According to a new report by Javier Celaya and his digital consultancy Dosdoce, based in Bilbao, Spain, the Spanish audio market has registered an ongoing double-digit annual increase in sales in the last ten years, becoming the fastest-growing revenue model in the entire publishing world.
In just five years, a growing industry of paid Spanish spoken-word content has been created to meet demand from new audio platforms such as Audible, Storytel, Scribd, Nextory, Podimo, BookBeat, Sonora, and Convoy. By the end of 2022, there were more than 500,000 paying listeners of Spanish audio content, according to the recent “Spanish Markets Audio Growth Report 2017–2022” study conducted by Dosdoce.com, who called it an “incredible landmark in the Spanish markets because of the initial ‘low propensity to pay’ culture for streaming services.”
New audio content creation is rapidly increasing in Spanish, as evidenced by the huge spike of new titles on offer on all platforms. The report finds that there are currently more than 20,000 audiobooks and 100,000 podcasts in Spanish on offer compared to scarcely 1,000 only a few years ago. By the end of 2023, there will be more than 25,000 audiobooks available in Spanish, of which around 60% come under the fiction category (novels, romance, literature, etc.). Audio production is about even between those in a Castilian Spanish accent and those in Latin American Spanish accents.
To reach this level, the main audio platforms have jointly invested more than $65 million over the last five years. According to the report, subscription will continue to be the dominant business model. More than 80% of audio income is derived today from streaming platforms, but audio platforms will become smarter, offering different subscription models and rates to meet the demands of each user’s content consumption.
“In 2023, we will see the arrival of more unlimited subscription models but with different factors that will allow the audio streaming industry to continue to grow, since each of these new models will meet the needs of different segments of the public,” explained Celaya, founder of Dosdoce.com.
The report adds that in the last six years, there have been great advances in the quality of synthetic Spanish voices, which now closely resemble human voices. Artificial voices will allow publishers to produce more audiobooks at lower costs to suit less-mainstream listeners.
There are a number of recent initiatives focused on the health and well-being of students, especially students from racially and linguistically diverse communities. The social–emotional needs of students must be addressed first before solely focusing on academics. The dual pandemic of COVID-19 and racial reawakening sparked an interest in how students were coping, or not, inside and outside of their classrooms. The Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC), founded by Ron Walker, is an organization that committed to this cause long before the pandemic. Walker started this work after a long, successful career as a teacher and principal, and his journey is an example of how it is never too late to do something, to do more, with the resources we have to improve the lives of others. I was fortunate enough to first hear Walker’s story and then interview him in order to learn more about his organization, the why behind the work, and how we can better support this generation of male students.
The mission of COSEBOC is to connect, inspire, support, and strengthen school and community leaders who are dedicated to the affirmative social, emotional, cultural, and academic development of boys and young men of color.
How Was COSEBOC Started?
Interestingly enough, COSEBOC was started by an invitation, in September of 2006, for Walker to speak at a state penitentiary in Frackville, Pennsylvania. A former student of his, Kevin Johnson, had spoken highly of Walker and the impact he’d had on his life. Walker accepted the invitation and was the speaker at a ceremony for inmates who had passed their General Educational Development test (GED) and earned college credits. Kevin Johnson was the valedictorian. That day, Johnson affirmed, “Although I’m incarcerated, I’m a felon, and I might not ever see freedom, I’m liberated because I’m educated.” It was then that Walker knew his career had been preparing him for the next assignment: to do something. Walker states, “There’s a lot of Kevin Johnsons out there who have gifts, talents, strengths, are very intelligent, and could be successful.” Countless data points are collected that point to boys of color being “at risk” for being retained, suspended, expelled from school, or dropping out for various reasons. The US Department of Education collects data on absenteeism, suspension, and retention of English learners (ELs), students who make up approximately 10% of the K–12 population.
Of all the students retained, about 14% were ELs. Of those who received one or more out-of-school suspensions, 3% were male ELs and 1% female ELs. Males who are ELs experienced an average of 19 days of lost instructional time due to out-of-school suspensions, compared to females who are ELs, who lost an average of six days (US Department of Education, 2021). Students should not be considered “at risk” for failure due to their race, gender, home language, or zip code, but unfortunately oftentimes they are. What COSEBOC continues to do is to educate not only boys of color but also the communities that serve them. It’s a nationwide organization that educates district and school leadership teams in what Walker refers to as affirmative development: cultural and academic development of boys and young men of color.
