Monday 26 December 2011

Sambahsa and Uropi

So there exists a text which is available in both Sambahsa and Uropi. What is special about these two languages is that instead of being based on a particular group - like Interlingua is on Romance languages and Slovianski on the Slavic group - they are based on the world's largest language family - the Indo-European (IE) languages. Take out the Sinosphere, the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Turkey and a couple of other small countries and everywhere an IE language is spoken. In 2007, more than 2.7 billion people had an IE language as their mother tongue, not to mention others who speak an IE language, particularly English and French, as a second language.

Coming back to Sambahsa and Uropi, Uropi doesn't look as antiquated as Sambahsa and it is phonetic! Sambahsa, on the other hand, in its attempt to preserve the orthography of words from West European languages has an "elaborated" (difficult) orthography. Here it's worth mentioning that you may have to make a few changes (not a big deal today for Linux users) to type the Uropi letter ʒ.
 
Where as written Sambahsa looks similar to Turkish, Albanian; Uropi's orthography makes it look more like a creole.

In Sambahsa, like in Russian, Hindi/Urdu and French, present tense is conjugated for person. As a consequence you don't have to use pronouns as often as in Uropi which has opted for a simpler approach (like in English and Norwegian).

Further compared to four definite articles in Sambahsa (German has three), Uropi (like English) has only one.

Both languages have aspects unique to them. Sambahsa uses demonstrative pronouns as articles and they are declined according to the gender, number and case. At the same time noun declination has been kept optional! In Uropi, there is only a genitive case and it is used to form adjectives!

I'm not competent so say anything more so here is a snippet from The Little Prince (Chapter Four, paragraphs two and three):

DE MIKI PRINS (Uropi)

Da mozì ne stono ma mol. I zavì ʒe te usim de gren planete wim Ter, Jupiter, Mars, Venus we av nome, je ste suntade planete we se ekvos sa miki te un moz nerim ne vizo la ki u teleskòp. Wan un astronomìst diskròv un od la, he dav jo u numar po nom. He nom ja po samp “asteròid 3251”. [sic]

I av serios motive po kreo te de planet od wo de Miki Prins venì se asteròid B612. Di asteròid vidì solem vizen unvos teleskopim in 1909, pa u Turki astronomìst.

IS LYTIL PRINCE (Sambahsa)

To khiek staunihes me maung. Ioghi woid od exter ia piwon planetes kam id Ardh, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, quibs nams hieb esen dahn, eent centens alyen qua eent yando tem smulkaquem eet baygh difficil dyehrce ia med un telescope. Quan un astronom aunstohg oin ex ia, el ei dahsit ka nam un adadh. El kiel id mathalan : « asteroido 325 ».

Ho serieusa sababs os credihes od id planete quetos gwohm is lytil prince est asteroid B612. Tod asteroid buit dyohrcto tik oins, in 1909, ab un tyrk astronom.

Friday 23 December 2011

Arcaicam Esperantom, Esperanto, Ido, Reformed Esperanto, Tomale Lingve and Romániço

It turns out if Esperanto is too other to be compared with Romance-based auxlangs, it is not very different from Ido and the other reform "projects" based on the language. Wikipedia alone lists more than half a dozen such "projects".

Of all of Esperanto derivatives (including Esperanto), Old Esperanto (Arcaicam Esperanto) is the most, well, "archaic!" It has got four cases and the appearance is commanding.

I sincerely doubt if Romániço really belongs to this group. It is the odd case out. It is beautiful and unlike Esperanto and other derivatives, it is, at least to some extent, recognisable at first sight. Perhaps we always need an odd case out, last time it was LFN, now it is Romániço. 

Here is a snippet from a lecture The Spirit of Japan by Rabindranath Tagore, translated from English into Arcaicam Esperantom, Esperanto, Reformed Esperanto (1894), Ido, Tomale Lingve and Romániço.

These aren't the only esperantidoj, there are many more but I didn't translate into others because I couldn't find grammars and dictionaries for them. 
 
