadacharya wanted to see what happened to the canonical texts the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. He found that these texts were translated into various Indian languages. Initially, he got little startled by remembering what happened to Gunadhya but then he consoled himself with the traditional metaphysics of rebirth of the soul in different forms.2 But soon he saw an unusual act of translation, and that was translation of these sacred texts into an alien language called Persian. He observed that there is a king who is taking so much interest to translate these texts and his name was Akbar.
In his efforts to promote understanding among religions and promote interfaith dialogue, Akbar sponsored debates among scholars of different religions and encouraged the translation of Sanskrit, Turkish and Arabic texts into Persian by setting up a Maktabkhana or translation bureau. Persian translation of Sanskrit texts included Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvad-gita, Bhagavat Purana, Atharva Veda, Yoga Vashisht etc. The translations carried out in this phase can be characterised as a dialogue of civilizations. Prince Dara Shikoh (1615-1659), a profoundly learned scholar himself, not only promoted this trend but made it his life-long mission. His interest in comparative understanding of Hinduism and Islam prompted him to take assistance from the Pandits of Banaras with the translation of fifty Upanishads into fluent Persian. It was completed in 1657 and given the title Sirri-Akbar or Sirri Asrar (The Great Secret). This text was translated into English by Nathaniel Halhead (1751-1830) in the colonial period, and into French and Latin by Anqetil Duperron, the famous translator and scholar of Zend Avesta. In the preface to the Sirri-Akbar Dara Shikoh explains how, for some time, he was upset by assertions of radical differences between Islam and the religious practices of the Hindus. He began looking for a common truth between Muslims and Hindus. As Muslims have a revealed Book which determines their world view, he was looking for the divine word in the Hindu religion and thus the translation of the Upanishads came to his mind.3 While studying these translation activities, Anuvaadacharya noticed a strange offshoot of the process of translating from Sanskrit to Persian. Mulla Badayuni, translator of the Ramayana into Persian
found the task of transposing a polytheistic worldview on a fiercely monotheistic one particularly daunting. The concept of divinity being shared by a host of gods and goddesses is not only unfamiliar in the Islamic worldview, but is a cardinal sin. There were fierce debates among scholars of translation as to whether it was appropriate to translate Allah into Ishwar or Bhagwan, rasool into avtar or yugpurush, Ram into Raheem, and so on, because in these cases one was not simply translating Arabic into Sanskrit or vice versa but also making statements of equivalence between concepts whose semantic universe was widely divergent and the cultural difference that gave rise to such concepts almost unbridgeable.4 This provided Anuvaadacharya an opportunity to learn languages like Persian, Turkish and Arabic. With the help of these languages, he also saw how ancient Indian scientific texts travelling to Spain in 11th century anticipating these knowledge to be transported to entire Europe later on.5 Simultaneously, he merrily got involved in the Bhakti-Movement between 7th and 17th century. For the first time, he experienced length and breadth of bhasha traditions wherein hundreds of saint-poets
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were translating from one Indian language to another and producing a kind of literature that was beyond the Western category of translated literature. Bhakti-Movement not only taught him so many languages but also restored his understanding of the Indian way of translation i.e. Anuvaad, restating, retelling, repeating the significance of the text.
Suddenly, he felt a different wind in his pursuit of understanding translation in India and that was Orientalist translators during late 18th and 19th century. He saw English colonizers starting Asiatic Society to translate Indian classical texts into English. Till date, Anuvaadacharya did not know English, but since plenty of Sanskrit texts were being translated into English, he learnt it.
While reading translator’s prefaces to Abhijñānśākuntalam by Sir William Jones and Bhagvat Gita by Charles Wilkins, Anuvaadacharya got so angry because this was for the first time he was seeing an ill- intentioned translation activity. Now he started documenting his observations in his dairy. Such translators’ approaches were not only incongruous to the corresponding realities but were contradictory too. Translation of Abhijñānśākuntalam into English as Sacontala or The Fatal Ring was a historic event in the colonial discourse. Ultimately, as it happened in most of translations of the past, colonial translators were interested in understanding what they called “Hindus”; their history, science, culture etc. A text can have fabulous literary exuberance, for example, Abhijñānśākuntalam but what they wanted to see was something else. As Sir William Jones who translated it in 1798 says in the translator’s preface:
I began with translating it verbally into Latin, which bears so great a resemblance to Sanscrit, that it is more convenient than any modern language for a scrupulous interlineary version: I then turned it word for word into English, and afterwards, without adding or suppressing any material sentence, disengaged from the stiffness of a foreign idiom, and prepared the faithful translation of the Indian drama, which I now present to the public as a most pleasing and authentic picture of old Hindû manners…(Translator’s Preface to Sacontala or The Fatal Ring) Imagine English readers across the world, at least early opinion-makers of Indian culture have read such a translation which is profoundly motivated by political scandal of understanding the subjects by the means of their literature so as to control and “civilize” them. Anuvaadacharya soon realized that Englishmen’s obsession with self-righteousness in terms of mannerism and being cultured was not less than a narcissistic disorder. For him, it was really amusing to discover Sir William Jones’ self-certifying idea of “faithful translation” being a literal one. In addition to that, his agenda to understand Indian mind stands out clearly when he claims to “present to the public as a most pleasing and authentic picture of old Hindû manners”.