The Importance of Legacy
In a presentation Walker gave to my cohort of Rennie Education Policy Fellows, the importance of his community could not be emphasized enough. Seeds of purpose were planted early. While growing up, he explained, he and other young men had role models, which contributed to them having a strong sense of community. He also shared how intentional his parents were about the importance of education. Walker shared that his mother, Delores, read Langston Hughes’s poem “Mother to Son” to him.
Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
For Walker, this poem represented the importance of being persistent, though trials will come as one grows into adulthood. Walker went on to graduate high school and attend and earn a degree from Lincoln University. The same university that Langston Hughes attended. Coincidence?
What’s important to think about and ask ourselves is who are the people—parents, family members, community members—who are serving as mentors and encouragers? Who are the adults who see potential and endless possibilities for students when students might not see them in themselves? What metaphors can be drawn from the poem? How is the advice given relevant today?
Preserving Practices
One of the offerings that COSEBOC offers is a professional learning course entitled DRUM—Discovering Rituals, Understanding Manhood. At a time when African American studies is under fire in certain states, COSEBOC has been intentional in its efforts to educate and affirm the identities of its students.
Walker describes the DRUM course as a researched-based framework and program designed to raise rates of attendance, graduation, and postsecondary college/career success among male middle and high school students of color. Grounded in African/Indigenous rituals, manhood development, and hip-hop pedagogy, DRUM is particularly effective with helping students who are experiencing a range of challenges that impede their academic and social success. The DRUM approach aims to strengthen students’ academic achievement and develop an affirmative social, emotional, and cultural identity.
Some of the aforementioned challenges experienced by students are exactly what the DRUM course aims to dismantle. A similar course, Footprints and Footsteps, is designed for adults who work with boys and young men. By supporting adults to cultivate critical thinking, literacy, and effective communication skills, the course prepares them to better support their students. Since the start of the pandemic, COSEBOC has offered virtual events where guest speakers are invited to present, answer questions, and pose solutions to various problems. I had the opportunity to attend a session with Dr. Pedro Noguera and a few weeks later another with Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings. What I took away from those sessions and my time interviewing Ron was the need to encourage one another, to stay vigilant, and prepare ourselves as much as possible.
COSEBOC’s Accomplishments
Gathering of Leaders conducted annually (in person) from 2007–2019, involving more than 6,000 adults and 1,500 youth from 43 states and Washington, DC
Interactive online events offered in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and attended by more than 1,200 educators and community leaders
Training workshops to improve education for students of color directly serving more than 900 student leaders, educators, and parents and benefiting more than 11,000 students
Rites of Passage model program piloted in Philadelphia with about 1,000 secondary school students and disseminated to other schools and districts
Projects to promote a greater youth voice in education by young men of color piloted in Boston
Projects to summarize community perspectives of racial equity issues in New England schools conducted for the Nellie Mae Education Foundation
Since this year’s PTM series is centered on student experiences, it would be very remiss of me to neglect to tell you Ron is also a writer. One way he has honored his parents, Solomon and Delores, is by writing about them and their influence on this life. Published by American Reading Company, he has written a memoir, Solomon’s Plan: A Gift of Education from a Father to His Son (2018), and he is currently writing Delores’s Dream: Delayed but Not Denied. Our time with students may be short, but our impact is timeless. Thank you, Ron, for your service to the profession and commitment to boys and young men of color.
Ayanna Cooper, EdD, is the Pass the Mic series editor and owner of A. Cooper Consulting. She is the author of And Justice for ELs: A Leader’s Guide to Creating and Sustaining Equitable Schools (Corwin) and is currently a Massachusetts Education Policy Fellow at the Rennie Center in Boston (2022–2023).
To support multilingual learners of English (MLEs), The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), TESOL International Association, and WIDA have made the following recommendations for and comments on the 2030 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Writing Assessment Framework:
Anchor the assessment writing framework in universal design for learning (UDL) and its three key principles. Every student should have multiple means of access for engagement, representation, and action and expression (CAST, Inc., 2023).
Secure resources to review assessments written in multiple languages. As multilingual learners are learning in multiple languages and bring diverse linguistic resources to their writing, the NAEP writing framework should match the students’ mode of instruction and enable multiple means of expression that include students’ rich linguistic resources and language variations. The NAEP framework should approach writing assessment from a multilingual perspective and have comparable forms in multiple languages.
