Re: [LIS-Forum] Why do we need high proficiency in English language ?

Hello Mr. Jayadev P Hiremath, Greetings. I appreciate your love and concern for Hindi language. But please ask your self how many languages these european countries and for that matter any other country have compared to India. And by the way why do you think any two librarians in india should converse in hindi when they meet? Have you thought of a librarian from south or from far eastern state meeting with the librarian from hindi belt. What language do you think they should converse in, if hindi then why? I guess every one would have the same love for his language. If you say Hindi is the National language,excuse me.. then you have to read the constitution of India which does not specify so, provided 18 indian languages (pls corret if i'm wrong in the no) are given equal status. I guess one should think beyond the borders of such restrictions based on language and have a broader mind and thought, The point Dr. Vyasmoorthy has raised has some substance in it and we should give a thought to it, Ofcourse you have the right to express your opinion, but i think you should not get personnel. Try to take things in a broader sense. Is it not worth giving it a try. Good Luck and Best Regards S.C.Kumaresan On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 Jayadev P Hiremath wrote :
How many Librarians in East Europe, Japan, France, China and Russia and many other countries know English. Haven't these countries progressed ? If the Librarian has studied in Vernacular upto high school, is it his fault ? Library Science teacher's are there to teach Library Science and not English Language skills.
When you were recruiting an Information Officer, what was the basic requirement ? Was it his skills in Information Management or English language ?
You have a done a great disservice by writing highly unwarranted mail. This will dissuade many Librarians from writing to this forum. They all will develop inferiotity complex. Itis a national shame that when two Indians...Librarians.... from different parts of the country meet they have to communicate in English language. Have you ever thought about conversing in Hindi ?
I jolly well know the importance of English language in the world. But that doesn't mean that we have to look down upon our fellow professionals who are not proficient in English. We have all become slaves to English language and take great pride in being so.
I as a customer, have received many e-mails from your Organization and I don't think ICICI as such attaches much importance to English language skills and rightly so. Why is it that only you are so keen about it when it is not an Institutional policy. Working knowledge of the languages is more that sufficient for providing the services. Unless ofcourse you are going to write a treatise.
Jayadev P Hiremath
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:36:38 +0530, Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
wrote: Dear Friends,
I am sure that some of you were expecting this. I am really appalled at the lack of any semblance of proficiency in the use of English language among many librarians. I wonder how one could pass through some 17 years of schooling and even after that manage not to learn basics of English Language. It is regrettable that our present system of Education does not emphasize the importance of Language abilities. Because of selfish politicians promoting their own agendas at the cost of the nation and because of a tendency to promote or put up with mediocrity everywhere -- the necessity for striving for excellence is once in a way heard from our president, though -- students do not look at Language skills with any concern.
Recently we had to recruit an Information Officer for our VIC. Out of about fifteen persons we considered, hardly two or three could measure up as far as basic English Language skills are concerned.
On one hand we find the Indian librarians community in India to be prolific writers - even an entry level resume mentions two or three 'papers' published and on the other hand we find that their presentation and communication skills at horribly very low levels. What are reasons? How can this be changed? Who should take action? Is it OK to be where & how we are? What do LIS teachers have to say?
In this lamentation I am not bothered about typing errors (may be you are just lazy - not that you do not know), spelling mistakes (heavy dependence on spell checkers), occasional slippages (it happens to everyone), unheard of abbreviations being thrust on everyone by cell phone (or email?) culture and the like. I am concerned with basic English Language skills expected of a tenth class student. Kindly do not take recourse to "It is the same everywhere - in all other preofessions too" type of argument.
Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631
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S.C.Kumaresan SeniorLibrarian, BITS - Pilani, Dubai Campus, P.O. Box No.500022. Block 11, Knowledge Village, Dubai, UAE Tele(009714)3664575/76, Fax(009714)3664580 Mobile. 00971508829462 Hello Mr. Jayadev P Hiremath, Greetings. I appreciate your love and concern for Hindi language. But please ask your self how many languages these european countries and for that matter any other country have compared to India. And by the way why do you think any two librarians in india should converse in hindi when they meet? Have you thought of a librarian from south or from far eastern state meeting with the librarian from hindi belt. What language do you think they should converse in, if hindi then why? I guess every one would have the same love for his language. If you say Hindi is the National language,excuse me.. then you have to read the constitution of India which does not specify so, provided 18 indian languages (pls corret if i'm wrong in the no) are given equal status. I guess one should think beyond the borders of such restrictions based on language and have a broader mind and thought, The point Dr. Vyasmoorthy has raised has some substance in it and we should give a thought to it, Ofcourse you have the right to express your opinion, but i think you should not get personnel. Try to take things in a broader sense. Is it not worth giving it a try. Good Luck and Best Regards S.C.Kumaresan On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 Jayadev P Hiremath wrote :
How many Librarians in East Europe, Japan, France, China and Russia and many other countries know English. Haven't these countries progressed ? If the Librarian has studied in Vernacular upto high school, is it his fault ? Library Science teacher's are there to teach Library Science and not English Language skills.
