{"id":86431,"date":"2019-03-15T15:16:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T22:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=86431"},"modified":"2019-03-15T15:16:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T22:16:07","slug":"are-some-sri-lankans-suffering-from-an-inferiority-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/03\/15\/are-some-sri-lankans-suffering-from-an-inferiority-complex\/","title":{"rendered":"Are some Sri Lankans suffering from an inferiority complex"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Dr. Tilak S Fernando\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Courtesy Ceylon Today<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

When any language is considered in a broad generalisation, the structure of words pertaining to every society, is used to express and communicate one\u2019s opinion to another and it varies from society to society, and culture to culture. In such a backdrop, every nation tends to adapt one\u2019s mother tongue to befit individual customs and their own culture.<\/p>\n

Thought process<\/strong><\/p>\n

Humans interact through a thought process from the brain, which transforms into either verbal or written forms. Language is the most powerful tool to preserve and develop palpable and tangible heritage of a society. Even animals, are believed to use \u00a0body language, sound and smell for communication purposes. According to modern scientists, plants too are capable of communicating through an extensive and complex network of sending red alerts of warnings against \u00a0any possible outcome or plagues, so that every plant will be able at least to build a certain natural defence system for self survival.<\/p>\n

According to new trends within \u00a0developing societies, each nation has chosen its own language as its official language, especially in multi-cultural societies. The United Nations adopts six languages, English, French, Spanish Russian, Chinese and Arabic \u00a0as the \u2018official languages\u2019 used on official written documentation.<\/p>\n

S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike<\/strong><\/p>\n

In1956, when the late Mr. S.W.R.D Bandaranaike returned from Oxford University, UK, somewhat disappointed with the English, he was once quoted as addressing some of his colleagues thus:<\/p>\n

The thing I must do is to apologise to you for speaking to you in English. Owing to my long absence from my country, I am not sufficiently fluent in Sinhalese to be able to address you in Sinhala. That is a fault that can be easily remedied. What is more important is that my heart should be sound, and I can assure you my heart is Sinhalese to the core\u201d<\/p>\n

True to his words, he managed to enact the Sinhala Only Bill in Parliament in 1956. However, \u00a0Sinhala and Tamil languages both became official languages of the country in 1978. This meant the English language, which had been in use \u00a0from \u00a0colonial rule started to diminish in usage drastically, although it was used as a third language to communicate, particularly in commerce.<\/p>\n

English is considered as an international language where the majority of businesses are carried out. In \u00a0Sri Lanka those who were fluent in English \u00a0prior to \u00a01956 were considered as an elite group until the Sinhala Only Bill gave English language a sledgehammer blow, the effects of which were felt up to \u00a0three to four generations in schools, government \u00a0service and universities alike.<\/p>\n

Social impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

The social impact was even more serious than education. Those who could not speak English were in a way compelled to wear sarongs while those conversant \u00a0in English embraced \u00a0western suits, collar and tie \u00a0and \u00a0identified by society as \u2018gentlemen\u2019 (mahattayas).<\/p>\n

After \u00a0the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike returned \u00a0to \u2018Ceylon\u2019 from the UK and entered politics, he decided to shelve western outfits and adopted \u00a0the traditional \u00a0dress, which consists of a sarong (sarama in Sinhala) with \u00a0 long long-sleeved shirt.<\/p>\n

This obviously \u00a0blended with his craving for Sinhala. Such ‘ pseudo political gimmicks’, \u00a0helped towards a gradual social metamorphosis of society where people \u00a0of all classes began to let tradition slip away, and men folk of all classes, and even females started to adorn trousers! Some politicians somehow began to emulate S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, and up to date \u00a0 politicians (except a handful) attend Parliament wearing this traditional white dress of outward purity and hiding behind all kinds of sins of \u00a0egocentrism \u00a0within!<\/p>\n

