Eric Fernando, who took some amazing photographs, and I visited many interesting places along the coast, witnessing how people had rebuilt their lives after the tsunami. We handed over the 32-page booklet to the printers yesterday – and I am pleased with the effort…! Five hundred copies of the report will be ready in about a week’s time.As you are probably aware, I am also writing a book - the biography of a Sri Lankan Navy Commander... When I have the time, I also write reports for the Financial Times on Sunday.
When it comes to communicating in English, I seem to be at a slight advantage here. When compared with urban India, written and spoken English skills are mediocre in Sri Lanka. However, among the educated elite (especially the older generation), there are many excellent authors and orators. And such people have reached very senior levels as a consequence of their typically-foreign education. Without intending to sound condescending, I have come across many bloggers who have an excellent command of the language. (I wonder: Do they use those skills to earn some pocket-money, like I do?)
Sri Lanka had a good head-start, having been part of the Commonwealth. But the rulers frittered that advantage away, just as they have done to the many natural advantages that this country had. On the subject of language, for example, they had a short-sighted and chauvinistic policy called ‘Sinhala Only’. This worked to the detriment of all other languages that existed – although the Tamils justifiably claim that it was to subvert their nationhood - and finally to the detriment of the country's BPO potential!
3 comments:
"When compared with urban India, written and spoken English skills are mediocre in Sri Lanka." - Are u really serious??? U're either talking about an India that I haven't seen or a Sri Lanka that doesn't exist. On what basis do you make this statement?
No way can India claim any superiority in the English language that us. The fact is we have slipped down to their putrid levels in the past 20+ years, sadly.
Nor can Pakistan, Bangla Desh, The Phillipines, Thailand, Burma, and Indonesia, all neighboring nations.
Sinhala Only was a ploy that Banda thought would win him the elections, which it did, but nevetr envisaged its dire consequences that we see burning in front of our very eyes today, morning, noon and night. Banda never had any love for Sinhala as a language. Look at his ancestry. His roots take him up to a Tamil. And they were also converted to Christianity by the missionaries of the Colonial era very much similar to the rest of many of the political and business families in the Island.
Sinhala Buddhism will never be able to resolve the problems we face on the ground today. Only a totally secular system, supported by serious, decent, committed human beings will take us out of this stinking rut.
Tinks - Quite possibly, “an India that you haven't seen”…http://bailabeat.blogspot.com/2007/08/chakde-bangalore.html
The basis of my statement is personal experience in colleges & offices - and on the streets - of both countries.
Many of us are trapped in a time-warp. The world around us changes, even if we do not. Thankfully, we still have an amazing biodiversity, friendlier people and more orderly traffic than other countries in South Asia.
Anon – You say, “The fact is we have slipped”… Yes, and others have improved... Your concluding sentence is truly enlightened!
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