Sir Charles Wilkins who translated Bhagavad Gitā in 1785 was the most disturbing one for our friend Anuvaadacharya. Wilkins wrote:
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The text is but imperfectly understood by the most learned Brahmans of the present times; and that, small as the work may appear; it has had more comments than the Revelations. These have not been totally disregarded; but, as they were frequently found more obscure than the original they were intended to elucidate, it was thought better to leave many of the most difficult passages for the exercise of the reader's own judgment, than to mislead him by such wild opinions as no one syllable of the text could authorize. (Translator’s Preface, Bhagavad Gitā) And if he knew that the “text is but imperfectly understood by the most learned Brahmans of the present times”, he wouldn’t mind it and go on translating anyway. Though we have our doubts on whom he called “most learned” Brahmins because the Sanskrit scholarship did not go obsolete in eighteen century. When he says that commentaries are more obscure than the original and considers them “wild opinions”, he is disqualifying himself to understand the text, the tradition and finally the translation per se. Wilkins approach manifests political and cultural scandals of translation.
Sadly, it was this English translation of Bhagavt Gita that went into Russian, French, German and Greek languages. Anuvaadacharya had similar experiences with English translations of Niti Satakam and Vairagya Satakam.6 Wound was further scratched when he saw Indians translating the two great epics into English with some kind of service to English masters. As Anuvaadacharya mentions in his dairy that K M Ganguli has translated the Mahābhārata in English in 1883. As colonizers started the entire exercise of understanding Indian psyche so that they could rule effectively, some Indian scholars helped in the process knowingly or unknowingly. As it was evident in William Jones’ approach, the intention of transiting Indian texts was not to make these reach out the world for sharing knowledge and wisdom that they carry but to study Hindu customs and culture.
In the Translator’s preface, Ganguli makes these things clear: 1) Why does he translate the Mahābhārata? (2) How does he do it? (3) How would English reader find it?
In regard to translations from Sanskrit, nothing is easier than to dish up Hindu ideas, so as to make them agreeable to English taste. But endeavor of the present translator has been to give the following pages as literal a rendering as possible of the great work of Vyasa. To purely English reader there is much in the following pages that will strike as ridiculous. (Translator’s Preface, The Mahābhārata) On the other hand, we have a very eminent scholar called Romesh Chandra Dutt who translated (actually a condensed translation) the Rāmāyana in 1899. Previously, he had also translated the Mahābhārata and that is the reason he loves to compare the two great epic repeatedly. He has written some twenty pages translator’s preface to orient English readers of the day. The way he orients English readers is very naive. The first lines read like this:
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Ancient India, like ancient Greece, boasts of two great Epics. The Maha-bharata on the legends and traditions of a great historical war is the Iliad of India. The Rāmāyana, describing the wanderings and adventures of a prince banished from his country, has so far something in common with the Odyssey. (Translator’s Preface, The Mahābhārata) Of course, Anuvaadacharya was further grieved to see the status of translation in the slave India. However, the same act of translation consoled him too. He was happy to recall glimpses of Bhakti- Movement translation during India’s fight for freedom. Works of Tagore, Saradchandra, Munshi, V S Khandekar were being translated from their respective source languages into so many Indian languages and boosted the spirit of nationalism. Gandhi himself translated Unto this Last as Sarvodaya in 1908 which became a guiding philosophy for the country divided into so many fragments. His autobiography was translated by Mahadevbhai Desai and Kishorlal Mashruvala7. Aurobindo’s translation of Vidyapati, Tagore’s translation of Kabir, Meghani’s translation of various authors brought a kind of necessary cultural revivalism. Such acts added on Anuvaadacharya’s heavy diet of polyglotism. But gradually he was getting distanced from the motherly compassion of Sanskrit language.