ANIMOM YAPANES (Arcaicam Esperantom)
 
Woyaghims multnatzioyn ed rencontrims homoyn cheyuyeys claseys, sed nemyahem in woyagheys mihes, sentims prezentescam homes ityohem clarœ, cuyohem in isityu landom. In altrigrandnatzioym, signoym potentzes homes regait... ityœ, paradom ed extrawagatzom, per westoym, per meblarom, estait ectimigantaym.

...Sed, in Japanom, exposom potentzes, aù richesces, ned estat precipam elementom. Onwidat cheyœ emblemoym ames ed admires, ed ned tzephœ ambitzies ed awidesces.

LA ANIMO DE JAPANUJO (Esperanto)

Mi veturis multajn naciojn kaj renkontis homojn el ĉiuj klasoj, sed neniam dum miaj vojaĝoj, mi sentis la ĉeeston de homoj tiom klare, kiom en tiu ĉi lando. En aliaj grandaj nacioj, signoj de forto de homoj regas ĉie... tie, parado kaj ekstravaganco, per vestoj, per meblaro, estas ektimigantaj.

...Sed, en Japanujo, parado de forto, aŭ riĉeco ne estas la precipa eco. Ĉie oni vidas emblemojn de amo kaj admiro, kaj ne de ĉefe ambicioj kaj avideco.

LU ANIMO DE JAPANIO (Reformed Esperanto of 1894)

Mi vojagin in multe nazii e renkontrin al homi el omni klasi, sed nunkvam dum mie vojagi, mi sentin lu prezentito de homi tantu klare, kvantu in hik paeso. In ali grande nazii, signi de forto de homi regen partutu... ibu, parado e extravangazo, per vesti, per meblaro, esten ektimigente.

...Sed, in Japanio, parado de forto, u ricito ne esten lu precipe ito. Partutu on viden emblemi de amo e admiro, e ne de chefe ambicii e avidito.

LA ANIMO DE JAPANIO (Ido, 1907)

Mi voyajis en multa nacioni e renkontris a homi de omna klasi, ma nulatempe dum mea voyagi, mi sentis la presenteso de homi tale klare, quale in ica naciono. En altra granda nacioni, signi de forto de homi regas omnaloke... ibe, parado ed extravago, per vesti, per moblaro, esas tresayiganti.

...Ma, en Japanio, parado de forto, o richeso ne esas la principua elemento. Omnaloke on vidas emblemi de amo e admiro, e ne de ambicii e avideso.

LE SPIRITE OF JAPANUIO (Tomale Lingve)

Mi vojagjis en multice nacies kai renkontis a homes of chiu klases, sed neniam dum meues vojagjes, mi sentis le prezenteske of homes tiom klarice, kiom en tiu chi lande. En alieske grandeskes nacies, signes of potence of homes regi chie... tie, multmontreske kai ekztravaganeske, per vestes, per meblare, estas ektimiganteskes.

...Sed, en Japanuio, multmontreske of forto, au richeske ne estas le precipeske elemente. Chie oni vidas emblemes of ame kai admire, e ne of ambicieskes kai avidesekes.

LI SPÍRITO DI JAPANO (Romániço)

Mi viagin in multa nationos et incontrin a humanos di omna clasos, mas jamás dum mea viajos, mi sentin li presenta di humanos tanta clare, cuanta clare in ecuista paeso. In áltera granda nationos, signos di potentitio di humanos gubernen omnube... ilác, exposo et extravago, per tucos, per moblado, es mirabilioso.

...Mas, in Japano, exposo de potentitio, aut richitio, ne es li çhefa elemento. Omnube vu viden emblématos di amo et admiro, et ne di ambitiono et aviditio.

THE SPIRIT OF JAPAN (English)

I have travelled in many countries and have met with men of all classes, but never in my travels did I feel the presence of the human so distinctly as in this land. In other great countries, signs of man's power loomed large... There, display and extravagance, in dress, in furniture, in costly entertainments, are startling.

