Speak English our way – A leap forward in progressive direction – Part 1

16 Feb 2010

The old, conservative, outdated, elitist Sri Lankan ideology of English that still enjoys an unwarranted amount of social legitimacy and power sees 'English as a language', an instrument of social oppression, the prized possession of a privileged class and an exclusive emblem of upper class status to be therefore spoken as an English person would speak - with unblemished diction, perfect grammar and technically perfect pronunciation.

This anti-national ideology of English was crafted by our Anglo-centric urban elites as one that provided the gateway to the West and a repudiation of our own values and heritage.  Even after English was included in the school syllabi later on, the average Sinhala and Tamil student did not pick it up well because the teachers who taught them were still following the conservative and obsolete teaching methods, and most importantly English was taught neither as a mean of communication nor as a life skill, but as a sacred possession that had to be mastered.

Molding ‘Kalu Suddas’
English was never just a language for Sri Lankans like it was for Indians, Japanese and Chinese and to a lot of other Asian nations. In Sri Lanka, it presented a far more significant social connotation than a mere linguistic connotation. Even the teaching of English was targeted at creating ‘sudda’ type gentlemen, who could even beat the real ‘sudda’ fellows with their accent.

As part of this conversion, the kalu suddas were even taught to think in English. This confined the English language to the elites of the then Sri Lankan society and with their acquired Received Pronunciation (RP) they became ‘goda suddas’—leaving only their black skin to recognise them either as Sinhalese or Tamils.

The elite comprador society expects that those who enter into English speaking club should endorse Western lumpant culture as well. This deep social and cultural difference is clearly evident in most of Sri Lankan Sinhala and English news papers. The person who used to read ‘Lankadeepa’ is expected to be a different cultural animal when he starts reading ‘Sunday Times’.

English has never been treated as a mode of communication in Sri Lanka, but as an instrument used for social oppression, a ladder to climb the social hierarchy, and also as a political tool. In that sense, English has never been given the right place in the Sri Lankan society. What an irony!

The comprador private sector and multi national companies picked these elite kalu suddas for top management and HR positions. The normal English speaking people were hired only for those necessary jobs like engineering and accounting. A big social gap was deliberately maintained between comprador higher management class and the rest.

Nation divided as Sinhalese/Tamil and English speaking
It is a well-known fact that a certain political party, which hails itself as leftist, has been using the lack of English knowledge among university students who are mainly from outside Colombo, to achieve their petty political interests. When the university authorities come out with programmes to enhance the English knowledge of these students, the members of this party, who are very much active in the university opposes, and if it is not enough, carry out protests unless the authorities put their plans to the back burner.

In conclusion, English should be stripped off from its history and should be treated only as a language. The socio-psychological barriers which readily identified English as ‘kaduwa’ (sword) should be taken down. English should be taught as a mode used for communication and as a life skill. It should no longer be treated as a ‘sword’ that one uses to oppress others, but as a ‘shield’ of one’s own social security against undue edge of elite comprador society. English is just another tool of communication to gather knowledge and communicate with external world


Related posts:
- Speak English our way – A leap forward in progressive direction – Part 2
- Mind your (own) English accent – The facts and myths