Treat multilingual learners and students with disabilities independently as they represent distinctly different groups of students. Multilingual learners, multilingual learners with disabilities, and students with disabilities are three distinct student populations, each with unique resources. Embarking on the redesign of the Framework should center on prioritizing characteristics of these groups that can potentially positively impact the results rather than retrofit the existing Framework through accommodations.
Incorporate opportunities for multilingual learners to access and utilize their rich linguistic and cultural resources during assessment.
Encourage/Provide inclusive opportunities for multilingual learners and other minoritized students to present perspectives that are representative of their multicultural orientations.
Include diverse stakeholders who bring expert cultural and linguistic representation to the framework design committees.
Reconsider or redefine the construct of writing from ‘quill and ink model’ to a 21st century model that includes digital citizenship and multi-modal forms of expression.Modern communication is increasingly supported by visual and digital content, lower
density of text, and non-linear formats, with attention to digital citizenship andmultimodal literacy.
Additionally, recommendations are:
Disaggregate and report data using ESSA reporting categories and show growth of MLEs over time in cohorts.
Expand professional learning opportunities on the writing framework to include ELD/ESOL/Bilingual/Language teachers
Include an assessment for writing in the arts
Specifically assess writing ability using narration, description, classification, and evaluation skills as related to the purposes for written communication: persuasive,experiential, expository, and writing in the arts
In a speech last month, US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona described the department’s aim for the year ahead as the harnessing of “the collective will to act boldly and unapologetically to address student underperformance and the decades of underinvestment in education.”
Cardona promised that the Biden administration would focus on “substance, not sensationalism,” while emphasizing the need to increase teacher salaries and to offer students more opportunities to become multilingual:
“It’s my intention to Raise the Bar so we can lead the world in advanced career and technical education,” explained Cardona. “And speaking of global competitiveness, if we are to prepare our students for a global market, let’s Raise the Bar to provide better opportunities for our students in America to be Multilingual.
“Recently at a ministerial meeting in France with 38 other countries, I was surprised that we were one of a few countries that was primarily monolingual.
“Learning another, or multiple languages should be expected of our students and anchored as a skill that will enhance their global engagement and increase opportunities for success. Ya es tiempo de aprender otro idioma!
What does it look like to increase multilingualism?
First off, it means improving our bilingual and dual language program to follow the research on second language development. We will provide support and assistance to the 50 states who are working to improve their English Development Programs and Multilingual Language Programs. Don’t forget: every year, there is $760 million in Title III funding from the Department of Education that can help you support English learners.
Let’s look at our students in bilingual programs as gifted with assets that we want other students to have.
Being bilingual and bicultural is a superpower!
Let’s place a high value on having graduates be multilingual. Recognition for that, such as earning a Seal of Biliteracy, which many states have, should be celebrated at graduation as much as an honors cord. Let’s face it: you will have more options in life being bilingual. Let’s improve multilingual education to give our students opportunities to excel in global markets where multilingualism and cultural differences are embraced and valued.
At the Department of Education, we will prioritize these focus areas and expand opportunities for technical assistance and use of federal funding. In the coming months, you will hear more details for each of these categories. Our actions at the Department must support our beliefs, and we intend to do that.”
Last week in London, four baristas who are deaf started new jobs as part of a South-African based scheme to specifically create job opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing people.
Based at four WeWork office locations around Central London, the baristas will use iPads to show customers how to order using sign language.
Pioneered by Gary Hopkins, 58, from Cape Town, South Africa, the London scheme has been born from his social enterprise ‘I Love Coffee’; founded seven years ago to train deaf people to become baristas. Since, the initiative has helped more than 100 individuals.
Hopkins credits the scheme with giving participants “the confidence to reach their goals and explore other job opportunities” – which extends to computer science and project management courses.
Prisilla Kwakye, 21, from Croydon, South London has taken on a position as one of the four baristas, saying she is “really excited”, having previously faced challenges finding a job.
She hopes that this will open new doors and opportunities for her, adding “I can build my confidence up, upskill myself and maybe in the future set up my own business. So the opportunities are endless.”
Due to continued community campaigning and charity initiatives, BSL measures and opportunities for deaf people in the UK are slowly progressing. In April 2022 after a year of campaigning, the BSL Act was successfully passed in Parliament.