When you were recruiting an Information Officer, what was the basic requirement ? Was it his skills in Information Management or English language ?
You have a done a great disservice by writing highly unwarranted mail. This will dissuade many Librarians from writing to this forum. They all will develop inferiotity complex. Itis a national shame that when two Indians...Librarians.... from different parts of the country meet they have to communicate in English language. Have you ever thought about conversing in Hindi ?
I jolly well know the importance of English language in the world. But that doesn't mean that we have to look down upon our fellow professionals who are not proficient in English. We have all become slaves to English language and take great pride in being so.
I as a customer, have received many e-mails from your Organization and I don't think ICICI as such attaches much importance to English language skills and rightly so. Why is it that only you are so keen about it when it is not an Institutional policy. Working knowledge of the languages is more that sufficient for providing the services. Unless ofcourse you are going to write a treatise.
Jayadev P Hiremath
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:36:38 +0530, Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
wrote: Dear Friends,
I am sure that some of you were expecting this. I am really appalled at the lack of any semblance of proficiency in the use of English language among many librarians. I wonder how one could pass through some 17 years of schooling and even after that manage not to learn basics of English Language. It is regrettable that our present system of Education does not emphasize the importance of Language abilities. Because of selfish politicians promoting their own agendas at the cost of the nation and because of a tendency to promote or put up with mediocrity everywhere -- the necessity for striving for excellence is once in a way heard from our president, though -- students do not look at Language skills with any concern.
Recently we had to recruit an Information Officer for our VIC. Out of about fifteen persons we considered, hardly two or three could measure up as far as basic English Language skills are concerned.
On one hand we find the Indian librarians community in India to be prolific writers - even an entry level resume mentions two or three 'papers' published and on the other hand we find that their presentation and communication skills at horribly very low levels. What are reasons? How can this be changed? Who should take action? Is it OK to be where & how we are? What do LIS teachers have to say?
In this lamentation I am not bothered about typing errors (may be you are just lazy - not that you do not know), spelling mistakes (heavy dependence on spell checkers), occasional slippages (it happens to everyone), unheard of abbreviations being thrust on everyone by cell phone (or email?) culture and the like. I am concerned with basic English Language skills expected of a tenth class student. Kindly do not take recourse to "It is the same everywhere - in all other preofessions too" type of argument.
Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631
_______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
_______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum S.C.Kumaresan SeniorLibrarian, BITS - Pilani, Dubai Campus, P.O. Box No.500022. Block 11, Knowledge Village, Dubai, UAE Tele(009714)3664575/76, Fax(009714)3664580 Mobile. 00971508829462 http://clients.rediff.com/signature/track_sig.asp http://ads.rediff.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.rediffmail.com/inbox...

Mr. Kumaresan,
You have enlightened me by stating that Hindi has not been designated
as National language. Thanks. I have neither got 'personnel' nor
'personal' with Mr. Vyasamoorthy.
When we study Hindi in the school till 12th why can't two librarians
from South and North east converse in Hindi ???? Why should we
converse in English ?
I don't think you have the right to state that I am narrow minded. In
fact, I expect you to be broadminded and accept our National language,
especially when you are living abroad. If you want to hate Hindi and
love English then go ahead. There are even now States in India who do
not want to teach Hindi at school level. So I think you as an
Individual cannot be blamed.
Now that you are in the Gulf where you interact with several
Nationalities. just observe them. When they talk to each other...do
they do it in English ? It is us, the unfortunate Indians who end up
speaking to each other in English and the world wonders why Indians
speak in English. Don't they have a langauge of their own.
Regards.
Jayadev P Hiremath
On 24 Feb 2005 05:20:51 -0000, SCKumaresan
Hello Mr. Jayadev P Hiremath,
Greetings. I appreciate your love and concern for Hindi language. But please ask your self how many languages these european countries and for that matter any other country have compared to India. And by the way why do you think any two librarians in india should converse in hindi when they meet? Have you thought of a librarian from south or from far eastern state meeting with the librarian from hindi belt. What language do you think they should converse in, if hindi then why? I guess every one would have the same love for his language. If you say Hindi is the National language,excuse me.. then you have to read the constitution of India which does not specify so, provided 18 indian languages (pls corret if i'm wrong in the no) are given equal status.
I guess one should think beyond the borders of such restrictions based on language and have a broader mind and thought, The point Dr. Vyasmoorthy has raised has some substance in it and we should give a thought to it, Ofcourse you have the right to express your opinion, but i think you should not get personnel. Try to take things in a broader sense. Is it not worth giving it a try.
