Bangladesh court outlaws use of "Banglish" on TV, radioFebruary 17, 2012 - 14:17 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A Bangladesh court has outlawed the use of English slang known as "Banglish" on television and radio stations, a move welcomed by experts who worry about a foreign invasion of their language. According to AFP, the High Court issued the order on Thursday, Feb 16, "to uphold the sanctity of our mother tongue" and stop the "rape" of Bengali and its 1,000-year past, a state prosecutor said. The history of Bengali, which is spoken by at least 250 million people on the subcontinent, is wrapped up with the creation of Bangladesh as a country in 1971. The deeply impoverished nation was previously part of Pakistan and its independence movement was fuelled partly by the attempt by Pakistani administrators to impose Urdu as the state language. The head of the Bangla Academy, a state-run institution that publishes books and conducts research on Bengali, said the verdict was "long overdue". "These FM radios and televisions were creating a strange language and almost destroyed the dynamics of our beautiful mother tongue," Shamsuzzaman Khan said. "It is a timely order. It will save our language from destruction. We have already seen how the Filipino language lost its glory due to the imposition of American English," he said. The court order comes just days before the country celebrates the 60-year anniversary of the Language Movement, a protest in which half a dozen students were shot dead as they protested Pakistan's move to impose Urdu. Dozens of private television stations and radio stations that feature music and talk-shows directed at teenagers and people in their twenties have sprouted in Bangladesh over the last five or six years. Use of "Banglish" in which Bengali and English words are mixed seamlessly together is widespread, as is "Hinglish" in India - a combination of Hindi and English. "The court has ordered them not to use words which are foreign to our language," deputy attorney general Altaf Hossain said. "It asked them not to broadcast or anchor programs using distorted Bengali language or pronounce Bengali words in a distorted form," he said. The court said this distortion of the language was tantamount to "rape", Hossain said, adding it had also ordered a committee to be set up to oversee how the language should be used by broadcasters. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | About 173 million drams and more than 30 beneficiary funds. "The Power of One Dram" is 4 years old In June 2020, the exclusive joint corporate social responsibility initiative of Idram and IDBank "The Power of One Dram" was launched. CSTO budget “to be adjusted due to Yerevan’s non-payment of contributions” The CSTO budget for the current year requires adjustments due to the refusal of Yerevan to pay their share of contributions. Russia sends note of protest to Armenia over envoy’s trip to Ukraine’s Bucha Russia has sent a note of protest to Armenia over the visit of Vladimir Karapetyan and Tigran Ter-Margaryan to Bucha. Armenia: Protesters march to parliament, some spend the night on street The protesters did not disperse despite heavy rain that began at around 2 a.m. local time. |