...But, in Japan, it is not the display of power, or wealth, that is the predominating element. You see everywhere emblems of love and admiration, and not mostly of ambition and greed.

Thursday 22 December 2011

Mondial, Interlingua, Lingua Franca Nova and Occidental

Mondial, Interlingua, Lingua Franca Nova (LFN) and Occidental are all based on Romance languages. No wonder they (except LFN) are so similar and yet each comes with a different flavour. 

Interlingua is so much Italian and French and Spanish at the same time. It is so erudite and cultured.

Mondial is the Romance spirit liberated somewhat from the chains of tradition. It is like a gentle breeze on your face on a hot and sunny day.

The use of so many consonants gives Occidental an English feel; Germanic with a lot of Romance influence.

Despite its Romance origins LFN is so 'other' that you are inclined to discard it as ugly. But then you think of creoles and the vibrant culture many creole speaking societies have and suddenly it starts making sense and what was earlier 'ugly' now becomes 'exotic.'

Here is the part one of the short story The Fairy which I found in Mondial here and translated into Interlingua, Occidental and Lingua Franca Nova (I've never studied Occidental and LFN so kindly let me know if you find a mistake.); and, of course, English.

LE FEA (Mondial)

Un vidua havi du filias. Le plu viel evi si simil al matre per su caracter i face, que chascun, que vidavi lei, povavi pensar, que il vida le matre; li ambe evi si desagreable i si fier, que on non povavi vivar con les.

Le plu jun filia, que evi le plen portrete de su patre selon su bontá i honestitá, evi ultre lo un del mas bel filies, le queles on povavi trovar.

LE FEE (Interlingua)

Un vidua habeva duo filias. Le plus vetere era assi simile al matre per su character e facie, que alicuno, qui videva la, poteva pensar, que illes vide le matre; illes ambe era assi disagradabile e assi fer, que on non poteva viver con les.

Le plus juvene filia, qui era le plen portrait su patre secundo su bonitate e honestitate, era ultra illo un del maxime belle filias, le quales on poteva trovar.

LE FEA (Occidental)
(Corrected by friend Olivier)

Un vidua havet du filias. Li plu etosa esset talmen simil al matre pro su carácter e facie, que chascun, qui videt la, posset pensar, que il videt li matre; li ambas esset talmen desagreabil e talmen fier, que on non posset viver con les.

Li plu yun filia, qui esset li plen portrete de su patre secun su bontá e honestitá, esset ultra to un del maxim bell filias,  queles on posset trovar.

LA FE (Lingua Franca Nova)

Un vidua ia ave du fias. La plu vea ia tal simile a la madre a causa de caracter e fas de el, ce cada un, ci ia vide el, ia pote pensa, ce el vide la madre; los ambos ia tal desplasente e tal orgulos, ce on ia no pote vive con los.

El plu joven fia, ci ia la plen portreta de padre de el seguente bontia e onestasia de el, ia plu un de la plu bela fias, ci on ia pote trova.

THE FAIRY (English)

A widow had two daughters. The disposition and face of the older daughter was so similar to her mother that any one who saw her could think he/she was seeing the mother; they were both so rude and puffed up to live with.

The younger daughter whose kindness and honesty made her a complete portrait of her father was, besides, one of the most beautiful daughters you could find.

Is Punjabi going the Hindustani way?

Summario in Interlingua

Panjabi es le lingua del populo del region Panjab que es dividite inter India e Pakistan. Plus que 100 million personas parla le lingua ma le situation currente del linguage non es ben. Il ha duo graphias e parlatores de duo Panjabes non comprende le graphias de le un le altere. Anque il ha un problema de excessive persianisation o sanskritisation. Si le curso non cambia le lingua serea devenir duo separate linguas, como occurreva al hindustani ante 100 annos (hindi e urdu). Ancora religion joca un importante parte. Malgrado le facto que plus que un medio de parlatores es islamic, le lingua es frequentemente ligate a sikhes.

