Re: Amerind an offensive term (was: Early Amerind assimilation
Chris Cracknell (ad329@james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca)
17 Aug 1996 12:32:17 -0400
In article <3213F457.2075@megafauna.com>, Stephen Barnard <steve@megafauna.com> wrote:
>Matt Silberstein wrote:
>English is very common in India. I believe that it's the "official"
>language, in the sense that official government business is conducted in
>English. I wouldn't be at all surpised if there were more English
>speakers in India than in England.
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There are 26 official languages in India. Each language can have dozens of
different dialects. Most education (for those who can get an education)
is done in english. There are english newspapers, radio, and television
stations over there.
Their motto is "Our diversity is our strength."
When I was in India many of them commented to me how amusing they
thought it was that Canada was on the verge of self destruction because
we can't get along with two official languages.
As for what they refer to themselves as, it depends on the situation.
They'll either refer to themselves by their state (eg. "I'm a Keralan")
or thier language (eg. "I'm Malayali) or nationality (eg. "I'm Indian").
It's really not that different from the way we refer to ourselves by
province (eg. I'm an Ontarian), language (eg. "I'm english) or
nationality (eg. "I'm Canadian").
Now keep in mind that I wasn't in India doing fieldwork and I DON'T want
anyone to mistake this post for an Anthropological report. I was over
there to visit my in-laws.
CRACKERS
(Great vacation from hell!!)
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