After the country got its freedom, he observed a huge flow of translation from Indian languages into English and vice versa. He saw A K Ramanujan’s translation of folktales and legends along with U R Anantmurthy’s Samaskara, Premchand’s Godan by Gordon C. Roadarmel, Tagore’s Gora by Sujeet Mukherjee etc. which made the body of Indian literatures attain a new identity in the larger gamut of literatures of the world. Again, he saw a new undercurrent when he noticed various categories of intentions while translating the texts; Feminist translations, Dalit translations, Communal translations etc. But one thing that Anuvaadacharya failed to understand is, why getting translated from an Indian language into English is a matter of reputation for the writer when there are more readers if the text gets translated in other Indian languages?
Some people believe that even today Anuvaadacharya is wandering like Ashwasthama and observing every act of translation. Besides, some also believe that translation historiographers are still searching for his diary so that they make sense of the huge and wide history of translation in India. The story you just heard is told to me by Naarad in my dream and he advised me to tell the same to the ears poisoned by translation. He told the story in Gujarati which I have translated into English. Why is it that I feel someone standing at my back and reading each of my words with me?
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II A Proposed Model for Historiography of Literary Translation Any attempt to historicize translation would fall prey to some kind of convenient taxonomy or ideological moorings. However, I would like to propose a model using which we can write some kind of history of translation in India. Admittedly, it is a massive task covering (1) numerous languages, (2) translation of oral narratives, (3) texts that were originally Indian but travelled abroad like Panchatantra, (4) history of regional literatures, (5) Indian texts which have been translated into any of the Indian languages, (6) texts translated into and from European languages English, French, German etc. (7) texts translated into and from non-European languages like Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian etc. (8) translations from Sanskrit into Pali and Prakrit and vice versa, (9) translation of non-literary texts, (10) texts in ‘anuvaad’ – retelling, (11) key texts translated during various periods of colonization, (12) patronization of translating texts like Akbar, (13) texts which have been repeatedly translated over a period of time, (14) institutionalized projects of translation like Sahitya Akademy, (15) Academic translations, (16) texts translated by authors themselves like Tagore, Qurratulain Hyder or Bhishm Sahani, (17) catalogue of translated texts, (18) anthologies of translators’ prefaces and notes, (19) a set of anthologies of writing on translation in different Indian languages and their translations and (20) a dictionary of Indian concepts of Translation/Poetics.
Not that no attempts have been made in the direction of historiography of translation, while talking about translation history A K Singh mentions,
Historical sense is needed. In case of translation, the focus is often on history of translation into a language and from it into other languages, history of translation of a text into other languages or in terms of tradition of translation. But to me what is important is the study of individuals (Kumarjiva, Al Manssor, Dara Shikoh among individuals) and Agra, Srinagar, Varansai and Toledo Schools/institutions of translations. In Indian context, attempts of translational historiography are yet to be undertaken, though institutions like Sahitya Akademi, Indian National Academy of Letters, have commissioned projects in Indian languages in this direction. 8
However, before banking on the project of historiography of translation, we are yet to translate a lot. As A K Singh emphatically says, “In a country like India it (translation) is needed more than even ever, for so little has been translated.” (Translation Today, 34) Besides, authors, translators and scholars should come on a common platform and start this herculean task, worth doing.
In the light of all these aspects, the model I would like to propose can be represented in the following tabular form:
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Historiography of Translation
Historiography of Literary Translation
Translated texts Writings on Translation (Among Indian Lanaguges - No Indian Langauges) (Prefaces, Glossaries, Research works)
Authors Translators Scholars (As translators) (Academic and independent) (From divers disciplines)
[Figure 1 – Historiography of Translation]
Needless to mention that the convenient table does not advocate exclusive categories as they are inevitably interdependent factors. Notwithstanding, there are three major challenges to execute such a voluminous task: (A) who will do it? Individuals or institutions? (B) should it be done in English or Hindi or in both? (C) will the approach of documenting history be Indian or Western?
Lead Out: At the end, I would like to state that the study of history of translation, like translation per se, is a beautiful epistemological inquiry enriching one’s historical sense of various disciplines. In India, no discussion of history of literature is complete without including a sizable portion of history of translation in it. Let’s study history of translation to understand history of human civilization.
