Thread by @sankrant

All countries serious about their languages have commissions for creating new words with regular updates.

In India, word creation was itself made into a joke.

Train would be लोह पथ आमनी गमनी यंत्र (with a laugh)

Aim was to kill native language growth with wholesale import. 1/

If you look at signs even in small town India today, say UP, even those in devanagari script are largely English words. This is not how other countries did it.

For e.g. when I was in China, no one understood "bus" "train" ATM" or even "internet." They had their own words. 2/

I started looking at Thai language because Thailand is one country which was never colonized and has a language closely based on Sanskrit. It was part of Indic civilizations. Do they also have a wholesale import. What word do they have for train?

train รถไฟ Rt̄hfị रथभी (?)
3/

So train is a simple word which is a derivative of Sanskrit "Rath." It doesn't need the absurd contortions suggested by लोह पथ आमनी गमनी यंत्र. You create a simple word and it comes into usage. Let's look at some other Thai words.

bicycle isรถจักรยาน (Rt̄hcạkryān) रथचक्रयान
4/

How about train "station" which again is just an imported word in India.

Station สถานี (S̄t̄hānī)स्थानी

Station, bicycle, all these have simple sweet Sanskrit words in Thai.

Car is another derivative of Rath.

carรถยนต์ (Rt̄hynt̒) रथयून

5/

How about other "modern" words?

Bank ธนาคาร Ṭhnākhār धनकार

"World Bank" becomes a simple, sweet:

World Bankธนาคารโลก (Ṭhnākhārlok) धनकारलोक

Language destruction is not inevitable. By contrast @pmoIndia has made an ugly mixed script Hinglish its official language.

6/

A lot of times people complain that the Sanskrit words are too difficult. Because of lack of investment in #IndianLanguages for higher education, elite had no exposure to technical Sanskrit words.

Difficult Sanskrit words led to derision, difficult English words were "erudite."

Status of English in India is due to govt policy. All prestigious institutions—IITs, IIMs, AIIMS are English only. This is *not* true in other countries around the globe—top scientists, doctors, business moguls, filmmakers may not speak any English at all.

https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/796219483366920193?s=20

However, more recently, Thai language has also started importing English words. Why? There used to be a global Sanskrit knowledge ecosystem, centered around India.

Now mothership India has abandoned Sanskrit in English slavery, so SE Asia is orphaned, become a much smaller pool.

If India were having a vibrant #IndianLanguage ecosystem for higher ed, with Sanskrit terms, links to SE Asia would become stronger with global technical conferences using Sanskrit vocabulary.

Now Thai people have started looking to China. More of India's "English advantage."

So many initiatives can be taken:

1. Translate technology books into #IndianLanguages.
2. Spread awareness of the problems, talk to friends, share my book and talks.
3. In companies, take interviews in #IndianLanguages.
4. Your suggestions ...

https://twitter.com/MANISHJ45861523/status/1290553934818418690?s=20

Wow didn't know that. So making Sanskrit words diificult was certainly quite deliberate it seems.

The contrast with non-colonized Thai is quite obvious.

https://twitter.com/vakibs/status/1290574799207649281?s=19

Just 150 years or so ago, academic work in India was happening in Sanskrit. Today it is considered absurd to use Sanskrit for academia as link language. This is what colonialism does.

The destruction of Sanskrit was *accelerated* after "independence."

https://twitter.com/vakibs/status/1265272443343564800?s=20