| I think no one would object the idea of contribution to global science and engineering. However, do consider the fact that as a Pakistani nation, we have not yet been able to really benefit, at least in terms of economics, from the present day scientific discoveries and engineering knowledge. As part of my previous job, I have visited major industries in Pakistan and came to know there is just not any real engineering industry in our country. What we have is a few assembling factories and that is it. Reason, whatever scientific and engineering knowledge that our elite possess does not correlate with our society. And the major factor is the communication gap due to the language that scientists and engineers speak and that the commoners don't follow. Contribution to global science and engineering would seem plausible only if we solved our domestic engineering problems and have enough of our own infrastructure in terms of universities, institutions, publishing and the most important an engineering industry. Again this is not possible without involvement of masses and their language. Apart from science and engineering, what is preventing our universities from offering arts, humanities and social sciences subjects in our own language? Why do my children in primary school need to study even Islamic studies in English language? Why not good schools, specially the residential ones offer education in Urdu? Why are our children not able to read a literary piece in our own language? I have personally seen many parents taking pride in disclosing the fact that their kids do not know even Urdu alphabets. I have a feeling that as a nation, we have just fallen into the habit of mimickry. We mimick another language, culture and customs. This sort of mimickry will kill any leadership qualities from our younger generations. In the end, I would like to know about any country from the present day or history that adopted a foreign language and culture and then developed into a civislized society? Is there any? -- Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam
--- On Wed, 2/20/13, Waqar Saleem <wsaleem@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Waqar Saleem <wsaleem@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [pakgrid] Digital Circuits book in URDU-contribution to a national cause
To: pakgrid@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 12:11 AM
Dear Farooq-i-Azam,
You are right. The German scene is thriving. You can get by perfectly well in Germany without knowing a word of English. However, at least the post-graduate Computer Science and Engineering departments at their universities are switching to English. German universities are also abandoning their much celebrated Diplom system for the Bachelor/Master system. This illustrates the need they feel to fall in line with global academia and their efforts in this regard. Another factor to consider when discussing Germany is that German once used to be the lingua franca of science, like English today. There is thus a long tradition of science and publishing in the German language before English gained prominence. Therefore, no extra effort has to be invested in propagating that tradition. Also, as I argued above, this tradition is slowly giving way to English. In the case of Urdu, no such tradition exists and establishing such a culture in Urdu would require a huge effort. This effort, I propose, would be better spent towards contributing to science as it is rather than creating a parallel system that is always playing catch-up. Best,
Waqar
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