The gap between the English \u00a0and Sinhala language, which started losing ground in education became a quandary where \u00a0a particular generation \u00a0of youth who \u00a0had to adopt Sinhala and \u00a0mastered the language became unemployable in the private sector due to their lack of English knowledge. Those who were educated to University level in the Sinhala Medium excelled \u00a0in Sinhala and transformed the once simple Sinhala language into a cutting-edge style with high-flown and grand sounding words where \u00a0even the pronunciation of some words went beyond \u00a0the average Sri Lankan\u2019s head. Today, there are many such words in the Sinhala language used in official documents where it simply sounds \u00a0Greek to those \u00a0fluent in Sinhala \u00a0three to four decades ago !<\/p>\n

Difference<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike in the English language, there is a variation in written and spoken Sinhala. The beauty of any language should be to write simple and should be easily understood by the \u00a0majority rather than trying to impress the \u00a0world with \u2018glorified\u2019 high flown words and phrases, which tend to go above the average person\u2019s head. It is regrettable, even today, in some of the TV channels and Radio stations how adulterated Sinhala is used where if one listens carefully its a mixture – Singlish \u2013 a mixture of Sinhala and English,where the \u00a0whole language tends to lose its demeanour.<\/p>\n

When two Sri Lankans happen to casually meet will they jaw jaw in Sinhala, English or’ Singlish’? This is where the attitude problem crops up ! People are being conditioned to feel inferior if one is not able to carry out a dialogue in English fluently.<\/p>\n

Even those who have studied the English language and are quite capable of conducting a dialogue in English \u00a0may feel shy to speak in English thinking they might slip up and \u00a0avoid becoming a laughing \u00a0stock in public! After all, English is a foreign language and no one should feel embarrassed even if one were to make a mistake. In such a backdrop why should anyone be shy or feel inferior about it? This is the kind of false notion some of our Sri Lankan folk are conditioned to believe \u00a0in our society, even in the 21st Century .<\/p>\n

A common feature among Sri Lankans is when one speaks in Sinhala the other tends to reply in English! \u00a0Maybe the person \u00a0replying in English maybe thinking it is far below his\/her \u00a0dignity to reply in Sinhala! This happens in every strata of Sri Lankan society, especially with the Colombo crowd. Do they really suffer from a deep inferiority complex, one might wonder!<\/p>\n

False values<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are so many false values still in existence in Sri Lankan society, where people seem to think if one does not wear a tie or wears casual slippers and walks into an office, it is not a ‘done thing’! \u00a0Perhaps people have been conditioned to believe that by wearing a tie and shoes makes a person above others and a gentleman. Should it be so ? There is absolutely no need to suffer, especially in the present extremely hot weather, to suffocate oneself in the blistering heat \u00a0wearing long-sleeved shirts with strangulating tie knots and \u00a0socks with shoes. \u00a0One should wear what is comfortable and not to be judged \u00a0by others.<\/p>\n

In the cold climes, of course, \u00a0it becomes a compulsion to cover oneself \u00a0from head to toe, so that one will \u00a0not suffer from intense cold which could \u00a0penetrate through ones clothes and into one\u2019s bones.<\/p>\n

Therefore, \u00a0men have to wear ‘long Johns’ (flannel underwear up to waist level ), while women \u00a0wear ‘tights’ as a fashion. Then comes the trousers or skirts, tie or scarves to cover the neck area, and special \u00a0rubber sole shoes or boots to avoid slipping on ice, \u00a0 and of course wearing \u00a0gloves to prevent fingers \u00a0from frostbite and extreme bracing winds during winter months.
\nThe standard convention for human beings should be to dress decently, so that the person who adorns clothes may feel comfortable with whatever one puts on and not to please or impress others.<\/p>\n

tilakfernando@gmail.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S Fernando\u00a0Courtesy Ceylon Today When any language is considered in a broad generalisation, the structure of words pertaining to every society, is used to express and communicate one\u2019s opinion to another and it varies from society to society, and culture to culture. In such a backdrop, every nation tends to adapt one\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-drtilak-s-fernando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}