Good Luck and Best Regards S.C.Kumaresan
How many Librarians in East Europe, Japan, France, China and Russia and many other countries know English. Haven't these countries progressed ? If the Librarian has studied in Vernacular upto high school, is it his fault ? Library Science teacher's are there to teach Library Science and not English Language skills.
When you were recruiting an Information Officer, what was the basic requirement ? Was it his skills in Information Management or English language ?
You have a done a great disservice by writing highly unwarranted mail. This will dissuade many Librarians from writing to this forum. They all will develop inferiotity complex. Itis a national shame that when two Indians...Librarians.... from different parts of the country meet they have to communicate in English language. Have you ever thought about conversing in Hindi ?
I jolly well know the importance of English language in the world. But that doesn't mean that we have to look down upon our fellow professionals who are not proficient in English. We have all become slaves to English language and take great pride in being so.
I as a customer, have received many e-mails from your Organization and I don't think ICICI as such attaches much importance to English language skills and rightly so. Why is it that only you are so keen about it when it is not an Institutional policy. Working knowledge of the languages is more that sufficient for providing the services. Unless ofcourse you are going to write a treatise.
Jayadev P Hiremath
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:36:38 +0530, Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
wrote: Dear Friends,
I am sure that some of you were expecting this. I am really appalled at
Recently we had to recruit an Information Officer for our VIC. Out of
about fifteen persons we considered, hardly two or three could measure up as far as basic English Language skills are concerned.
On one hand we find the Indian librarians community in India to be
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 Jayadev P Hiremath wrote : the lack of any semblance of proficiency in the use of English language among many librarians. I wonder how one could pass through some 17 years of schooling and even after that manage not to learn basics of English Language. It is regrettable that our present system of Education does not emphasize the importance of Language abilities. Because of selfish politicians promoting their own agendas at the cost of the nation and because of a tendency to promote or put up with mediocrity everywhere -- the necessity for striving for excellence is once in a way heard from our president, though -- students do not look at Language skills with any concern. prolific writers - even an entry level resume mentions two or three 'papers' published and on the other hand we find that their presentation and communication skills at horribly very low levels. What are reasons? How can this be changed? Who should take action? Is it OK to be where & how we are? What do LIS teachers have to say?
In this lamentation I am not bothered about typing errors (may be you
are just lazy - not that you do not know), spelling mistakes (heavy dependence on spell checkers), occasional slippages (it happens to everyone), unheard of abbreviations being thrust on everyone by cell phone (or email?) culture and the like. I am concerned with basic English Language skills expected of a tenth class student. Kindly do not take recourse to "It is the same everywhere - in all other preofessions too" type of argument.
Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence:
+91(40)27846631
_______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
_______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum S.C.Kumaresan SeniorLibrarian, BITS - Pilani, Dubai Campus, P.O. Box No.500022. Block 11, Knowledge Village, Dubai, UAE Tele(009714)3664575/76, Fax(009714)3664580 Mobile. 00971508829462

i have been reading with lot of interest and amusement this discussion on
English/Hindi esp Mr. Hiremath and Kumaresan.
I suppose there are two clear issues:
Firstly a clarity of communication: it can be in any language so long as the
recipient finds it comfortable to comprehend. English has become a defacto
language just bec of its comfort level with the receiver, but mind u this is
not always the case .. for example if u go to gujarat, or any BIMARU states,
both the parties will love to communicate in their local language and there
is absolutely nothing wrong in it. we rarely come across two Japs, talking
in English amongst themselves, and so is the case with most of the
non-English European nations.
Second aspect is that of an interface between the existing information
sources and the users. Most of the e-sources are in English or in
non-Hindi..if we are averse to this fact then we are devoiding our users of
some of the major lit search sources and this could lead to 'information
deficiency' within your organisation. In fact u cd become an interpreter
between these sources and the users in case they wish to have the info in
their own language..
Thus we shd be proficient in atleast two languages if we wish to really
succeed. Let us bury the debate of naming any language as National or for
that matter even International language and make sure that what we say is
what we mean and what we mean is what we want to say.
-Manish Mankad
Information Services
Ext: 208/460
Tel: 022 28276208
Hindustan Lever research Centre
B.D. Sawant Marg
Andheri (E), Mumbai 400099
INDIA
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
[mailto:lis-forum-bounces@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in]On Behalf Of Jayadev P
Hiremath
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 12:36 PM
To: SCKumaresan
Cc: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Why do we need high proficiency in English
language ?
Mr. Kumaresan,
You have enlightened me by stating that Hindi has not been designated
as National language. Thanks. I have neither got 'personnel' nor
'personal' with Mr. Vyasamoorthy.
