The government has announced that the two languages “Kreol morisien” and the “bhojpuri” will be introduced as optional languages in primary schools as from next year. Parents now have 2 more choices in the existing list of optional languages (Hindi, Urdu, etc).
If you are a regular follower of this blog, you might remember that we already discussed about the introduction of creole some time back.
On this great Friday morning, let’s keep the post short. I have only one two questions for you :
- What do you think about the introduction of these 2 languages
- If you are enrolling your kid in the primary school next year (or just imagine that you have a kid), will you opt for one of these languages?
Have a nice day and bon weekend to everyone. Thanks for your visit (and comments) 😉
Yashvinblogs 
Do you choose to breathe?
It’s already there, so why do we need to wait for their official availability choose them?
A (star school) teacher friend of mine told me since very long: “si pas servi kreol parfois, l’idée-la pa rentrer dans zott la-tett ditou”. This was confirmed by a (star) secondary school relative of mine: a teacher who never uses kreol is an snob/outcast, someone who has superiority/inferiority complexes that explode in the face of the students and can never assert any kind of authority over them – can you confirm from your first-hand experience?
This is why I’m still very convinced of the futility of studying this
languagestill-evolving dialect: formalising its use as a teaching medium is like “défonce la-porte ouvert”.As for bhojpuri, I can’t commnet because I’ve never seen any teacher use it in class. I don’t know how/where they may use it, so I hope that the other learned contributors here will be generous with some first-hand experiences… Merci.
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Speaking as an expat it is strange to me that dialects should be offered as a language. I guess most people see Creole as the language of the country and Bhojpuri being used in many families. However, it cannot hurt to have them as options as long as they do not become a burden on the student of main languages. The danger for Creole is that it is very local and not useful in the international context. I guess that Bhojpuri is also limited to certain areas of India. I am afraid that the students sticking to Creole may have problems later with French grammar. For a student aspiring to enter into the international commercial world I guess that English, French, Hindi and a Chinese language would be more useful. In the EU education system it is not uncommon to find a young person with 3 or 4 languages.
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Ask an english teacher, the level of his/her students at college. Their vocabulary is literal translation of creol to english. Introducing creol as language to learn and study at school on the long runner will bear students with even poorer vocabulary.
With the already brainless measure to require only 3 credits to promote to HSC, it is clear that instead of upgrading our educational strategies (which has been same for like 20-30yrs), the authorities are lowering the level further below.
While we will surely have much more ppl with certificates, it would not necessarily mean that all are ‘educated’.
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@din3sh:
“Ask an english teacher, the level of his/her students at college. Their vocabulary is literal translation of creol to english”
That’s why teachers exist, they are supposed to correct the bad translation. Well.. that is, if they are good teachers. I had good english teachers therefore I speak and write proper english, even though I converse in creole on a daily basis. Same logic applies for french and other languages.
If teachers do their job properly, they should not have any problem teaching students to translate any language.
Now, I am not saying that “creole” and “bhojpuri” should be teached at school. I am ONLY saying that teachers should stop finding excuses for not doing their work properly.
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My comment might seem absurd but here’s my 2 cents to the debate:
How does the Ministry evaluate the level of the teachers in these languages (as they’re “new” what defines “good” from “bad”) ?
Specific to Hindu families: hindi or bhojpuri as optional language? What about those who want their kids to learn both?
Is it still the case where an unworded “communal discrimination” prevails in our education system where a “malbar” cannot learn Mandarin or a “creol” cannot learn Urdu ?
I have to second Din3sh’s comment. The debate is not on the use of a specific language at school but the learning of other languages. The government should work on improving the system instead of adding more barriers. On this, you’ll add parent pressure on both parts: those who don’t want their kids to talk Kreol anymore and those who want to push their kids further in their own culture.
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In answer to your questions:
1. What a joke! It won’t be long before we become a laughing stock, if we aren’t already.
2. No, of course not. I wouldn’t want my child to study a language HE/SHE ALREADY KNOWS! If people don’t want to do an extra language apart from English and French, let them for God’s sake! This is just ridiculous!