End notes:
1. For a detail, see Indra Nath Chouduri’s Towards an Indian Theory of Translation in Indian Literature, Vol. 54, No. 5 (259) (September/October 2010), pp. 113-123 2. G N Devi writes, “When the soul passes from one body into another, it does not lose any of its essential significance”. 3. M. Asaddudin traces history and theological intricacies of translation in his scholarly piece of work entitled as “Translation and Indian Literature: Some Reflections” published in Translation Today. 4. Akabar had ordained Mulla Badayuni to translate Ramayana into Persian which he felt “a spiritual punishment” according to Asaddudin. 5. Dr. Oscar mentions reference to Spanish School of Translation in the 10th and 11th century which translated Indian scientific text into Arabic for Spanish Muslim readers. For more, one can watch his talk “Indian in Translation: From Exotic to Contemporary” in Jaipur Literary Festival. 6. In the preface to his classical translation of Bharatihari’s Niti Satakam and Vairagya Satakam, Mr. C.H. Tawney says, “I am sensible that in the present attempt I have retained much local colouring. For instance, the ideas of ownershipping the feet of god or great men, though it frequently occurs in Indian literature, will undoubtedly move laughter of Englishmen unacquainted with Sanskrit, especially if they happen to belong to that class of readers who revel their attention on the accidental and remain blind to the essential. But a certain measure of
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fidelity to the original even at the risk of making oneself ridiculous is better than the studied dishonesty which characterizes so many translations of oriental poets. 7. In his brilliant piece entitled as “Translation Studies in the 21st Century” published in Translation Today, A K Singh gives a cultural reading of the act of translating Gandhi’s My Experiments with Truth in the following manner, “Literally translated it would have meant: Satya= Truth, na= of, Prayogo= experiments i.e., ‘Experiments of Truth’. The disarming simplicity of Gandhi in case of the title of his autobiography, like that of his life, would have inveigled upon a naive translator to consider it an undemanding task. But Mahadevbhai did not opt for convenient option: ‘Experiments of Truth’ and changed ‘of ’ with ‘with’. Rightly so because truth does not, and cannot, make experiments. The agents of experiments are human beings. The translator’s change of preposition and choice was valid. He did not stop there. He added ‘My’ to the title which on the face of it was not needed. Why did Mahadevbhai then add it? The fact is that no one can make experiments with truth, if it is written with capital ‘T’. The monotheistic theological and philosophical traditions do not allow experiments. In Indian tradition, truth is born out of non-truth, and is always plural in reality. ‘Ekam sat vipramvahudha vadanti’. (Truth is one but wise souls speak about it in multiple ways.) Moreover, truth is of two kinds: rit and sat which means truth as value and true as fact. Truth as fact is valuable but more valuable is truth as value, for latter may save lives and serve human cause rather than slavish adherence to facts. Gandhi had contingent truth in his view. It was his privilege not to accept truths as given to him but experiment with them in the light of his personal observation and experience. Mahadevbhai’s translation of the title not only does justice to Gandhi’s life and vision but also leaves many philosophical interpretations peeping out of it. Ultimately, Gandhi’s autobiography or story of his experiments came out. (18) 8. A K Singh refers to various nuances of how Indian Translation Studies can emerge as a valuable domain of study. He also shares one the promising projects in the direction of translation historiography, “However, it should not be construed that there has been not much meaningful activity in the field of TS. For instance if I take the case of Hindi I was a little sceptical about the quantity of translation, leave aside the question of their quality. While working on the Sahitya Akademi project for writings on translation I proved to be wrong. I knew that there is certain amount of writing in Hindi but when I started working seriously I realised that there is much of it in Hindi. The quest for writings on translation revealed that even the translations into Hindi and from Hindi into other languages— Indian and foreign—have been done extensively. At the end of it, it was difficult to manage it even after arranging it in different categories of translational writing. Whatever has been done, data is scattered due to lack of institutional coordination and its enormity, perhaps.” (33)
References
Bassnett, Susan and Harish Trivedi (eds). (1999). Post-colonial Translation. Theory and practice: London and New York: Routledge. Print. Devi, G N (1993). “Translation Theory: An Indian Perspective” in his In Another Tongue: Macmillan India Ltd. India. Print. Preface to Sacontala; or, the Fatal Ring: an Indian Drama, by Calidas (Calcutta: Joseph Cooper, 1789), in The Works of Sir William Jones (London: John Stockdale and John Walker, 1807), IX, 366-367. Web. Garland Cannon and Siddheshwar Pandey, Sir William Jones Revisited: On His Translation of the Śakuntalā Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 96, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1976). Web. Ganguli, K. M. The Mahābhārata (www.archives.org) Web. Dutt, R.C., The Rāmāyana. E J Lazarus & Co. London (www.archives.org) Web.
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Singh, A K. (2014). “Translation Studies in the 21st Century” in Translation Today. Vol. 8, No.1, November 2014. Pages 5 to 45. Web. Venuti, Lawrence, (2004). The Scandals of Translation: Towards an ethics of difference: London and New York. Routledge. Print. Wilkins, Charles. Bhagavad Gitā (www.archives.org) Web.
Englishes Today / September 2015 / Volume II, Issue I ISBN : 2395 - 4809