WORKSHOP ON THE IMPACT OF HINDI ON THE ZOU MIGRANTS/STUDENTS IN DELHI

Venue: G.K-I, New Delhi Date: 26-27 January 2010.

The conductor Mr. Letminthang read out the programme before the gathering.
The programme began with prayer led by Mr. Kammuanmung., M.Phil, JNU.
Followed by Welcome speech by Mr. Philip Thanglienmang DANICS highlighting the aims and objects of the workshop. He thanked the Director, CIIL, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, Mysore for supporting the cause of Zou literature and culture.

The conductor Mr. Letminthang led the participants for self-introductions. The following resource persons spoke in this workshop; Mr. Kammuanmung M.Phil, Mr. Paulianthang P.O, Mr. Lamboi, Mr. Khuplian. The workshop was organized in such a way that all the participants shared their experiences of their student life in Delhi for many years. The case of migrant workers also came up for discussions.

Summary of the findings of the workshop
The following are the findings on the impact of Hindi on the Zou migrants/students.
Globalization has great influences on the mother tongue of tribals in general.
The Hindi has great influence upon the migrants in particular and much influence on the students in general. Hindi has enormous impact on the young students as they land up in Delhi for the first time to join colleges or work in part time jobs, where they come in contact with majority Hindi speaking Delhites. They face great difficulties in communications in their daily dealings with the Hindi speakers of Delhi be it in the Bus traveling, Three wheeler travel, shopping or going to college, attending classes where at times lessons are taught and explained in Hindi language. They feel a sense of loss and bewilderment for the first few months of their residence in new environment that is Delhi city. Being educated through English medium back at home, they acknowledged their preferential and biased feeling for English language in place of Hindi language.

The lack of knowledge of Hindi causes a lot of hardships to the students. Many times, due to poor and incompetent communication skills, many experience embarrassments and humiliating feelings in their dealings with mainstream Hindi speakers. The students in particular felt that they at first developed a feeling of dislike for Hindi for the first few months, later on, as time passes by, due the influence of their classmates and the city life itself, they come to realize gradually that they could not avoid learning Hindi and so they greatly feel the urgent need to know workable Hindi language.

As years roll by, the influence of Hindi has been felt by all of them in terms of their vocabularies usages, style of speaking and sometimes even in their accents. Some Hindi words like kahase ‘doesnot matter’; are yaar; saalah; many bad words, accha etc have crept into their daily vocabularies.
Some have even forgotten many words of their mother tongue due lack of applications in their daily lives.
The impact of Hindi on the migrant workers and migrant families are much more pronounced and profound than the floating students. Many migrant families and a good percentage of workers in Delhi have looked up to Hindi in high esteem and respect, they have even allowed their children to speak in Hindi in stead of their own mother tongue, as their first language.
It was agreed that the main causes of lack of the sense of pride in one’s mother tongue and the tendencies to switch over to Hindi are:- i) Influence of Bollywood films ii) Economic backwardness iii) Lack of awareness about the value of preserving one’s mother tongue and iv) Lethargy to teach their children to speak their mother tongue v) Feelings of inferiority complex due to the influence of the overwhelming majority Hindi speakers.
They also felt and experienced that at the time of recruitment Hindi, may apparently seem innocuous and unimportant as such, but as they began to work in the private and Government jobs, they realized the great importance of Hindi in their daily dealings. They also become keen to learn Hindi as soon as possible.
One participant even put forth the theory of language evolution in order to survive as an individual and as a society which is automatic and beyond one’s control. The gathering also endorsed his views on evolutionary concept of language changes and adaptation to suit new environments in order to survive economically and educationally.
The need to preserve one’s mother tongue has been unanimously agreed by the participants at the same time, in order to survive in these highly competitive modern globalized world today, they also felt the necessity and importance of acquiring the skill to speak Hindi specially in Delhi. One has to learn and preserve one’s mother tongue which should originate from one’s own family. The family is the first school for learning one’s own tongue.
Recommendations and Suggestions
The participants have unanimously agreed and recommend the following points in order to develop the language skill and its preservation in Delhi.
1. In all annual socio-cultural functions the Zou language should be made the only language to be used on stage and speeches.
2. In all cultural shows emphasis should be given to Zou folk songs and folk stories.
3. In all annual meet and conference emphasis should be given to highlighting the richness of Zou language, songs and culture.
4. A self-tutor grammar or handbook or dictionary in Zo-English-Hindi and English-Hindi-Zo based on phonetics should be prepared as soon as possible for the migrants/students.
5. It is felt that Zou primer should be prepared for daily use of the migrant children should be prepared.
6. Documentaries films should be made on Zou language and culture and video films like Zouthai, ZSP Drama songs etc should be encouraged and produced.