I recently had toevaluateमूल्यांकन करना a written sample in Hindi. When I opened up thedocumentदस्तावेज़, it was Hindi alright but written in English. How was I to score it? Well, I scored it ongrammarव्याकरण but could not on writing. Soundsoddअजीब doesn’t it?

This is not thefirst timeपहली बार this has happened to me. I had astudentछात्र from aprofessionalपेशेवर background who was about to take anassessmentमूल्यांकन in Hindi. But had noideaविचार how to write in Devanagari.

Devanagari is thescriptलिपि of the Hindi language. Learning Devanagari iseasierआसान than most languages. Hindi isspokenबोली जाने as it is written. Therefore, once you learn the vowels and consonants, as well as how they cansometimesकभी – कभी be joined together, it is hard to make spellingmistakesगलतियां.

Why? Because it is aphoneticध्वन्यात्मक language.

So, why do people not take the time to learn the script? I fear it may become obsolete someday.

我发现很多contentविषय is written in English letters. The correctpronunciationउच्चारण is lost when Hindi is written in English.

For example, the word थोड़ा is written as ‘thoda’ is English, however, it isactuallyवास्तव में a hard rolled dental ‘d’ sound when pronounced in Hindi, ‘thodda’.

So, why is itexactlyबिल्कुल that people write in English? Is itbecauseइसलिये English is moreeliteअभिजात वर्ग than Hindi? Does itprovideप्रदान करना jobs, a way up thesocial ladderसामाजिक सिढ़ी?

Thisparadoxविरोधाभास, where Indians bristle at theircolonizersउपनिवेशवादियों, yet write theirnative tongueमातृभाषा in their language, has me scratching myheadसिर.

Yes, I do understand in today’sglobal economyविश्व अर्थव्यवस्था, there is a need to learn the language ofbusinessव्यापार. One must be acompetitiveप्रतियोगी skilled player to beat out the competition for any role. Also, I do understand that English denotesupper social mobility.

Butseriouslyगंभीरता से, do we also have to scrap the script of our mother tongue? There is muchbeautyसुंदरता in the written Devanagari script. Writing itrequiresआवश्यक है much纪律शिक्षण andpracticeअभ्यास. Besides, it looks reallyprettyसुंदर हे on the page.

What aboutheritageविरासत? What do we pass onto our children if we don’t write in the script? Theresponsibilityज़िम्मेदारी of passing on one’s language heritage brings with it theburdenबोझ of maintenance. It is up to the parents to retain their language not only in spoken Hindi at home but also in written form.

Teaching children the Hindi script isimperativeअनिवार्य in bilingual households. It is great to have your children learn English but it is even better to have them become trulybilingualद्विभाषिक. There are manyscript writing booksavailable on Amazon.

While English continues todominateद्विभाषिक the language world, acquiring the skills to write Hindi in the Devanagari script willemphasizeज़ोर देना the skill of the bilingual writer.