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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 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Eugene, You've made some interesting points, which I agree with. Others, I would see differently. Some quick responses: * "Konkani is neglected by children in Goa today." On the contrary. Never before has it been force-fed to them as strongly as it is being done today. Most have it for four years in primary school, almost compulsory -- if you can't pay a significant fee, or attend a school run by an institution headed by Rane's wife and run with government grants. In some churches, Konkani is compulsory for mass and cathecism. Mind you, this is not simple, spoken Konkani (it reflects the elitism of a Selma) but what our friend, the sociologist Dr W. R da Silva (himself a priest) would bluntly call Bamonbhas and Padribhas. * Among the diaspora, how many are fluent with what is today accepted as "Konkani" in Goa? That includes the Devanagari script, and (mostly) the Antruzi variant? This has been the case in the past too (admittedly less among the older generation, but they had less of English and the Romi script to lean on). * How would you define "first language"? "Mother tongue"? Or "second language"? If someone most of the time speaks, writes, reads and studies in a language (today, almost 99% of Goa is studying in English at the secondary and tertiary levels, and nobody seems to have a problem with that!) then how does it not become your "first language"? What happens when mothers (and fathers) speak English at home, and why deny that so many are doing it these days, for whatever reason? * The problem with filling Konkani as the unquestioned mother tongue for emotional reasons is (i) it allows the government to push through a controversial Official Language(s) Act (ii) it allows a small group to enforce one kind of Konkani on many other variants from across Goa and beyond (iii) some get the right to claim that others don't know "standard" Konkani, or the "right" script (iv) this is then used as a justification to also make you a stranger in your own home. As the Romiwadis have realised, no amount of attempting to "fit in" might really work.... * I would suspect that Konkani's cause would be better served by less fanaticism, less decimation of scripts and dialects in the name of standardisation, and less forcing it down the throats of reluctant others. Thanks for the other points you've made. I don't know why we get so hot under the collar when it comes to language. Don't we have anything else to prove our loyalty to our roots? Do we anyway feel so alienated? While Selma claims that Goans can't express themselves (after creating a stereotype and a strawman based obviously on the underpriviledged section of Goans), Peter Nazareth tells us that Goans have written literature (and other topics) in as many as 13 different languages! Way to go! And I can't resist answering two additional questions you raise, since as a sometimes resident-in-Goa, I have this superior insight into all things: On 21 November 2011 00:09, Eugene Correia <eugene.corr...@gmail.com> wrote: > I am bit surprised to learn that Goa's standards in English language are > "declining." ... > Selma must inform us which year or period English was at its highlest level > in Goa and where it is now. I do not recall the exact year, at this point of time, but that was immediately after Selma herself migrated from Goa. > 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. That was for my benefit of course, duh! FN PS: Unfortunately, my earlier pyjama-typed, and valid it seems to me, points turned victim to the British potato-chops! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------