Addison Taylor
Regional languages indeed play a crucial role in the improvement and advancement of any country since form the basis of identity for any country. Indigenous identity is crucial for retaining the essence of one’s culture and society.
Language poses the primordial consciousness of human experience that is shaped by the acquiring of language around us.
India has more than nineteen thousand five hundred regional languages spoken across the country. The diversity of Indian languages is a significant factor that adds to its heritage and cultural identity. The regional languages render a sense of autonomy to their speakers. The native language occupies a realm of identity for the native users.
With the advent of British imperial rule, the primacy of the English language became a tool for delivering foreign identity to the natives. Language became a tool for creating replicas of foreign cultural identity. Language also then became a weapon of de-establishing one’s inherent identity. The act of imposing a different language to strengthen the political agenda to conquer the nation from within became a reality for all those countries with a history of imperial rule. The foreign language became an emblem of high-class, principles and a way to shed off the savagery of the native identity and become learned and intellectuals. Again, this was important to ascend the ladder of social identity and to achieve financial independence.
This led to the development of stereotypes between those who acquired the imposed language and those who resisted it. Many African countries resisted the forceful imposition of such languages.
Language thus is an avenue to develop cultural identity. Years of struggle culminated into the establishment of International Mother Language Day observed on 21st February.
The larger vision of this inculcating inclusivity of languages and celebrating the diversity of multilingual cultures where no person left behind or discriminated against language.
Regional languages are, thus, important in safeguarding linguistic diversity. The regional languages are intricately related to identity formation, communication, education, and much more.
There is an increasing need to prohibit these languages from fading away since it’s a loss of the rich tapestry of culture and diversity, memory, oral narratives, and an overall history from the face of the national identity.
According to the United Nations, 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few thousands of such languages have been given a place in mainstream education.
It’s imperative to preserve a multilingual and multicultural society for the growth and development of any country. Since multilingual practice also helps in strengthening quality education based on inclusivity that retains the essence of cultural and ethnic identity, aids in developing sustainable education that imparts social, political, scientific, and technological education.
Regional language helps in attaining universal education to eradicate illiteracy and allow the light of knowledge to enter every domain of humanity. It breaks the hegemonic supremacy of the colonizer language that creates discrimination among people on the basis of education. Having access to education is the fundamental right of every individual. And it is through sustaining the cultural, linguistic, and intellectual diversity of regional languages that a nation can progress. It’s important to break free from the centuries-old dominance of the colonies’ language and to aid the people to form consciousness on the basis of fairness and not inclined towards any hegemony.
Educating a child in regional languages is crucial in improving the person’s ability to learn and prosper rather than imposing the foreign tongue that might ruin the possibilities of gaining further knowledge.
Lastly, preserving regional languages is the avenue to expose one’s culture and intellectual exposition on the global platform.
Social media has also become a powerful tool to retina and preserve languages. However earlier there was a lack of technologies and software to bridge the profound gap of making social media accessible to multilingual people who are not adept at one dominant language framework.
Thus, Bharat keyboard came forward and appropriated this gap by merging technology and regional languages for making communication accessible to millions of people who are dependent on their native language.
For example, the Hindi Typing Keyboard is a swift amalgamation of technology and traditions paving the way for native users to get access to customized and personalized conversation experiences. They no longer need to be dependent on any dominant rhetoric.
Hindi keyboard app has its range of Hindi quotes and sayings that users can share and even create their own. Further, to make the keyboard more fun, edgy, and trendy, the developers have included unique Hindi stickers, GIFs, BigMojis, and sticker heads.
The authentic Hindi dictionary integrated with the smart AI keyboard precise words and phrases, emojis and lets users type accurately with quick suggestions and autocorrect. Hindi keyboard online can be customized and used as per individual need with many themes, fonts to choose from.
Thus, the preservation of regional languages is aided by technological advancement to retain the indigenous essence.
