Today instead of talking about Interpreting, I want to talk about Bengali
language.Based on the number of people who speak Bengali, it is the 4th
most spoken language in the world.( After Chinese,Spanish and English and in
that order !) Because apart from Bangladesh and West Bengal they also speak Benagli in the Indian states of Assam and Tripura.More than 200 million people in the world speak this language.Yes, that's right.More people speak Bengali than they do in Arabic, Japanese, Russian or German or French.Fascinating, isn't it ? This might come as a shock to you whether you are a Bengali or non Bengali. But it's true.
Also I think Bengali is the number one foreign language in the UK.( i.e. by the number of people who speak the language).Though more people of Indian or Pakistani origin may live in the UK, there would be different language speakers within those communities.(e.g. Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujrati etc).
Another interesting fact may be in the number of publications in a foreign language in the UK.Again I think Bengali would beat any other foreign language in this.There are nearly a dozen of weekly and monthly magazines and periodicals published in Bengali in the UK.I doubt whether there would be as many publications in either Urdu or Arabic or Chinese or Spanish or French in the UK.I have not done a proper research, but this is an educated guess.If I am wrong, I am willing to admit my mistake.
Same goes for India.i.e. number of publications of Books, newspapers, magazines etc. in Bengali outnumbers the publications in any other language of India.
Also you can see the domination of Bengalis in the Bolywood film industry.Again more people of Bengali origin have been successful as Actors/Actresses, Singers,music directors etc. than any other 'ethnic'group.
I am saying all these to massage my own ego or to boast about Bengalis. Just mentioning these as interesting observations.Because while the above observations might seem interesting or even 'impressive',we Bengalis have lots of failings too.
Another interesting thing happening here in the UK right before our own eyes is an evolutionary process.Let me expalin.Most people of Bangladeshi origin in the UK are from the greater Sylhet area of Bangladesh.So they speak the Sylheti dialect of Bangla. Now the second and third generation of these migrants are growing up without most of them learning the 'Standard' Bangla.i.e the official form of Bengali.So what happens is this: there are about 5 Bengali language TV channels in the UK broadcasting in Bengali but most of these second and third generation Bengalis do not fully understand the programmes ( News, soaps, discussions).Interesting isn't it? What should one do to rectify the situation ? Some have even expressed their opinion to say that as the first generation of migrants die out, the language would die with them.If that happens , that would be really sad wouldn't it ?
There were/ are Bengali schools to teach children the language, but I don't think enough parents or children are interested .I would love to know the reaction of my readers about this.There could be scope for some academic research in this field too.
Before finishing I would like to welcome the first follower of my blog. I would like to tell my readers about you.But I think its best to ask you first.Should I tell the others or do you want to stay anonymous for now?
The other thing I want to say is the feedback i get from other readers is that a lot of you want to get involved in interpreting on a temporary or short term basis like while studying for a degree or looking for a more permanent job. Basically looking for an income.
So if you are just looking for an opportunity to earn money rather than becoming a professional interpreter, some of the other opportunities mught interest you.So keeping that in mind I have done some research and recommend the following.: Just click below to find out.
Click Here!
If you are looking for a Bengali / Sylheti Interpreter with proper qualifcation(DPSI),experience in different fields( courts, Prisons, Police stations, Hospitals, Airports etc) then contact me .
My email is mognichoudhury@yahoo.com and my mobile no. is 07832371577. My rates are very competetive.I am based in North West London. I can drive and get to most places at short notice.
1 comment:
actually there's quite another statistics in wikipedia. can you mention the source from where you got the info about the fourth place?
it wonders you that there's no much people speaking bengali but this language is not widely known be non-bengalies for the only one reason - IMHO bengali people don't respect their own language. in kolkata you can often hear two bengalies speaking english emong themselves. it is nonsense for others, but it's normal for bengalies. so i think that when bengalies stop running after english then may be english speaking people start learning bengali. for example in Russia you'll hardly find anyone speaking english. so if a foreigner comes to Russia he has no choice but to learn russian. foreigners follow russian people rules. but bengalies try so hard to follow foreigners' rules that they forget about their own culture. they watch english cannels, read english news-papers, speak english in their own country!!! i can not see any self-respect in that. am i not right?
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