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Angelaand Lindaasked:
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If language is essential for the cultural life of a group of people, and if a common national language is
also essential for creating a sense of national identity, would a multilingual state be confronted with a
dilemma in its attempt to create a sense of national identity? if not why not? if yes, explain how the
dilemma really arises. Is there any way out of the dilemma?
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Before considering the national identity issue, one should ask whether a common language is
essential for governing and administering a multilingual state. The case of Switzerland suggests that
it is not. The case of India suggests that it is.
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However, the above example could be considered as misleading. Switzerland is a small country in
Europe with a population of hardly 8,000,000. There are only four ethnic/ cultural groups speaking
respectively German, French, Italian and Romansch which are the official languages of the state.
Nevertheless each Swiss canton is organized according to its own community language's criteria.
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India is the sixth or seventh largest country in the world and the second most populous with a
population of more than 1,000,000,000. It comprises 23 states and 8 Union Territories organized
according to linguistic groupings. There are many ethnic and cultural groups speaking 1600
languages and dialects. Under such circumstances it is difficult to see how the Republic of India could
be managed without a common language. Thus India has one national language, Hindi. But because
Hindi is spoken by 200,000,000 people "only", it has been decided to use also English as a second
common language which has nothing to do with the Indian national identity (India has been a British
colony).
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In fact, there could be no choice and no dilemma. Most multilingual states are large countries. A large
multilingual country could not be managed without a common language. One should not expect that
countries like Indonesia (several islands, population 200,000,000) could put into effect the Swiss
model.
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Jean Nakos
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