language for communication

[gail at utxvms.cc.utexas.edu]

> You and I could very well communicate in that way, but the others would
> immediately drop out of the conversation. I have no problem accepting the
> use of Europe's "canonical" languages (English, French, German, Italian and
> Spanish) in scholarly debates as long as we are among Europeans. But
> Indology is a global business. The question is: Is it fair to our colleagues
> in India, Japan and elsewhere in Asia to expect them to work their way
> through four or five European languages to be able to participate in a
> discussion, when we could agree upon using one language. Even if English is
> not quite so universal as some people might think it is still the Latin of
> our time.

Right, I would love to learn all these European languages and have access
to loads of scholarly literature in those langauges. But before I can get
to doing that, as an Indian, there are *three* Indian languages that I
*must* learn for various important purposes: the national language --
Hindi, the language of my state -- Tamil, and my community language --
Konkani. Its not that I'm not open to learning European languages -- I
*have* learned some Italian, French, and Spanish but not enough to
understand advanced discussions in those languages. So I, for one, would
prefer it if English was used as the business language on Indology. 

Gail