Kisanla ici envi kone conjugue verbe “ape vini” en Kreol Morisien? Ou sois “awa thai” en bhojpuri?
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@Bernardo
so you actually mean the thousands of students who fail in English (or any language) are mainly because they all had bad teachers!?? Following that logic of yours,a good teacher could take a failed CPE student and make him bright one going for laureate.
According to you why some students fail while others are laureates? Simply because each individual differs from the other in terms of academic aptitude and perhaps intelligence, not mainly because of good or bad teacher.
Did Einstein have a greater better teacher than the rest of us then? Its all a matter of IQ, it differs from one individual to another. Similarly students are at different levels. No matter how hard you try, there are some students who were never bright at studies and will never be either.
Introducing measures such as creole/bhojhpuri at school as well as only 3 credits for HSC is what we call in french, nivellement par le bas, instead of finding ways to level up our education plans, we are leveling down.
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@din3sh: I do concur with some of your points. What makes a good student is most probably (and most of the time) the student himself/herself and his/her educators (be it parents or teachers).
I am not arguing with this. That wasn’t my point in any case. What I am emphasising is that the “creole” language in itself IS not the PRIME reason for bad “french” as you have put forward in your 1st post. That’s all. I know so many people who switch flawlessly among many languages. Don’t you?
din3sh said:
Following that logic of yours,a good teacher could take a failed CPE student and make him bright one going for laureate
You are taking extremes in your example. But yes, why not?
I happen to know people who initially did poorly at CPE but nevertheless achieved great careers and are, what I consider, great minds. So yes again, good teachers/educators are surely one of the factors affecting success.
I think this is common sense
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I second what Mike just said…!! Ditto !! I understand that teachers often use creole to explain stuffs to students and if it helps so it’s good but anyways students have to answer in English or French only in their final exams! As for your second question: I’ll rather have my child study English, French & Hindi rather than these dialects because it’ll help him if ever theirs a need to go abroad either to study or work.
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@Bernardo
I didnt mean creol is the PRIME reason for poor command of french/english language. I said “Introducing creol as language to learn and study at school on the long run will bear students with even poorer vocabulary.”
HOW? simply by the fact that instead of using additional resources to help students in languages they are poor in, much resource will be deployed in making them learn…..creole, a language that they already talk day to night.
“I happen to know people who initially did poorly at CPE but nevertheless achieved great careers and are, what I consider, great minds. ”
I am talking about academic achievement; CPE certification. E.g making a student who got 4F at CPE level become a future laureate. Now is such a thing possible?? Having poor academic qualifications doesn’t mean having bad careers just like sometimes having great academic ability doesn’t guarantee great career either. Again it comes down to what I mentioned earlier, IQ levels of individuals. I know someone with only average SC, but nevertheless a genius in telecommunication field…
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NO.
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if either of them become official languages, I’m going to immigrate to another country
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Definitely not, I won’t let my child to choose Creole and Bhojpuri.
Today more emphasis should be in English, French and other languages such as Hindi, Spanish, Italian or German.
I am saying it from experience….I have seen the importance of these languages locally and in international context.
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make it the official language for mauritius, and i’ll abide by it, seriously man kisanla pou koze bhojpuri dan buro like C-grade movies or kreol bien poli .. lol .. its either they are speaking in french and complete creol among collegues.
, does this smell some collaboration between bihar and mauritius in future years ? .. who knows ?? … is bhojpuri becoming such an important thing in mauritius, about 60% of students at school dropped hindi in f4 or continue to do so because they don’t have better alternative, so why should it be introduced ?? :S … HOW’S that going to help ? .. seriously “kreol moricien” and “bhojpuri” ,, wadirer banla p fer sa pou gagne interaction ek sa ban bangladeshi deja dan pays la >< .. lol .. kreol moricien i understand that to certain level .. mais bhojpuri, :S
1) Completely foolish, thank god i've another passeport 😉
2) NONNNN !!!! NEVERRRR .. lol ..