Resumo en Esperanto

La panĝaba estas la lingvo de l'lonĝantoj de l'regiono Panĝabio,  kiu dividiĝas inter Barato kaj Pakistano. Pli ol 100 miliono personoj parolas la lingvon sed la nuntempa situacio de l'lingvo ne estas bona. Ekzistas du skribsistemoj kaj parolantoj de du Panĝaboj ne komprenas la skribsistemojn de l'unu la alian. Ankaŭ estas problemo de uzi neogolismojn el aŭ la persa aŭ la sanskrita. Se la tendenco ne ŝanĝas, la lingvo devenos du apartaj lingvoj, kiel okazis al la hindustana antaŭ 100 jaroj (la hinda kaj la urdua). Ankaŭ religio ludas gravan rolon. Malgraŭ la fakto ke pli ol duono da parolantoj estas islamanoj, oni ofte rilatas la lingvon al siĥoj.

=========================================

A hundred years ago Hindustani was the lingua franca in South Asia. Then surfaced religious tensions and the language was spilt into two. Now depending on which side of the border you are Hindustani is now Hindi or Urdu. A hundred years later, history seems to be repeating itself with Punjabi.

Of the 100 million or more Punjabi speakers, more than 70% live in Pakistan and for most of the remaining India is their home. A Punjabi from Eastern Punjab (India) is more likely to communicate well with a fellow Punjabi from Western Punjab (Pakistan) if he/she has lived most of his life in his/her village and has very little formal education than a "cultured" Punjabi. 

Here a "cultured" Punjabi is generally understood in the cities as someone who doesn't know his language well and talks in Hindi/Urdu or English much of the time. It is these people who have the most difficulty in talking with fellow Punjabis from the across the border in Punjabi.

This is an interesting phenomenon. Because in contrast to European languages, where much of the learned vocabulary is more or less similar even though the colloquial speech may have nothing in common with each other, we fight over the issue of learned vocabulary even though the colloquial speech is virtually indistinguishable.

This is as much true of Punjabi (Western and Eastern) and it is of Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu). Unfortunately I don't speak other Indian languages to comment on what is their situation.

In case of Punjabi the list of issues facing the language is long, but chief among them, from linguistic point of view, are:

1. Use of two Different Scripts

The use of two different scripts to write Punjabi isn't unique to the language and the solution isn't to discard one script in favour of another or adopt a Latin characters based script as I had suggested in an earlier post. We can learn from the Serbians and teach people both scripts on the both sides of the border. If the Japanese can handle three different scripts simultaneously we shouldn't have much of a problem especially when the task of learning Shahmukhi (37 letters) and Gurumukhi (41 letters) is nothing compared to the astronomical amount of effort required to learn Kanji (>2,000 characters).

2. The Issue of Excessive Persianisation or Sanskritisation

When I was a child I used to write a 'student' sṭudenṭ in Punjabi. Now nowadays vidyārthī (Sanskrit/Hindi influence) is more popular on this side of the border and if I'm not wrong the Pakistani Punjabis use tālib-e-ilm (Persian/Urdu influence). I find vidyārthī ugly and tālib-e-ilm is an unnecessary inconvenience. We have borrowed words from English in the past and have successfully indigenised them. No one considers botal (bottle) and haspatāl (hosptial) as foreign. The upshot is when it comes to learned vocabulary we can either get the Western scientific vocabulary adapted or can create new words from existing roots. There is no harm is borrowing from Sanskrit or Persian but the process should be natural.

3. Linking the Language with Religion

Up until the 1930s all Punjabis spoke their tongue. Then a man called Master Tara Singh started promoting Punjabi as the language of Sikhs. This exacerbated the already heightened religious sentiments. As a results Hindus increasingly started identifying themselves with Hindi and Muslims with Urdu. It's just like Bosnians insisting their language is not Serbian. How this tendency can be overcome, I have no idea. But the language will certainly get an impetus if we stopped viewing Punjabi as the language of Sikhs. We must understand they haven't got a copyright!