According to the British Deaf Association, the act was created to provide “…greater recognition and understanding of BSL, and inclusion and equality for BSL users”. It officially and legally recognizes BSL as a language for England, Wales, and Scotland and will ensure adequate ‘guidance is provided to government departments and public bodies on how to meet the needs of people who use BSL as their first or preferred language.’
The Act was unanimously unopposed in the House of Lords and became law in June 2022. The British Deaf Association is committed to ensuring the government meets the criteria of the act, and is working towards “Establishing a non-statutory Advisory Board where representatives of the Deaf community can advise public services, increasing the number of registered interpreters [and] improving ‘Access to Work’ provision for claimants and employers.”
For Kwakye, being trained as a barista brings hope, as she had previously faced “a lot of rejections” and “barriers” created by contacting companies through interpreters. “Companies like this are really important as they create job opportunities for the deaf community that we wouldn’t normally have.”, she said.
It is hoped that more baristas will be trained for the scheme in the coming weeks and months.
Speaking to the BBC, Mathieu Proust, a chief operating officer for international at WeWork, said he was looking forward to seeing I Love Coffee’s “positive work for the deaf community ripple across the capital”.
Last month, British Broadcasting Company (BBC) Arabic Radio permanently went off air after 85 years of broadcasting. The station’s shutdown comes as part of a move to cut spending costs and focus more on digital programming.
The BBC has said it is cutting several hundred jobs in its World Service departments, due to rising inflation and a government freeze on the license fee the corporation receives. At least 382 jobs worldwide are said to be affected, as the BBC shifts to digital content production amid a $35m funding gap.
Until 2014, the service was funded by the British Foreign Office and has since relied on taxpayers, advertising, and government grants to keep going.
BBC Arabic is not alone in the cuts and World Service is ending programming in at least 10 other languages including Persian, Chinese, Hindi, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Bengali, Indonesian, Tamil, and Urdu. Some services including BBC Arabic will remain as a programmed digital service. Chinese, Gujarati, Igbo, Indonesian, Pidgin, Urdu, Yoruba, and Arabic will have a scheduled online presence.
In the UK, it was the first radio station of its kind and aired its first broadcast in 1938 as part of the British Empire Service. Its intent was to counteract Italian and German pre-war propaganda and featured one news bulletin a day. It progressed with morning readings of the Quran and eventually moved to offer several daily news broadcasts on UK and Levantine time.
Over the coming years, the station extensively covered World War II, the 1956 Suez Crisis, Arab-Israeli wars, the invasion of Iraq, protests, and ongoing coverage of the conflict in Palestine.
The news has been met with sadness around the globe and many have taken to social media to express their thoughts. One Twitter user wrote “It’s very disappointing that the BBC decided to get rid of one of its most listened-to radio services in its history. People in places like Sudan don’t have access to modern technology, and they rely on the BBC radio service, particularly the BBC Arabic for their daily news.”
Another said, “It was shocking news for all Yemeni listeners from all over the country, even the rural and remote areas. BBC radio was their only connection to the world. That’s really sad news.”
Speaking to the Middle East Eye, editor-in-chief of BBC Arabic radio, Adel Soliman, described the last broadcast as an “emotional day” and assured listeners that there are imminent plans to upload the station’s historical broadcasts to the online BBC archive.
Remember during a test when you were staring at the ceiling in elementary school, and the teacher asked you if the answer was on the ceiling? Maybe it was.
Here is a suggestion I hope we can include in literacy education that costs nothing but can make life much easier and more productive for writers. It also has the potential for providing a writer with new and better understandings. It requires that we understand writer’s blocks and how to deal them. We all have experienced writer’s blocks: they happen when we are not sure what comes next, or something is missing or “just not right,” and we don’t know what to do about it.
Writer’s blocks are good news! They mean we are about to learn something. The cure is revision. There are steps to take to make revision not only painless but also satisfying and even pleasurable.
When a block appears, get up from the table and take a short break and do something mindless.
The short break allows the subconscious mind to incubate and come up with solutions to the problems the writer is facing.
This is what the mathematician Poincaré (1924) did: when reaching a block in his work, he would stop and do something that required little thinking, such as putting some wood on the fire, and the block would start to dissolve.
Tolle (1999) claimed that this kind of incubation is a universal process: “All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness” (p. 20).