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First of all, look at the name of my blog. It’s Natia Ke Beta. Natia Ke Beta is a gibe in Bhojpuri and I still don’t the meaning of the word. Actually, my grandfather had the habit of using this word but I never had the opportunity to ask him because he passed away when I was five.
Right now, I feel guilty … Guilty of not knowing a language which my ancestors used. Guilty when some people talk in Bhojpuri and the only thing I can do is smile, and not reply because I don’t know how to speak Bhojpuri. Guilty when realizing that I’m witnessing the death of a language because when I’ll grow up, my kids won’t even know that a language called Bhojpuri existed.
Naturally, I will be happy if my children study Bhojpuri. Kreol is a language which I know and everyone speaks, it’s going to live but still, it’s great that students will have the opportunity to study this language.
While going through some comments in this post, I can feel the arrogance of some folks who abhor Bhojpuri and Kreol because it might affect the standard of English. I’m an English fanatic and I disagree. Someone who truly knows the beauty of one language will never speak ill of another one. Language is not limited to books but it forms part of a whole culture. When a language disappears, the whole culture disappears. Actually, language and culture are closely related. If youngsters know a little of Bhojpuri today, it’s because of those great folkloric songs.
Bhojpuri and Kreol will definitely have an effect on the standard of English. If today English is popular, easier to understand and widely used, it’s because of the assimilation of other languages like Sanskrit. If these influences would have been absent, people would still be using blank verse or Shakespearan English. So other languages had an influence on English, will continue to have and it’s not bad at all.
I really appreciate the way some people are doing their best to preserve our two local unique languages, Kreol and Bhojpuri. Cheers to them.
By the way, can I link this post and share this comment on the Natia Ke Beta blog? Thanks. 🙂
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Hi @Natia Ke Beta!
I must agree with you, about feeling guilty that we don’t know how to speak bhojpuri words despite we do understand this language.
I must say that I followed hindi classes up to form2 or 3 (lool, i forgot) but i never felt the need to speak using the language. However, it definitely helps me to understand (most dialogues in) hindi films which play without any subtitles 🙂
Of course, feel free to link in here, you are the most welcomed.
Waiting to read your post.
Cya.
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@Mike:
Totally agree with you!
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@din3sh:
Totally agree with you!
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First, Google on Madagascar and see what happened there when they introduced their local language to school as a subject…
Second, why learn Creole when most people say “dumone” instead of “dimoune”???
I laugh at that all the time!!!
“Mo p vient la” instead of “mo p vini la..” and you wanna introduce creole in schools??? LOL!!!
Learn Mandarin, Sanskrit, Latin, Hebrew instead!!! This will lead to something…
Mandarin because we are mainly dealing with Chinese and they have so much as culture we can learn from..
Sanskrit, the very core of Algebra etc…the source of so many deep thoughts…
Latin, to understand so many beautiful literary works…
Hebrew…why? Many for Bible studies…i don’t know!!!
But what the F@%K??? Creole at school? Ask those who are voting this as an option…do their kids go to those schools or do they go to private ones? + do they speak or bhojpuri at home or french..even English??
BUNCH OF HYPOCRITES!!! BUNCH OF “DIVIDE AND RULE” followers!!! ppfff!!!
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I am in no way deriding Creole and Bhojpuri as languages in their own rights. I just see no point in introducing additional classes at school to teach these languages. I understand Bhojpuri well, though I don’t talk it. I am not embarrassed by Bhojpuri either. I also did Hindi till SC level. Putting forward a view opposing the introduction of Bhojpuri or Creole languages at school doesn’t necessarily mean someone is ignoring the beauty of languages. My views are more subtle than anything.
