No.199-2　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　

"Namaste" is the word used in greetings in Nepal and India. It is a very convenient word that can represent both "good evening" and "good-bye". It derives from a Sanskrit word meaning "I respect you". Nepal has strong associations with Japan since Buddha was born in a place called Lumbini in the country. Nepal also has Mt. Everest, so we often hear the name of the country when we talk about mountain climbing. Furthermore, Japan is the world's biggest donor to the country to help the country develop.

I was motivated to study Nepal languages in 1968 when I heard Dr Iwamura, who was giving medical services in Nepal, say in his lecture that he had a problem with his work because there are too many languages for smooth communication.

　

　" Nepal, a multi-ethnic and multilingual nation"

Nepal is called a melting pot. It has had an influx of many races from Tibet, various places in India, and Mongolians since before the Christ. As a result, Nepal has so many languages as to be called a museum of languages. There are 33 languages and dialects spoken by 35 tribes, which can be roughly classified into 4 languages. The so-called Nepalese belong to a linguistic stock of the Indo-Aryan language. Although the government is trying to disseminate the language, only half of the people can understand it. The grammar is similar to that of Japanese with a sentence structured in the order of a subject, an object and a predicate, which makes it relatively easy for the Japanese people to learn. Other languages are members of Tibetan/ Burmese, Munda (South Asia), or Dravidian (South India) stock. There are 4 written languages including Devanagari (India), and Tibetan. People have long lived isolated in mountains and valleys, so on top of multilingualism, they also have a problem of the change and split of a language that could have made over time. As a result, some people could not understand a neighboring villager.　

Many people in urban areas learn English, which is necessary to work as migrant labor. The government has been trying to build small schools at various places to spread Nepalese, but the enterprise has not been completely successful since good teachers are difficult to come by. Now, an alternative plan is being drawn up to preserve and promulgate the official language, Nepalese, as well as mother tongues of each tribe, some of which do not have written languages.

I think that Japan should focus on aid that is implemental in bridging people's hearts rather than just building a bridge or a school. For example, we can help to write a textbook that teaches an ethnic minority how to read and write in their own local language.

Mrs. Ingrid Toba (German), who conducted language research with Mr. Toba, also attended the lecture to speak about difficulties she had there in acquiring languages from ABC. We also had a precious opportunity to listen to a speech about the current situation of Nepal in a Nepal language by Ms. Anu, who is from Nepal and now studying in a UNESCO Japanese class.

(By Tadashi Nakamura, a Training Program Committee member) The picture shows Mr. Toba (left) and Mr. Hirata, our vice-president explaining the national flag of Nepal.