It is important to then return to the writing and write down the ideas that the subconscious produced, and without a long delay: “The story may be true of the man [sic] who had such a brilliant idea that he went into his garden to thank God for it, found on rising to his knees that he had forgotten it, and never recalled it” (Wallas, 1926, p. 85).
For breaks and incubation to do their job, the writer has to first write something. For many of us, the hardest part is writing the first draft. Hemingway solved this for me with this observation: ”The first draft of anything is shit.” We must accept the fact that the first draft and subsequent drafts will require revision. When blocks happen to me, and they do all the time, I wash a few dishes, check the mail, or do (just one) exercise. This has the added advantage of giving me a way to deal with disagreeable or boring tasks while being productive. The composing process, for me, looks like this: srite, a block appears, take a break/incubate, write down the new idea, write, a block appears… repeat many times. In writing this paper, I experienced 37 writer’s blocks.
Poincaré, H. (1924). “Mathematical Creation.” Excerpts reprinted in P. E. Vernon (Ed.), Creativity, Middlesex, England: Penguin (1970), pp. 77–88. Tolle, E. (1999). The Power of Now. New World Library. Wallas, G. (1926). The Art of Thought. Excerpts reprinted in P. E. Vernon (Ed.), Creativity, Middlesex, England: Penguin (1970), pp. 91–97.
Stephen Krashen is professor emeritus Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California.
In México, a new national university specializing in Indigenous language courses is set to begin classes by September, the Mexican National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) has announced.
The foundational documents for the new University of Indigenous Languages of México (ULIM) were signed by Adelfo Regino Montes, INPI’s general director, at a recent ceremony organized in conjunction with International Mother Language Day, on Feb. 21. Opening with a ritual of gratitude to Mother Earth, the ceremony at México City’s Tlatelolco University Cultural Center featured speeches by the principals of various Indigenous and educational institutes – some delivered in Indigenous languages.
In 2020, President López Obrador made a formal commitment to create ULIM in Milpa Alta borough, México City.
A statement by INPI said “The creation of ULIM seeks the teaching of courses and the establishment of research faculties, with the purpose of strengthening and developing the linguistic heritage of México, based on respect and recognition of multilingualism,” —an objective also identified and supported by the UN’s Decade of Indigenous Languages.
Initially the ULIM will offer four degrees: Teaching of Indigenous Languages; Interpretation and Translation of Indigenous Languages; Literature in Indigenous Languages; and Indigenous Intercultural Communication. Learning through linguistic immersion, students will be partially evaluated through community projects promoting the development of their chosen language.
INPI director Regino Montes explained “This is the raw material of our nascent university; we are going to make a wide call to the whole country to form part of our teaching staff, as well as the academic and research teams for each degree,” he added. “This university, unlike in the past, is not a unilateral creation from above; here the people of Milpa Alta have been heard and consulted.”
As of 2023, 68 different Indigenous languages are counted by México’s National Institute of Indigenous Languages (INALI) with approximately 7 million speakers, according to the most recent census data. The most widely spoken are Nahuatl and Maya.
However numbers of Indigenous language speakers are waning at a rapid rate, putting several native tongues at risk of extinction—partially due to historic prohibitions in using Indigenous languages in educational spaces.
Despite the outlaw of detrimental linguistic prohibitions, work is being done to ensure the prevention of linguistic discrimination in México. At the recent ceremony, Claudia Morales Reza, president of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred), emphasized that Indigenous language speakers in México still face systemic discrimination.
Bertha Dimas, INPI’s coordinator of cultural heritage, research and education said “The [ULIM] has the tasks of recovery, revitalization, promotion and encouragement of the use of national languages. The results we expect from the ULIM’s academic activities will be to increase the effective number of speakers, so that we do not lose one more language.”
In a landmark move before the close of 2022, the United Nations finally launched what it calls the International Decade of Indigenous Languages—a ten-year “survival plan” to protect global Indigenous languages from extinction, in response to predictions that more than half of all languages will be lost by the end of the 21st century.
From the remaining Ika-speaking Arhuaco people of Colombia to remote Indigenous Arctic communities, this initiative gives hope to thousands of native peoples fighting to keep their ancestral tongues alive.
The UN remains a longstanding advocate of Indigenous, First Nation, and minority peoples, aiming to continually educate global communities on the importance of unique cultural preservation. The plan urges countries to support their own Indigenous communities, working together to understand the importance and nuances of each microculture in order to protect and nurture their rights. In addition to a continued legacy of heritage, history, and education, the conservation of linguistic diversity is key in safeguarding Indigenous communities from exploitation. Statistics published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) (www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/04/Indigenous-Languages.pdf) cite that Indigenous communities amount to less than 6% of the global population yet claim more than 4,000 of the world’s estimated 6,700 languages.