When we study Hindi in the school till 12th why can't two librarians
from South and North east converse in Hindi ???? Why should we
converse in English ?
I don't think you have the right to state that I am narrow minded. In
fact, I expect you to be broadminded and accept our National language,
especially when you are living abroad. If you want to hate Hindi and
love English then go ahead. There are even now States in India who do
not want to teach Hindi at school level. So I think you as an
Individual cannot be blamed.
Now that you are in the Gulf where you interact with several
Nationalities. just observe them. When they talk to each other...do
they do it in English ? It is us, the unfortunate Indians who end up
speaking to each other in English and the world wonders why Indians
speak in English. Don't they have a langauge of their own.
Regards.
Jayadev P Hiremath
On 24 Feb 2005 05:20:51 -0000, SCKumaresan
Hello Mr. Jayadev P Hiremath,
Greetings. I appreciate your love and concern for Hindi language. But please ask your self how many languages these european countries and for that matter any other country have compared to India. And by the way why
you think any two librarians in india should converse in hindi when they meet? Have you thought of a librarian from south or from far eastern state meeting with the librarian from hindi belt. What language do you think
should converse in, if hindi then why? I guess every one would have the same love for his language. If you say Hindi is the National language,excuse me.. then you have to read the constitution of India which does not specify so, provided 18 indian languages (pls corret if i'm wrong in the no) are given equal status.
I guess one should think beyond the borders of such restrictions based on language and have a broader mind and thought, The point Dr. Vyasmoorthy has raised has some substance in it and we should give a thought to it, Ofcourse you have the right to express your opinion, but i think you should not get personnel. Try to take things in a broader sense. Is it not worth giving it a try.
Good Luck and Best Regards S.C.Kumaresan
How many Librarians in East Europe, Japan, France, China and Russia and many other countries know English. Haven't these countries progressed ? If the Librarian has studied in Vernacular upto high school, is it his fault ? Library Science teacher's are there to teach Library Science and not English Language skills.
When you were recruiting an Information Officer, what was the basic requirement ? Was it his skills in Information Management or English language ?
You have a done a great disservice by writing highly unwarranted mail. This will dissuade many Librarians from writing to this forum. They all will develop inferiotity complex. Itis a national shame that when two Indians...Librarians.... from different parts of the country meet they have to communicate in English language. Have you ever thought about conversing in Hindi ?
I jolly well know the importance of English language in the world. But that doesn't mean that we have to look down upon our fellow professionals who are not proficient in English. We have all become slaves to English language and take great pride in being so.
I as a customer, have received many e-mails from your Organization and I don't think ICICI as such attaches much importance to English language skills and rightly so. Why is it that only you are so keen about it when it is not an Institutional policy. Working knowledge of the languages is more that sufficient for providing the services. Unless ofcourse you are going to write a treatise.
Jayadev P Hiremath
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:36:38 +0530, Vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com
wrote: Dear Friends,
I am sure that some of you were expecting this. I am really appalled at
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 Jayadev P Hiremath wrote : the lack of any semblance of proficiency in the use of English language among many librarians. I wonder how one could pass through some 17 years of schooling and even after that manage not to learn basics of English Language. It is regrettable that our present system of Education does not emphasize the importance of Language abilities. Because of selfish politicians promoting their own agendas at the cost of the nation and because of a tendency to promote or put up with mediocrity everywhere --
do they the
Recently we had to recruit an Information Officer for our VIC. Out of
about fifteen persons we considered, hardly two or three could measure up as far as basic English Language skills are concerned.
On one hand we find the Indian librarians community in India to be
necessity for striving for excellence is once in a way heard from our president, though -- students do not look at Language skills with any concern. prolific writers - even an entry level resume mentions two or three 'papers' published and on the other hand we find that their presentation and communication skills at horribly very low levels. What are reasons? How can this be changed? Who should take action? Is it OK to be where & how we are? What do LIS teachers have to say?
In this lamentation I am not bothered about typing errors (may be you
are just lazy - not that you do not know), spelling mistakes (heavy dependence on spell checkers), occasional slippages (it happens to everyone), unheard of abbreviations being thrust on everyone by cell phone (or email?) culture and the like. I am concerned with basic English Language skills expected of a tenth class student. Kindly do not take recourse to "It is the same everywhere - in all other preofessions too" type of argument.
Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy@icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence:
+91(40)27846631
_______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
_______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum S.C.Kumaresan SeniorLibrarian, BITS - Pilani, Dubai Campus, P.O. Box No.500022. Block 11, Knowledge Village, Dubai, UAE Tele(009714)3664575/76, Fax(009714)3664580 Mobile. 00971508829462
_______________________________________________ LIS-Forum mailing list LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
participants (3)
-
Jayadev P Hiremath
-
Manish Mankad
-
SCKumaresan