September 2:

“Is it not a sad thing that we should have to speak of Home-Rule in a foreign tongue?”

–Gandhi (Hind Swaraj, Chapter 18)

Gandhi did not reject multi-lingualism or even multiculturalism  (he himself was still learning Indian languages at the end); he rejected that some languages, and hence cultures, should feel superior to and try to dominate others. He observed keenly the way that English was being used as a tool of imperialist control in India. He laments, ”Our best thoughts are expressed in English; the proceedings of our Congress are conducted in English; our best newspapers are printed in English. If this state of things continues for a long time, posterity will–it is my firm opinion–condemn and curse us.”

Hence in the education of his dreams, the system of Nai Talim, meaning ‘new education,’ English language instruction would lose its place of prominence and be used with discretion only when their was a reasons it was needed in the stead of a language native to the Indian soil. Great literature of the world? It should be translated. If you can translate Thoreau into French, why not into Urdu?

He maintained, mischievously, that for those who already know English it could be put to good use, such as in conversing with the English for “the purpose of knowing how disgusted they (the English) have themselves become with their civilization…”, but the duty of the Indian would be to teach their own children their mother tongues as well as another Indian language (there are over 200 distinct tongues spoken in India). They might want to learn English when they grow up, he added, but by that point, “they should not need it.” He pointed out that if the Crown were to learn that Indians were rejecting English instruction in their schools, “their ears would prick up.” This is how ‘self-rule’ or swaraj works.

Experiment in Nonviolence:

Are there languages in your local area that are dying because of the effects of colonialism? Find out.