Addressing a global pool of advocates and Indigenous representatives, the president of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, explained, “With each Indigenous language that goes extinct, so too goes the thought: the culture, tradition, and knowledge it bears. That matters because we are in dire need of a radical transformation in the way we relate to our environment.”
At the recent UN Biodiversity Conference, Mr. Kőrösi spoke to audiences on the relationship between Indigenous languages, nature, and agriculture: “If we are to successfully protect nature, we must listen to Indigenous peoples, and we must do so in their own languages.” He added, “Every two weeks an Indigenous language dies… This should ring our alarms.”
As of 2023, Indigenous peoples are defenders and custodians to almost 80% of the planet’s remaining biodiversity and continue to be practitioners of crucial symbiotic routines. In a global fight toward ending climate change, Indigenous knowledge of the natural world holds utmost importance. With the recent launch, the UN strongly advises these capabilities are respected and that education and resources are upheld in native languages. The General Assembly president concluded, “Perhaps most importantly, [we must] meaningfully consult Indigenous peoples, engaging with them in every stage of decision-making processes.”
A move by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to make Hindi the country’s dominant language has been met with an atmosphere of hostility and friction.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been accused of pushing a one-sided agenda to promote “Hindi imposition” and “Hindi imperialism,” generating a heated backlash from non-Hindi-speaking states and communities in the south and east of the country. Tensions have intensified in recent weeks, with protesters taking to the streets of Kolkata defiantly displaying the message “Say No to Hindi Imposition.” In the Tamil community, the news has only brought anguish. In November, police reported that M. V. Thangavel, an 85-year-old farmer in Tamil Nadu, read a statement intended for Modi outside a local political office. “Modi government, central government, we don’t want Hindi… get rid of Hindi,” he proclaimed. Thangavel then set himself alight in protest and tragically did not survive.
In a recent speech, M. K. Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, said, “The BJP is trying to destroy other languages by trying to impose Hindi and make it one language on the basis of its ‘one nation, one everything’ policy.” After a fractious political and linguistic past in Tamil Nadu, today only Tamil and English are taught in public schools.
India remains one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, with over 700 languages and thousands of state, regional, and even community-localized dialects. Despite rising tensions, World Hindi Day will be observed as planned on January 10—a day signifying the anniversary of the first Hindi words spoken at the United Nations General Assembly in 1949.
According to the most recent census in 2011, 43.63% of the country was classed as Hindi speaking, yet relative to the 1.2 billion population (2011) other languages such as Bengali, Marathi, and Tamil, which make up less than 10% each, still amounted to millions of speakers. In 1949, a new constitution dictated that India should not adhere to one national language. Instead, 14 languages at the time (now 22) were formally denoted, with Hindi and English declared as official languages for the purpose of government communication. In the decades since, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to make Hindi the sole official and dominant language of India, each time resulting in violent protests and causing the government to U-turn.
Multilingualism remains at the heart of India. Contrary to mass political efforts toward the adoption of Hindi, more individual media and streaming outlets are making content accessible to alternative- and minority-language speakers. In a drive to make its videos more inclusive, YouTube is to enable multiple language options, including some regional dialects, for Indian users.
At a recent Google for India event, Ishan John Chatterjee, director of YouTube India, revealed that the company will initially start trialing an option to change audio tracks on health-related videos. “Video is a particularly efficient strategy for disseminating health information in a way that is understandable and accessible to everyone, not just a professional audience. We want to help truly democratize important health information,” he said.
Beyond privately owned companies, entire states and regions in India continue to push for resources in languages other than Hindi and English. In West Bengal, native Bengali speakers are not able to open a bank account, fill out a tax return, or book a railway ticket in their mother tongue. In response to the BJP’s claims that a national level of Hindi will bring unity, Bangla Pokkho, a Bengali nationalist group established in 2018, insists diversity is the only valid future for India.
Speaking to the Guardian, the group’s general secretary Garga Chatterjee said, “They want to transform India from a union of diverse states to one a nation state, where people who speak Hindi are treated as first-class citizens while we non-Hindi people, including Bengalis, are second-class citizens.”
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