Su Kare Che, Abe

The News Minute | August 28, 2014 | 12.49 pm ISTBangalore: In the run up to his high profile visit to Japan next week, Prime Minister NarendraModi has been tweeting in Japanese to his counterpart Shinzo Abe. In these days of political correctness where a verb can derail a negotation, it’s dangerous to suggest that to most Indians, the tweets look like double-dutch. Modi Japanese tweetsOfcourse there’s some political brownie points involved here and will keep the chatterrati happy and confused, but there’s a deeper message. Japanese-English quick translation & ready reckoner of PM @narendramodi tweets on forthcoming visit to Japan. pic.twitter.com/N4bfguvYAW— Syed Akbaruddin (@MEAIndia) August 28, 2014Friends from Japan asked me to talk to the people of Japan directly in Japanese. I also thank them for helping with the the translation.— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 28, 2014日本のインドとの友情は時の試練を経てなお続いている。われわれ二国は、世界の平和と繁栄の推進に傾倒する、活気に満ちた民主主義国家である。— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 28, 2014Many world leaders do not speak fluent English and some prefer not to speak it even when they can. The president of the United States of America (USA) Barrack Obama has famously said he doesn’t speak a foreign language and John.F Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in 1963 still shows up as some of the more interesting moments of international diplomacy.Russia’s Vladimir Putin speaks German, Russian and is uncomfortable with English, the Chinese President Xi Jinping rarely speaks in the queen’s language in which he is fluent and Germany’s Angela Merkel is fluent in German, French and English. Brazil’s DilmaRouseff speaks Portugese, French and English. In the video attached to this post, there’s a German official asking a foreign correspondent to speak the language of the land. It is not unusual for western journalists to not speak the language of the land they report from and this places them in a situation of disadvantage. Even President Obama acknowledged that when most Americans go to Europe “…all we can say is merci beaucoup,” while Europeans speak at least two if not three languages. Throughout history, language has been used to sublimate a people, buckle a civilization and over-ride national ambitions. In India, not being to speak English is still considered a major handicap. On the other hand, many Indians who are fluent in English are unable to pronounce names and places in India which have a different linguistic root. While English is the word that links India’s states – like it does Europe’s countries – it will be interesting to see how NarendraModi uses this tool to balance India’s search for self-respect without falling into jingoism. The recent development of national news networks working with bilingual reporters is the way to go.