What's in a language? An experience at two client sites in the last fortnight
In the last fortnight, in two managerial effectiveness training programmes for two clients from vastly different sectors separated by about 1,500 kms, I heard the same remark from two participants:
"Aap Urdu bohat achhi bol lete hain. Yahan tak ki, aap ki pronunciation bhi ek dum sahi hai."
In both the cases I smiled and said, "You mean, meri pronunciation ek dum khaalis hai?"
They smiled even more; nodded and asked me how I did it?
Their question was basically how could a person with a clearly south Indian name be so good with a north Indian language, its nuances and pronunciation?
One of them further added that he had noticed that I was equally good with pure Hindi as well as fluent in English and that I switched effortlessly between all the three languages.
He too wanted to know how.
Well before I proceed, I must share that I am not a master of any of the three languages mentioned here; least of all Urdu which I cannot read or write. I have been mighty impressed with some of the words I heard in Urdu all through my life as well as deeply impressed by some of the late Nida Fazliji's works thanks to my friends Amita Punj, Mukesh Anand and Manoj Sharma.
To both the participants I said that I have had a natural love for languages and I have seen that I am able to pick up words, diction, pronunciation and nuances in the languages around me. It's not with all languages but I have seen a particular affinity for Bangla, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Tamizh (to some extent) and of course the languages I grew up hearing around me - Malayalam, Hindi, English and Urdu.
To one of them I further said that my life experiences have taught me that there is a lot more common between us than we care to explore and that there is something unique I have learnt and picked up from each of the languages.
For example, I learnt about the French writer Victor Hugo, the French revolution and one of his greatest words that has had a profound impact on my life - Les Misrables through my Malayalam school text books from 6th to 8th standard.
I found the BR Chopra version of Mahabharath more meaningful and insightful than the nonsense that came a few years ago from the Ekta Kapoor stable simply because of Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza's script and the words he used in the 1988 version. Even my father is a great fan of Dr. Reza's work on that script.
I found the Hindustani version of this clip from the movie Gandhi more powerful because of the use of the Urdu word 'Hukumbardari' for its English equivalent 'Obedience'.
Some of the greatest lyricists from the Hindi cinema world who've had a deep impact on me are Sahir Ludhyanvi sahib, Kaifi Aazmi sahib, Majrooh Sultanpuriji, Gulzarji and more.
And in Hindi, they are Kavi Pradeep, Shri Jaidev, Prasoon Joshi and more.
Even as I struggled a lot with Hindi grammar in school due to an incompetent teacher whose actions made me truly hate learning the language; I learnt to truly appreciate the beauty of that language when I started travelling, working, interacting and training in Madhya Pradesh 18 years ago. It was such an amazingly beautiful language that I came to detest the depleted, crass version of it that is used in Delhi, punctuated as it is with the choicest of abusive words.
My immediate boss in that first job of mine used to call me "Hindi ka Pandit' in the office.
During that time, I learnt a lot of Shuddh Hindi while working with Shri Sadhu Singh - a Sikh who retired as a Deputy Director from the Rajya Sabha. He was so proficient in the language that he would take just one look at the English text we used to give him and out would flow its pure Hindi translation without any second guessing and pauses.
But for me, having understood the local usage in Madhya Pradesh, the standard of Hindi used by the Central Bureau of Translation was too pure and rare to be used in our participant workbook, handouts and power points. So I used to then convert the Hindi translation to local language which Shri Singh would then type and hand over.
We had such a great working relationship that many a times he would tell me that I could easily get a job with the Central Bureau of Translation and could go onto become a Director in the organisation and have a comfortable life.
I have had some amazingly insightful life lessons learnt because of the richness of poetry I found in the lyrics of the late Shri Vayalar Rama Varma of the Malayalam film industry. One of the all time favourite life-influencing songs from Malayalam happens to be this song penned by Shri Vayalar and immortalised by Shri KJ Yeshudas.
As I sat down to write this, I remembered Nelson Mandela's words: "If you speak to someone in a language they understand, your message goes to their head. But if you speak to them in their language, your message goes to their heart."
So, what's in a language?
I guess the answer that just came up for me is beautifully expressed in this song by Shri Jigar Moradabadi and beautifully sung by Abida Parveenji.
