Only Digitization of Indian Languages can make them Immortal: Dr Birbal Jha

New Delhi, 6/2/ 2020:  “India has become the largest ever  market for the internet and mobile services, understandably so as apart from being the second most populous country of the world, she has also witnessed great surge in the public acceptance for better lifestyles and Quick Communications. But what comes into play is the English language which restricts the vast populace from enjoying the bounties of the digitization of languages”, said noted author and linguist Dr Birbal Jha, while addressing a conference on Bhasha Bharat held at The Lalit Hotel here.

 The Paagman of India further added, “Localisation of the vernacular languages for the internet and mobile services opens the doors to those involved in such businesses considering that India has as little as 3% English-speaking population and only 10 per cent English-acquainted population", averred Dr Jha, who heads British Lingua, an institute of international repute for English communication skills. 

"The beauty of India lies in multilingualism and multiculturalism that attract the world no end. India is the only country in the world where the largest number of languages (1652) is used. However, English is making inroads into every nook and cranny of the country with economically sound family sending their children to English medium schools”, opined Dr Jha.

“On the flip side, it stands to reason that English education is out of the reach of the vast population in the country. Considering all these, localisation and digitisation of Indian languages are needed and only such steps can protect their lives. Otherwise, many of the Indian languages will meet the fate of extinction in days to come" enlightened Dr Jha to the august crowd.

 “However, the content developers for the purpose will hardly be motivated for localization as their quantum of efforts is unlikely to be remunerated on par with the professionals working in English. Such an economic de-motivation puts spoke in the wheels of localization of services and digitisation of languages. The digitization of content in local languages will certainly boost the economy of businesses involved and life of a language”,  Said Dr Jha while speaking at length about the role of content developers in this regard.

 Giving an example and advocating the need for digitisation of the Maithili language, Dr Jha said, "Mithila has around 40 million of people, who use Maithili as their main mode of communication as the language happens to be their mother language, which is bigger than the populace of a number of countries put together. Hence, it draws the attention of business classes for its high potentialities".

Mr Jha was widely acclaimed, acknowledged and appreciated by the audience.