If the fate of Hindustani befalls Punjabi will depend on factors - politics and religion - that aren't mentioned here. But one thing is for sure: accept the laissez faire and we will have two mutually incomprehensible Punjabies in the coming decades.

Sunday 18 December 2011

ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਰੂਸੀ (ਕਿਰੀਲਿਕ) ਲਿਪੀ ਵਿਚ

ਪਿਛਲੀ ਦਫ਼ਾ ਅਸੀ ਇੱਕ ਛੋਟਾ ਜਿਹਾ ਖਿਆਲੀ ਤਜਰਬਾ ਕੀਤਾ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਜੇ ਅਸੀ ਅੰਗ੍ਰੇਜ਼ਾਂ ਦੇ ਨਹੀ ਬਲਕਿ ਫਰਾਂਸੀਸੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਗੁਲਾਮ ਹੁੰਦੇ ਤਾਂ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਨੂੰ ਗ਼ੈਰਰਸਮੀ (informal) ਤਰੀਕੇ ਨਾਲ ਰੋਮਨ ਅੱਖਰਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਲਿੱਖਣ ਦੀ ਤਰਕੀਬ ਕੀ ਹੁੰਦੀ । ਇਸ ਵਾਰ ਅਸੀ ਖਿਆਲ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਾਂ ਕਿ ਜੇ ਅਸੀ ਸੋਵਿਅਤ ਯੂਨਿਅਨ ਦਾ ਇੱਕ ਹਿੱਸਾ ਹੁੰਦੇ ਤਾਂ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਦੀ ਗ਼ੈਰਰਸਮੀ ਲਿਪੀ ਕਿਸ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਹੁੰਦੀ । ਸੋਵਿਅਤ ਯੂਨਿਅਨ ਵਿਚ ਲੋਕ ਬਹੁਤ ਸਾਰੀਆਂ ਜ਼ੁਬਾਨਾਂ ਬੋਲਦੇ ਸਨ ਪਰ ਰੂਸੀ ਸਬ ਤੋਂ ਜ਼ਰੂਰੀ ਬੋਲੀ ਸੀ । ਕਿਉਂ ਕਿ ਰੂਸੀ ਬੋਲੀ ਰੋਮਨ ਨਹੀ ਬਲਕਿ ਕਿਰੀਲਿਕ ਅੱਖਰਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਲਿੱਖੀ ਜਾਂਦੀ ਹੈ, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਅਸੀ ਕਿਰੀਲਿਕ ਲਿਪੀ ਦੀ ਰੂਸੀ ਕਿਸਮ ਵਿਚ ਲਿੱਖਣਾ ਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਉਹ ਫ਼ਿਰ ਕੁਝ ਅਜਿਹੀ ਲੱਗਣੀ ਸੀਃ

Икк вари икк факир ну киси не савал кита: "Баба! Ки тере мазхаб вич шараб ди манаги наи ай? Фир ви тун шараб пи реха ен?"
Факир не агге тон джаваб дитта: "Му вич джан вали чиз уни бури наи гунди, джини ус тон бар ан вали гунди ай!"

(ਇੱਕ ਵਾਰੀ‌ ਇੱਕ ਫ਼ਕੀਰ ਨੂੰ ਕਿਸੀ ਨੇ ਸਵਾਲ ਕੀਤਾ: "ਬਾਬਾ ! ਕੀ ਤੇਰੇ ਮਜ਼ਹਬ ਵਿਚ ਸ਼ਰਾਬ ਦੀ ਮਨਾਹੀ ਨਹੀ ਹੈ? ਫਿਰ ਵੀ ਤੂੰ ਸ਼ਰਾਬ ਪੀ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈਂ?
ਫ਼ਕੀਰ ਨੇ ਅੱਗੇ ਤੋਂ ਜਵਾਬ ਦਿੱਤਾ: "ਮੂੰਹ ਵਿਚ ਜਾਣ ਵਾਲੀ ਚੀਜ਼ ਉਨ੍ਹੀ ਬੁਰੀ ਨਹੀ ਹੁੰਦੀ, ਜਿਨ੍ਹੀ ਉਸ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਹਰ ਆਉਣ ਵਾਲੀ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਹੈ । ")

