What is Minority Language?
According to Oxford Dictionary, a language spoken by a minority group, if different from that of the majority is a minority language. From this we can derive minority language is spoken by a small number of people in comparison to the other languages which are broadly used by many speakers. Minority languages have lesser uses or none at all in the official or educational organisations. As the number of the speakers is less and due to its lesser usage minority languages tend to lose its existence. Modernisation and globalization are also reasons which influence the existence of minority languages along the losing interest of speaker’s attitude towards their own language.
India and Minority Languages:
India is a land of different languages, not just one or two. Due to the political and cultural context privileges, minority languages are often discriminated against by the current languages which are broadly speaking. The political and cultural context of India's society recognises the major languages such as Hindi, English, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Malayalam etc., which are profusely used and officially recognized in several States as state languages. However, there are innumerable speakers of smaller languages which are not recognised and hence get neglected. The UNESCO-World Atlas of Languages has listed 172 languages in India are endangered out of which 71 are in critical situations like some tribal languages along with Santali, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, etc.
Translation to restore Minority Languages:
Globalization and modernisation has forced people to speak a common language rather than following different languages. The common language is required to promote trade and commerce with the other countries of the world which in turn puts minority languages at inconvenience. In addition, languages are also made more standardized to meet the requirements of the society which totally annihilates the local dialects. To overcome such problems, the minority languages can be translated to the English language or other major languages or even the English language can be translated into the target languages.
Translation of these minority languages into widely spoken language would take a stand for these languages as it will be read by many people. Most of these minority languages are being neglected as it becomes difficult to use or read by most of the people for its lesser usage. To make it widely known, these languages can be translated to the English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, etc. languages. For example, languages like Lepcha, Boro, Dimasa, Tulu, Santali, can be translated to the English language which will make it readable and understandable to the people and hence increase their interest in the languages.
Translation of not only texts, but also of various entertaining programmes which are shown on TV, can be translated from the minority languages to the languages like English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, so that it grabs people’s attention and grows their interest in the culture and language. Apart from taking the help of native language translators for translating the documents, translating companies can also take the help of specialized technologies for promoting the minority languages. The internet is such a platform where online guides to such languages can be provided. Through the internet, people sitting in any corner can avail to this programme and can easily learn the languages. For making it interesting for the kids, some video games can be made which incorporates minor languages which will definitely attract the kid’s attention.
A translation of such indigenous, minor languages will help in lessening the misunderstanding among the minor and major language speakers. Unable to communicate properly is the main reason of miscommunication which tends to bring barrier among the minor and major language speakers. Even in the political field, if a person fails to communicate he won’t be able to gain the trust of the people. In such cases, translation companies can provide with their assistance by helping the government with native language translators who will not only be able to understand the language but also translate the target language without destroying its originality.
Conclusion:
Hence, we can conclude that to save the minority languages, to add spark in their existence, to make those recognisable; translating those languages will definitely come in handy. It will not only make those languages known, but also grow people’s interest in knowing those languages, their culture, and their lifestyle, which will bring forth these languages into every one’s attention. Moreover, with the help from various Translation Companies with their certified native language translators, translating the language will also add a spark to the existence of those languages.