This is the umpteenth time I am hearing of this news since I was a kid. There were such similar attempts in the past
even when I was in school. And the authorities haven’t identified if the
Dzongkha language like the much clichéd education quality has gone down or
deteriorated. Just last week I read the news of an APA between the government
and the DDC, signed or yet to sign, I am not really sure. I am neither an
anti-Dzongkha freak nor a linguist to comment on whether or not if Dzongkha has
gone down in its usage or its becoming archaic.
The BBS TV
plays its part in promoting Dzongkha, the films, radio and newspapers as well. The
library books in Dzognkha are also doing its part in schools and colleges. I am
still wondering if Dzongkha needs development, improvement, upgrading, stepping-up
or whatever…you name it!
Official correspondences
do come in Dzongkha but in limited frequency. If all government documents and
correspondences be made in the Dzongkha language, the delayed correspondence
which is already prevailing in our offices needs a little more time for yet
another delay. If this move by the DDC is for the future generations; if our
youth can learn Korean just by watching movies, I grudgingly feel Dzongkha is a
NO BIG DEAL anyway.
Let us think
out of the box if at all the lingua franca of Bhutan needs some attention otherwise
it doesn’t have to be rocket science to know that people got into their jobs
because they have been interviewed equally in Dzongkha as well. Even if we do
have Dzongkha correspondences, office goers aren’t handicapped who doesn’t even
know how to read and write in Dzongkha.
And if at
all the national language is deteriorating, is official correspondence the only
way to promote Dzongkha. Is that the only one? Did everything else fail?