PUNJABI IN RUSSIAN (CYRILLIC) SCRIPT

Last time we had a little thought experiment where we imagined being colonised by the French instead of the English for over two centuries and how it would have affected our informal way of transliterating Punjabi. This time we try to picture Punjab as a Soviet Republic. How it would have affected our informal transliteration schemes of Punjabi? If we were indeed a republic in the USSR and if the USSR were still a single country, we would have been informally writing Punjabi in Cyrillic and it would have looked something like this:

Икк вари икк факир ну киси не савал кита: "Баба! Ки тере мазхаб вич шараб ди манаги наи ай? Фир ви тун шараб пи реха ен?"
Факир не агге тон джаваб дитта: "Му вич джан вали чиз уни бури наи гунди, джини ус тон бар ан вали гунди ай!"

(Once a person asked a fakir: "Baba! Is wine permitted in your religion? And still you are drinking?
Fakir responded: "It's not what goes into the mouth that is bad, it is what comes out.")

Thursday 15 December 2011

What makes Esperanto special among auxlangs?

Summario

Que face esperanto unic inter omne linguas auxiliar?

Il ha sex factores lo que io pote pensar in iste momento e illes son:

* le amonta del litteratura disponibilie,
* demographia de parlatores,
* phenomenos unic a esperanto,
* su rolo como un lingua auxliar inter auxliaristes,
* cognoscentia que existe esperanto in qualque governamentos,
* e su uso practic.

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Esperantists often proudly talk of their language as "the language of peace and harmony." A bridge that aims to break linguistic barriers and end "linguistic imperialism." Impressive as this may seem this isn't what makes Esperanto special. There are at least a hundred auxlangs that aspire for the same. These "projects" occasionally only to disappear into oblivion a little later but Esperanto has somehow survived for more than a century and can today be classified as a minority language. So what it is that makes Esperanto stand out?

1. Materials available:

Of the thousand or so auxiliary languages in the world only a few will have a whole book translated into them. Most of the time these books are novella-size. To my knowledge Esperanto and Interlingua are the only auxiliary languages that can boast of more than a dozen translated or original books that run into hundreds of pages. Even among these Esperanto books far outnumber the books available in Interlingua. Whereas you can find a book on virtually any subject in Esperanto, fiction is perhaps the only genre where Interlingua has a respectable presence and there too European works dominate. That means even the most serious competitor falls far short in terms of the amount of works present in the language.

2. Demography of its speakers:

Esperanto speakers are spread throughout the world and their occupations are varied. This makes the community extremely vibrant. The same can not be said of other auxlangs. With most of its speakers coming from the Scandinavian countries I doubt if there are even 100 speakers of Interlingua in Africa and Asia combined. Talking of other languages - leaving for a few exceptions like Babm and Afrihili - most speakers of other auxlangs are white men (no racism intended) from First World countries. With Esperanto, I believe there is a significant proportion of speakers outside the First World countries (40,000 in China alone).

3. Phenomena unique to Esperanto:

There is an interesting phenomenon in Esperanto called eternaj komencantoj (eternal beginners). That means a lot of people start learning Esperanto with a lot of excitement but sooner than later give up. Then they either look for another auxlang or create one. A lot of new projects never get off ground and many kabeists (deserters) come back and remain eternal beginners for the rest of their lives. I have yet to meet or read about a person who started off with an auxlang other than Esperanto has turned to Esperanto, become a kabeist or eterna komencanto.

I guess there is something in the grammar of Esperanto that makes it usable despite its many "flaws" and the significant effort that has to be put into learning it.

4. The lingua-franca among auxlangers:

There isn't perhaps an auxlanger or auxlang speaker who hasn't studied Esperanto at one point in his/her life. No other auxlang can claim the same and this is what makes Esperanto special.

