Ekushe and my thought

First Published

Thousands of books, articles and poems were written on Ekushe (21st February-International mother language day). And also we see many seminar, symposium on it. People can see/read what happened that day in the year 1952, how many people sacrificed their lives to establish their mother tongue through these books, articles, TV news, news papers, seminar, symposium etc.

I would like to say probably we have forgotten why they have sacrificed their lives. What we see everywhere? People have started to talk in English or Hindi or other languages where they could easily talk in Bengali. Talking in English has become a fashion of our young generation. If they practice talking in English that’s fine but sometimes it seems they are showing others that they can talk in English and also feeling proud and ignoring Bengali language (their attitude prove that). I think people should talk in English or other languages where necessary but not everywhere. I would never discourage people to learn English as it is international language. We must learn English to develop ourselves and it is also needed for our country’s development and at the same time we should not forget to learn our own language Bengali (Bangla). To develop our Bengali literature and establish Bengali language we need to translate many books, articles and journals in Bengali that are written in other languages.

To acquire more knowledge people can/should learn different language specially English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Arabic etc who have money and other opportunities. People also can learn culture, music, religion, politics etc of other countries. In these way people can compare with their own things, can add more what is good or omit what is not good.

Few months ago I went to visit one of my relatives house. They are very rich and also educated. Some of their family members live in England. One of their daughters came from England and for her honor they arranged a party where I was invited. Mother of that girl told me that her daughter can not speak in Bangla (Bengali) and she was talking like it is her pride. I just told, “Is that so?” I could not show how much I was surprised and shocked. Learning other languages is good but not forgetting own language. People can feel proud of learning many languages but what is it when people forget or stop learning his/her own language, forget own culture? I never heard about a boy or girl who has come from England or America and is living in Bangladesh or other countries but forgot his/her own language (English).

Finally I would like to say people should learn their own language first and maintain their own culture.