Talking about Creole, its our maternal language, we learn to talk creole as from our birth. We listen to our parents, and parents talk to us in that language. This means that learning creole in other words is our instinct to communicate. Say if a baby is born in US, his instinct would be to talk in English. Now you’d say why do they have to learn English language at school if its already their maternal instinctive communicating language. Simply because English is a common language throughout many countries and cultures, even being national language of numerous countries. English(written and spoken) is understood worldwide. In any place in the world, seeing “NO ENTRY” you’d understand, I don’t think tourists understand “PA JET SALETER ICI” here in Mauritius, at least not anglophone back ground people.
So what is the introduction of CREOLE or Bhojpuri going to bring to students?
-Are they languages used worldwide? NO
-Are they going to improve communicating skills? YES and NO. Yes locally, NO internationally. But then again we already talk CREOLE, so what is exactly the use to improve our CREOLE vocabulary??
As for Bhojpuri, it is a much complex language, a dialect deriving from native Hindi. Unless someone has a decent Hindi background/knowledge, he/she will struggle to comprehend Bhojpuri, let alone speak it. And anyway where will someone actually use Bhojpuri?? No with his/her parents. Actually, not even in India because even there Bhojpuri is not spoken everywhere.
I again say these languages will have direct repercussions on other languages. How? Lets take French “jeter” for example, word conjugations will lead to “jeté”, “jetaient”. In creole it will be plain “jeter”. Worst, since there is no framework for Creole language (being a dialect), it is spoken in a way but can be written in many ways, jetter, jeter, zetter, zeter. Take your pick. Any person with some logic can foresee that this will undoubtedly affect French language.
Finally no one seems to dwell on the real “Why” of the introductions of Creole and Bhojpuri. Its nothing more than a political measure. Much has been said about counting of Oriental Languages at CPE level rankings. There has been peer pressure to introduce Creole as a language since they believe students not doing Oriental Languages are penalized. Now introducing only Creole would in consequence trigger additional peer pressure to introduce Bhojpuri as well. So to please everyone, authorities have decided overnight that Creole and Bhojpuri will be of high benefit to our kids.
Maurice c’est un plaisir, comme je l’ai déjà dit 😉
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@din3sh: I cannot help but argue with your fallacy. You clearly did not go to Thailand, Finland etc.. countries with non-international languages. They use their national languages on every official signs and in their academic text books
And again, I speak creole 90% of times and it does not affect my french.. at least not on a significant level worth mentioning (IMHO).
I am not for teaching creole at school or anything.. I’m just saying your argument is flawed.
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@Bernardo, you my friend as compared to me, clearly have been to many countries such as Thailand and Finland, that’s why you make an effort to sound patronizing.
How can you compare Thailand and Finland to Mauritius? Creole and French are close to one another. (Obviously you didn’t take your time to read my “jeté/zeter” example). Can you cite a single word which is written/spoken in Thai/Finish that has ambiguity with either another French or English word? Unlike you I don’t just say an argument is flawed. I explain why. Thai and Finish are not dialects derived from French or English, so no problem of ambiguity there. Thailand has like a 64 million population. It makes sense to standardize their local language as official one.
“And again, I speak creole 90% of times and it does not affect my french.. at least not on a significant level worth mentioning (IMHO).”
Again please read my comment well, I said “Worst, since there is no framework for Creole language (being a dialect), it is spoken in a way but can be written in many ways, jetter, jeter, zetter, zeter. ”
I SAID SPOKEN IN A WAY AND WRITTEN IN MANY. Meaning problem of ambiguity will arise when written..not spoken.
Instead of sounding patronizing, please present some logic in your comment. (For e.g how Thailand & Finland are similar to Mauritius). My bet being you’ll be even more patronizing in your comment. 😉
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I think it is a debate where there are no results to prove anything yet!
Only time will tell about the social and economic impact of those changes.
Those who do not believe in the philosophy will clearly not push their kids into it.
On my side, I am afraid that this might add a layer of complexity in the mind of students in an already flawed educational system. Learning a language is a long and tedious path. Learning creole or bhojpuri requires the same set of skills. We, mauritians, clearly do not master English or French fully, and I don’t think that we will master creole or bhojpuri faster or slower. We will still have to learn syntax, grammar, semantics of any new language introduced.
