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**** Goanet Classifieds ****
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Enescil, a Brazilian engineering firm requires Engineers, Architects
and Draftsmen, proficient in AutoCAD, for their new office in Goa
Those interested can email enescil....@gmail.com by 15 November 2011
Selected candidates will be sent to Brazil for 2 months training
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Selma said:
My concern is with Catholic Goans who for various historical reasons -
mainly
Portuguese colonisation which brought them in contact with a Western
language
and English is just a carry-on from that - have chosen to make English
their
first language. They use it in school, at home and in social discourse.
Which
means they do not have another language with which to cultivate thoughts on
art, politics, literature, philosophy and science - everything that
advances
the cause of human societies. And if you don't have the machinery to
cultivate
thoughts, your thoughts themselves condense.
==
My reply:
It is my regret that Konkani is neglected by children in Goa today. They
speak English most of the time, occasionally breaking into Konkani to speak
with those who don't speak English.
But does that make English their first language? I don't think so. As with
the rest of Indians, with the exception of Anglo-Indians, English will
remain the second language of Goans. It is indeed tragic that many Goans
write English as their first language on government forms. Maybe they also
give English as their first language on census forms.
Some influential members of the GOA in Toronto had told Goans to put
Konkani as their first language on census forms. It would then be easier to
know how many Goans were in the Toronto or Ontario area. Like me many Goans
who migrated directly from India put Konkani as native or first language.
I don't think using English everywhere from home to office and in social
discourse and not making use of "another language", by which i suppose she
means Konkani, leads to disability to "cultivate......... human societies."
I am not aware if there is any proven scientific reasons for her charge
that "And if you don't ....... themselves condense." It's preposterous to
put forward such a view without backing it up with sufficient evidence.
Language skills can be acquired by means of continuous contact with the
speakers of that particular language. Uneducated Goan ayahs are a case in
point. Many spoke English reasonably well for their patrons and their
children to understand them and vice-versa.
Selma says she does not "make fun of Goan accents." In fact, the title of
her post mocks Goan accents. Can she then be taken seriously?
On the other hand, she wants the government to do more for teaching of
English. English language is part of the curricula in schools and colleges.
The government cannot take English separately and make "investments" to
improve its teaching to students.
Institutes teaching high-level or advanced English can be established by
private entrepreneurs, just as institutes teaching typing and shorthand
were common in Goa many years ago. Similar institutes in Mumbai taught
"business English" for those who wanted to take this special course.
I am bit surprised to learn that Goa's standards in English language are
"declining." The overall standard of education in Goa has improved by leaps
and bounds. I recentlly read Nandakumar Kamat and Tomazinho Cardozo's
pieces on post-Liberation Goa in Goa Today (Nov issue) and both have
praised the rapid strides made in education, as in many other spheres.
Tomazinho says, "The greatest benefit of the Liberation of Goa is observed
in the field of education." He should know as he was a teacher.
Selma must inform us which year or period English was at its highlest level
in Goa and where it is now. In my own experience of talking to young Goans,
many in my extended family, and to youths I found that they speak quite
well. I could understand them well and could converse with them with ease.
I would often deliberately turn the conversation into Konkani and they
would still continue in English with few Konkani words thrown in between. I
sometimes feel that English-speaking as well as Konkani-speaking Goans in
Goa are speaking like Parsis who use lot of English words when they speak
in Gujarati and Gujarati words when they speak in English. This sort of
"lat-fat" (isn't that what mixed-up English in Goa is mockingly said?) is
current usage. A school marm like Selma could bring out the rod to teach
Goans who "murder" the English language to speak "pucca" English, with BBC
pronunciation manual in hand.
BTW, I heard Selma's interview with Fred on UTube, where she speaks of her
book, but I didn't decipher the Britishness in her language.
Eugene
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Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve
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