5. Awareness among several governments:

In China there is an Esperanto version of the website of a national broadcaster (Chinese equivalent of BBC) CRI. Radio Havana broadcasts news in Esperanto and in Hungary it is an optional second language in schools. It may soon be introduced in Brazil as an optional second language. No other auxlang enjoys similar official status. Interlingua forms an anomaly here as a student of linguistics can take it as a subject at a Spanish university. Unfortunately the name of the university has slipped out of my mind.

6. Practical use:

Unlike most other auxlangs you can immediately put Esperanto to some practical use after learning it. You can talk to people outside the Anglosphere, use Pasporta Servo to save money and make friends while travelling and do all sorts of interesting things. That is currently only possible with a handful of auxlangs.

FINALLY

It is possible that the last four features could be only the consequences of its popularity(2) and the amount of literature available(1). But that will not be proved unless we have another auxlang that is at least as successful.

Also, I didn't write it as pro-Esperanto propaganda. I only wanted to objectively list some of the features that make this language so unique. In fact my favourite language is INTERLINGUA! Just that I am not yet proficient at it.

Friday 2 December 2011

On the Linguist Skills of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)

Resumo en Esperanto (Abstract in Esperanto)

Tie ĉi en Barato, oni taksas komunismajn partiojn kiel la plej edukaj. Mi ankaŭ pensis same antaŭ mi legis dokumenton, kiu estas nekrologo pri Mallojula Koteswara RAO (pli fama kiel Kishen JI) per la Komunisma Partio de Barato (Maoisma) aŭ KPB-Maoisma. La dokumento ne eĉ sciigas leganton kiam naskiĝis Kishen JI kaj gramatike, ĝi estas erarplena. 

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I once read in The Sunday Express that for all their shortcomings, the Indian left, especially the CPI (Maoist), had at least a long term plan for the country and were more educated than most of our ministers. That article was by Tavleen Singh, unfortunately I don't remember what Sunday it was.

Recently the Indian security forces killed Mallojula Koteswara Rao, a senior member in the party.  Better known by his nom de guerre Kishanji, he was the person who would talk to media. Because he was a politburo member, you would expect at least an obituary from the party and they did publish one here.

The left is not famous for telling things as they are, they have a penchant for exaggerating some facts and playing down others. Therefore you have got to be careful while reading what they "officially" have to say. But the least you can expect is, what they are saying would be grammatically correct. And if they can't even come up with grammatically correct official statements, it suggests either they aren't studying of late or there aren't many intellectuals left in their ranks.

Okay, so let's begin!


 They should have written:

Condemn the brutal murder of Comrade Mallojula Koteswara Rao,
the beloved leader of the oppressed masses,
the leader of the Indian revolution and a CPI (Maoist) Politburo member!
Observe a protest week from 29 November to 5 December
and a 48-hour ''Bharat Bandh''* on 4 and 5 December. 

*Bharat Bandh = a nationwide shutdown strike

They have got the definite and indefinite articles missing (red) in the first place. And why are they following the US pattern of mm/dd/yy (blue)? I don't like that and we don't speak basterdised English here.

I can understand why they would refer to Mamata Banerjee as 'it' but it's outrageous when the "most educated political force (left) in the country" fails to even write a press release mourning the death of a veteran comrade correctly!

The tireless warrior who never rested his gun while fighting for the liberation of the oppressed masses since (for) the past 37 years and who has laid down (sacrificed?) his life for the sake of the ideology he believed in, was born in 1954 in the Peddapally town of Karimnagar district Karimnagar of (in) North Telangana, Andhra Pradesh. Raised by his father Late Venkataiah who was a freedom fighter and his mother Madhuramma, who has been (is) of progressive views, Koteswara Rao imbibed love (developed a love?) for his country and its oppressed masses since childhood (when he was still a child?).

So many mistakes and I haven't yet spoken a word about stylistic issues and where is the date of birth? They could have shown some respect by including that. But perhaps they have given up the habit of reading.

If they are such idiots, I fear they would turn India into another Cambodia if they ever came to power.