Fact: We often boast about our ability to speak/write 2-3 languages in Mauritius. On my trip to Germany, I met many german students who speak fluently more than 3 languages: italian, english, german, spanish and I was like wtf! It might not be a big deal introducing more languages in the end. Of course, we’ll have to take into consideration of our social context, the fear that it might bring failure and the endless debates associated with introducing creole or bhojpuri.
I am not against the introduction of more languages in our educational system. It would even be good to have a huge variety (Mandarin, Hindi, German, Creole, Bhojpuri etc…), but there are other questions to think about when we learn new languages: Do we have the right approach to teach? How useful are they for our future? Do they bring significant value to our personality? Do they contribute to our cultural knowledge?
Since we have already begun introducing the languages and the process of democratizing them, it’s too late to stop the machine.
However, our educational system needs to promote more important things in parallel: critical thinking, making learning fun, physical activities, being corteous, civic education, the importance of numbers in everything, rather than just teaching a fixed syllabus to pass an exam! I honestly think that in addition to what we additionally learn, those topics mentioned above would bring greater value in the long run rather than producing laureates that barely come back.
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@din3sh:
“No matter how hard you try, there are some students who were never bright at studies and will never be either.”
Go to UoM and tell this to the lecturers who teach to people who despite having brightly passed HSC, fail miserably in their modules. The pupil’s failure reflects a teacher’s incompetence, point final.
Here, we don’t have a enough competent teachers, but a majority of tuition peddlers / black-market businesspeople.
@jp:
“How useful are they for our future? Do they bring significant value to our personality? Do they contribute to our cultural knowledge?”
Wai, did any of the so-called pedagogues at the MoE ask themselves these basic questions?
If yes, why is it that we all here have a strange aftertaste, just like rightly pointed here…?
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A friend sent me an interesting link, worth reading it!.
I quote :
Armenia is to make chess a compulsory subject in primary schools in an attempt to turn itself into a global force in the game, the education ministry said on Friday.
“Teaching chess in schools will create a solid basis for the country to become a chess superpower,” an official at the ministry, Arman Aivazian, told AFP.
Gives food for thought.
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seriously creole and bhojpuri – optional languages? Creole is not even a language to start with. Its a dialect!! But i guess since parents will be given the choice, i don’t think many will go for it. It would have been interesting to see other languages such as spanish or a chinese language being introduced. But with all the unnecessary “mental” pressure being thrown at these kids, i don’t think it will be a wise option.
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Creole is our mothertongue and every mauritian should be proud of it. However there’s no real benefit in teaching it at school unless it becomes widely accepted in the workplace or used as a written form of communication. Bhojpuri is spoken among a few people only, so for those who want to keep the language, they need to teach it to their kids at home.
I firmly believe that we need to promote creole and use it more often but I doubt it has its place in the educational system.
If you’re proud of your mothertongue, then I suggest you take part in our creole question and answer website for mauritius.
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Traka ki pli buku dimunn ena lor sa size la se kuma pu koz ar etranze , sirtu bann Franse .
Tu bann langaz nasyonal ki bann komanter lor sa post la mansyone finn pran zot plas akoz dan sa bann peyi la zot ena fyerte nasyonal . Enn zafer ki Morisyen manke .
Mo geyn linpresyon parfwa ki ena dimunn dir ou ekrir enn bann zafer siperfisyel parski li telma inportan pu zot ki lezot turve ki zot konn Angle / Franse ki zot pa pran kont ki zot dir , purvi li an Angle / Franse . Mo kwar ki enn Angle ou enn Franse prefer konversasyon enn dimunn ki dir bann zafer interesan mem dan enn Angle ou Franse apepre , plito ki konversasyon kikenn ki kapav zis dir bann banalite dan enn Angle/ Franse korek .
