Language Policy and Medium of Instruction Issue in Pakistan ; Jezikovna politika in vprašanje uradnega jezika v Pakistanu
The issue of language in Pakistan is not just related to linguistics. It has far more implications for cultural, economic, political, and social issues. The current paper studies the latest language policy of Pakistan and its implications for local languages. It then relates to the formation and implementation of a (certain steps) sound language policy to root out the conflicts and ethnic clashes from time to time in the country, and to survive the language shock of majority of students in Pakistan, who are taught English as compulsory subject up to 14 years of education. The current situation of the country also correlates to the puzzling phenomenon of cultural aversive attitudes towards English language by the masses. The current teaching methods and curriculum employed in the institutions of Pakistan, for decades, have only been successful in maintaining the gap between the privileged English related people and the hardcore anti-English sentiments. In this battle for linguistic-identity crisis and supremacy, a lot of national talent has been wasted. This paper briefly re-explores the situation of languages in the country on the first step, then it moves on to focus on the national policy, its flaws, and it possible ways out by bringing in examples from Chinese and Indian Language Policies. ; Dileme jezika v Pakistanu niso povezane samo z jezikoslovjem. Njihove posledice je čutiti na kulturnem, ekonomskem, političnem in socialnem področju pakistanske družbe. Članek natančno pregleda trenutno jezikovno politiko v Pakistanu in njen vpliv na lokalne jezike. Naveže se na oblikovanje in uvedbo tistega dela jezikovne politike, ki bi kar najbolj izkoreninil med-etnične konflikte. Obenem se dotakne obveznega 14-letnega učenja angleščine v šolah, ki se otepa splošnega ljudskega odpora, saj naj bi le povečeval razlike med priviligiranim slojem angleško-govorečih in preostalimi. V boju za jezikovno identiteto in prevlado je bilo precej izgubljenega. Članek tako prevetri jezikovno situacijo in razmišlja o nacionalni jezikovni politiki ter o jezikovnih politikah na Kitajskem in v Indiji, katerih ideje bi bilo moč privzeti.