Thank you Sonika Gupta for sharing this rendition with me during my visit to Swaraj University in November 2015.
_/\_
Sohum
"Aap Urdu bohat achhi bol lete hain. Yahan tak ki, aap ki pronunciation bhi ek dum sahi hai."
In both the cases I smiled and said, "You mean, meri pronunciation ek dum khaalis hai?"
They smiled even more; nodded and asked me how I did it?
Their question was basically how could a person with a clearly south Indian name be so good with a north Indian language, its nuances and pronunciation?
One of them further added that he had noticed that I was equally good with pure Hindi as well as fluent in English and that I switched effortlessly between all the three languages.
He too wanted to know how.
Well before I proceed, I must share that I am not a master of any of the three languages mentioned here; least of all Urdu which I cannot read or write. I have been mighty impressed with some of the words I heard in Urdu all through my life as well as deeply impressed by some of the late Nida Fazliji's works thanks to my friends Amita Punj, Mukesh Anand and Manoj Sharma.
To both the participants I said that I have had a natural love for languages and I have seen that I am able to pick up words, diction, pronunciation and nuances in the languages around me. It's not with all languages but I have seen a particular affinity for Bangla, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Tamizh (to some extent) and of course the languages I grew up hearing around me - Malayalam, Hindi, English and Urdu.
To one of them I further said that my life experiences have taught me that there is a lot more common between us than we care to explore and that there is something unique I have learnt and picked up from each of the languages.
For example, I learnt about the French writer Victor Hugo, the French revolution and one of his greatest words that has had a profound impact on my life - Les Misrables through my Malayalam school text books from 6th to 8th standard.
I found the BR Chopra version of Mahabharath more meaningful and insightful than the nonsense that came a few years ago from the Ekta Kapoor stable simply because of Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza's script and the words he used in the 1988 version. Even my father is a great fan of Dr. Reza's work on that script.
I found the Hindustani version of this clip from the movie Gandhi more powerful because of the use of the Urdu word 'Hukumbardari' for its English equivalent 'Obedience'.
Some of the greatest lyricists from the Hindi cinema world who've had a deep impact on me are Sahir Ludhyanvi sahib, Kaifi Aazmi sahib, Majrooh Sultanpuriji, Gulzarji and more.
And in Hindi, they are Kavi Pradeep, Shri Jaidev, Prasoon Joshi and more.
Even as I struggled a lot with Hindi grammar in school due to an incompetent teacher whose actions made me truly hate learning the language; I learnt to truly appreciate the beauty of that language when I started travelling, working, interacting and training in Madhya Pradesh 18 years ago. It was such an amazingly beautiful language that I came to detest the depleted, crass version of it that is used in Delhi, punctuated as it is with the choicest of abusive words.
My immediate boss in that first job of mine used to call me "Hindi ka Pandit' in the office.
During that time, I learnt a lot of Shuddh Hindi while working with Shri Sadhu Singh - a Sikh who retired as a Deputy Director from the Rajya Sabha. He was so proficient in the language that he would take just one look at the English text we used to give him and out would flow its pure Hindi translation without any second guessing and pauses.
But for me, having understood the local usage in Madhya Pradesh, the standard of Hindi used by the Central Bureau of Translation was too pure and rare to be used in our participant workbook, handouts and power points. So I used to then convert the Hindi translation to local language which Shri Singh would then type and hand over.
We had such a great working relationship that many a times he would tell me that I could easily get a job with the Central Bureau of Translation and could go onto become a Director in the organisation and have a comfortable life.
I have had some amazingly insightful life lessons learnt because of the richness of poetry I found in the lyrics of the late Shri Vayalar Rama Varma of the Malayalam film industry. One of the all time favourite life-influencing songs from Malayalam happens to be this song penned by Shri Vayalar and immortalised by Shri KJ Yeshudas.
As I sat down to write this, I remembered Nelson Mandela's words: "If you speak to someone in a language they understand, your message goes to their head. But if you speak to them in their language, your message goes to their heart."
So, what's in a language?
I guess the answer that just came up for me is beautifully expressed in this song by Shri Jigar Moradabadi and beautifully sung by Abida Parveenji.
Thank you Sonika Gupta for sharing this rendition with me during my visit to Swaraj University in November 2015.
_/\_
Sohum
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