Si kikenn dir ki si li aprann ekrir kreol li pu geyn difikilte pu ekrir Franse u enn lot langaz li pe admet ki so kapasite intelektyel ase feb . Dan kolez mo ti aprann Latin , enn langaz ki buku mwin itil ki kreol . Bann Romin apar zot talan arsitekt ti enn sivilizasyon grosye , brital e ristik . Lepok Sovyetik mo ti pe aprann Langaz Ruys , enn langaz difisil ki servi enn lot alfabe . Depi ki Laruysi inn vinn enn Peyi Mafia mo nepli interese ar Langaz Ruys . Me mo pa rapel dan ki fason ki kan mo ti pe aprann Latin ou Ruys langaz Kreol ti zenn mwa . Mo panse , purtan , mo plito mwayen kestyon intelekt .
Minister Ledikasyon inn fini pran so desizyon pu introdwir sa langaz la kuma enn size opsyonel dan lekol . Li bizin get byen ki konteni lipe met dan sa size la . Mo lopinyon : li ti bizin enn versyon kreol EVS , plis lenseynma sivik ek Matematik [ou omwin Aritmetik]
Li bizin get osi ki kreol li pe introdir . Pa kone si zurnalis inn mal transkrir zot koze , me dapre enn-de lartik ki mo’nn lir ena bann mam AKM ki pa koz Kreol me ‘Milat’ .
Langaz Bhojpuri [ki mo ti pu aprann si mo ti geyn lokazyon(akoz bann sante)] pe introdwir akoz enn bann kalkil kominal .
Li bon kone ki dan Moris preske tu lanket [Lapolis , Minister Travay ,etc] fer e transkrir an Kreol . Dan Lakur osi langaz Kreol servi kuraman . Mem si ou koz Angle , Lakur pu prezim ki ou pli konpran Kreol e pu fer tradir kestyon ki li poz ou an Kreol – Mo pa kone si bann kestyon la ek zot repons transkrir an Kreol .
@gices
I visited your site . I think you should try to write better Kreol. No offense meant .
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@Sagitarius : CleverDodo.mu is still in its early stages. People like yourself, who can write Mauritian Creole better, should help to correct language mistakes on the website as well as provide feedback so that it becomes more pleasant for the overall community.
You can send corrections by using our contact form or posting in our “CleverDodo Lounge” category on the website.
We can really use someone like you to build a beter mauritian community on CleverDodo, so I look forward to your contribution 🙂
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@gices, @Sagitarius: We will soon have an article on the mentioned site. You can then propose suggestions as well. Keep tuned!
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I think the real issue here is that if we are to introduce two optional languages, then why creole and bhojpuri?
Whats the use of these languages to any student except binding him locally. Mauritian creole and bhojpuri is used and understood only in mauritius.
We are a small country, with our whole economy dependent on foreign investment. One of our major advantages over other countries is that we are bilingual. yes bilingual! this is how we sell ourselves to foreign investors.
I do not think we will be having may people interested in our ability to speak and write perfect creole or bhojpuri.
In this context it would be much more usful to study languages like hindi, mandarin, spanish or italian. Having these languages would be a plus point to any mauritian.
We must open ourselves to the world, not the contrary. We all speak creole from birth. No need to go to school for that. I can still communicate with fellow mauritians without knowing how to properly write a word in creole. Same goes for bhojpuri. I grew up hearing my grandparents speak it. I don’t need to learn it at school!
The introduction of these languages is purely political, with no thought at all to education.
The objective of any language is to communicate. We can already communicate in creole/bhojpuri.
What most of us cant do is communicate to a chineese or a german. These are the languages we should have the opportunity to study. Not something we already know!!!
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I lived in Mauritius for about two years as an expat and was very keen to know how the Hindi and Bhojpuri language evolved in Mauritius. I soon found out that Bhojpuri was a dying language. And as far as Hindi was concerned, it the Bollywood that is keeping the language alive in Mauritius. I ventured further to know the reason for the slow death of Hindi and Bhojpuri and found that most of the young men and women were ashamed not only to speak this language but even they were embarrassed to acknowledge that they know and can speak Hindi or Bhojpuri. Obviously the language is not spoken at most homes and children are neither exposed to this language not encouraged to learn Hindi or Bhojpuri.
I even ventured further and spoke to those people who could speak and understand Hindi and Bhojpuri fairly easily. My question to them was- when you watch a Hindi movie or a TV soap, do you follow the Hindi dialogue or the French subtitles and almost 100% said that they followed the subtitles.
I think all the efforts made by the Indian Govt. through cultural mission and by the Mauritian Govt. to keep Hindi alive will not succeed because the people are defeating the Hindi and Bhojpuri at their homes and feel ashamed to speak the language.
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@ Anup:
I’ve studied Hindi up to Form V and even got a distinction..(was quite a surprise…) I love Hindi and can even speak Hindi quite well…it’s definitely not a shame!!!
As for subtitles…I try not to read them…and watch every movie in it’s original language as far as I can understand… 🙂
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@ReenaDKL: Reena, you seem to be one of the rare people who kind of take pride in speaking Hindi but thats not the real scene in majority of the country. I have freinds in mauritius from all economic and social class. In affluent society partys when I tried to speak to them in Hindi they pretend not to understand me and I know for a fact thay they understand and can speak Hindi and Bhojpuri. Point is that if any language is not suported at home then it can not be kept alive for long by institutions.
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@Natia Ke Beta: the best way that you can save bhojpuri is by talking this language at home. But the fact of the matter is that the new generation in Mauritius is ashamed to talk in Bhojpuri or Hindi. I have observed this in almost all social classes. Bollywood movies are the only source who is keeping the language alive.
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@Anup:
Well though I can speak Hindi, i have no one to speak with!!! lol!!! My husband is Catholic, so he doesn’t understand…
Unfortunately even my side of the family does not speak Hindi…though my father and uncles speak Bhojpuri with my Dadi… but we never picked it up.
Though I still maintain that learning creole and bhojpuri in Mauritius will not bring us anywhere…maybe as a hobby it’s fine, but not as a school subject…
Instead am all go for Sanskrit…
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@ReenaDKL: I agree that learning bhojpuri and creaole many not be strategically beneficial but the point that I am driving is that Govt of Mauritius and the Indian Govt. spend so much resources in promoting Hindi but if it is not promoted in homes of Indian origin people and people don’t take pride in Hindi then why waste money on promoting Hindi institutionally. I think the young people of Mauritius are forgetting that their success through hard work has lot to do with their culture. Indian Mauritians are doing better than the Creole community primarily because of their strong value system. Language is an integral part of value system. You can already feel the Indian value system is slowly fading away and Mauritius is moving towards western value based society.
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teaching creole is a waste of time and sincerely…i learned to speak creole only when i was in college, was not really allowed to at home. except from being a waste of time there is only one reason that really makes me wanna say “no!” to learning creole at school; the pleasure u get from speaking it.. nou pas ler ene dimoun vine dire nou “non pas croire kii ecrire.. bzin ecrire krwar” blablabla/ c ki mo kntan r creol c so flexibilite et sa sensation liberte ki li ena la. li ene identite creole, et kan mo dire dire creole mo pas p mean ban nations la . mo p koz en terme ilois. as for bhojpuri too i dont see the point of studying it.
as for anup, i agree that indian mauritians are doing better than creole, but im not sure that talking hindi has a big role to play in that. but value im sure does, so do the sino mauritians. et en passant im creole. unfortunately a lot of creole parents dont have enough education and therefore cannot guide the kids who at the end of the day become twats.
mais ene zafer fauD pas blier..kan koz values etc.. fauD pas blier ki maurice cest pas ene pays indien, pas ene pays chinois et pas ene pays africain. maurice c ene pays arc en ciel avec tout ban culture ki melanG et li vraiment ene zafer formidable. mo ale govinden, mo ale guet mo ban camarade coupe bef, mo ale dan tout fete sinwa possible parski mo penC ki kan dimoun ena ene bon education li kave ale au-dela de religion et communaute..et c ca nou richesse. malgre c ki journal raconT, mo kner ki dan maurice dimoun encore ena ene bon fond…ou alors c juste moi ki chanceux ki mo kne ban bon dimoun et ki mone come across people like me since i was a child. dan maurice voisin vine done toi coup de main kan to p monte ene miraille(ou alors vine critiker parski li krwar li kne faire li pli bien lool), voisine vine done toi gato, dimoun done toi place dan bus..mauricien ena so prop idendiT, fauD pas nou rode toujours rattache nous beaucoup a ban racines et reste sctochés lor zot car bizin realiser ki ban racines ine pouC..ine melanG.. et ensam ine creer ene bouquet avec ban fleurs rouge, bleu , jaune, vert et zordi p porte so ban fruits, some of them will be rotten.. some will be good and prosperous.. that is the way life goes.
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Why isn’t French used? If Kreole is an off shoot why not go for the real deal and expertise yourself in French? It is a very respected and complex language.
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@sandra in mauritius: French is not the native language of Mauritius. French came to Mauritius by means of colonisation. Mauritius is built by the blood and sweat of mainly the Indian origin people but they have benefitted the least. It is the French people who reaped the major benefits. World must recognise the growing economic power of countries like China, India and Brazil. Days of English and French are numbered.
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@anup I do think you have a point in growing economic powers but surely English and French will continue to be important languages. Learning Mandarin is very useful indeed since most Chinese in China have a poor command of it but in India don’t people already have a high level of English? Culturally it is great that Mauritius is recognizing “Kreol morisien†and the “bhojpuri†both but I do believe English and French will remain relevant for a long time.
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Wep, teaching the grammar of a dialect is a waste of time.
We already use it to explain complicated things (I dare anyone to explain, say, mathematical delicacies like ‘determinant of a 3-by-3 matrix’, ‘line integral’, ‘Laplace Transform’ or ‘Green’s theorem’ in English-only to a Mauritian), so why do we need to impose a specific graphism and know the grammar? Just read around this and other mauritian blogs and you’ll see the immense variety of ways of writing it! How on earth can I proclaim that only “nanyé” and not “nargnié” is the proper form of “nothing”?? 🙂
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@sandra in mauritius: @Sandra, I agree with your point. But what I am trying to drive at is that in Mauritius, people are ashamed to speak Hindi or Bhojpuri in public, mainly in the so called upper class social circle people even behave as if they dont understand Hindi/bhojpuri. On the other hand the Govt. of mauritius and India is spending so much money in promoting Hindi. this is a waste of money because one can not promote a language which is being killed at homes.
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pff cumendiaa pena aC sujet pu le moment lOl
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Let’s add some rationality to the debate:
http://zoomdr.blogspot.com/2011/05/cognitive-neuroscientist-claims.html
So, now: any further comments?
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And in any case, as experimented and successfully proven in Finland, rien ne peut se faire de concret sans l’adhésion totale des profs
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@T0rped0: I have not followed the full discussion because I dont know creole.
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hey guys in a mauritian hindu and im proud of it.. i like talking hindi and creole and i have even done hindi till HSC but guys hindi and bhojpuri are two differnt things despite they have sme similaries.. hindi has become international.. it helps to comunicate with people abroad and i have recently learn that hindi is veing introduce to sme western countries so no harm of learning hindi as a third language.. but as far as bhojpuri is concern is really an absurb idea..no one recognise mauritian bhojpuri.. its enought to hae hindi as national subject.. where wud bhojpuri lead us guys.. it cant hepl us to communicate abroad nor can u speak it on interview.. so eat z use of wasting energy on such subject zat wud led no where.. cme on z nxt generation are the future of mauritius and do u thinfk by studying bhojpuri n creole they will be successful.. as far as creole is concern we r talking creole and we love it but in schoolss ??? this would affect their french.. just imagine sme1 got confused in exams and instead of writing 2 du chocolat” he write “sokola” then wat will happen. just think abt it..
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