At some point before too long (probably between 2015 and 2020) India will have more home users of English than the US; not much longer afterwards, there could be more home users of English in India than the rest of the Anglosphere combined. This (especially given the cheapness of electronic publishing and dissemination) will mean that the bulk of English-language media will be produced in India. (If Bollywood learns how to appeal to US audiences, which it eventually will, that will also be true of visual media as well.) That means that not only will the Anglosphere change India, but India will change the Anglosphere.
Not many people are thinking about what this really means. They should be. Bush's trip to India, and the deal made there today, may end up being the single most consequential act of the Bush presidency.
Personally, I already like Bollywood movies.
(By the way, notice where the original story's from. Someone is paying attention.)
10 comments:
Well, maybe David Gregory could stand to learn some English (along with his Scotch).
The other day the Times(UK) had an excellent article indicating the initiative toward India was entirely Bush's idea. And a good one it is. We are natural allies.It is the most amazing country I have ever been in and it is utilizing technology and capitalism to change in a way that can only be described as a miracle.It is something to drive along a two lane highway in Rajasthan with overturned overloaded trucks, highly decorated buses, elephants, donkeys, wild boars, dogs, etc and pass a wooden shack with a hand lettered sign reading "internet access". And an eyeopener to see a small village of weavers thriving because someone got the head a cell phone, a visa business account and forced the Indian postal authoroties to open a station there--eliminating the middlemen and allowing them to sell their products all over the world.
Time to write off Europe which is dying and embrace the most vital, vibrant, democratic country outside of our own.
Some say this maybe the most important initiative of the Bush presidency..and most people do not seem to notice.
Here's your hook, with a tip of the hat to Professor Higgins:
Why can't the English?
Yes, I'm waiting for Bollywood to wake up to the fact that they could be making movies that would sell here in the US, and not just to Indian immigrants.
They got beautiful women, handsome men, and all sorts of interesting history to play with.
Here's your hook, with a tip of the hat to Professor Higgins:
Suuuuure, give me a hook line now....
knucklehead-"Monsoon Wedding"
Seneca..I hat tipped ya--this is such an important piece of news. http://americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=4565
Knuck, India didn't join the NPT (back in the Indira Gandhi days as I recall) because they already had a nuclear weapons program. They don't want to join NPT now becausse they've got nuclear weapons, and they don't open their non-power reactors to IAEA inspections for the same reason we don't: they don't want the IAEA to know.
What this does is increases economic ties with India, while reducing their capability for reprocessing and thereby limiting their ability to make more bombs.
The WSJ notes this:
"For some time Dow Jones, the parent company of this newspaper, has been interested in publishing an Indian edition of The Wall Street Journal, either as a stand-alone product akin to our European and Asian editions, or in partnership with an Indian newspaper.
Until 2002, foreign investment in Indian news and current-affairs publications was forbidden. Yet the current, "liberalized" regime is hardly better. Foreign ownership is capped at 26%, while the principal "local" partner must own at least 51% of the paid-up capital. Foreign publishers are allowed to print what's known as a "facsimile" edition of their newspapers in India, but those editions can include only limited local content and no local advertising, all but guaranteeing their unprofitability. In addition, government regulations require that three-quarters of directors and all key business and editorial staff would have to be resident Indians.
These Byzantine regulations have so far dissuaded Dow Jones from expanding its footprint in India, and we are sure we're not the only company to have figured likewise. That's a pity for us, but we think it's an even bigger pity for Indian readers whose tastes in news and analysis might just be as globalized as the economy in which they are increasingly prospering. Let's hope that in the months and years ahead, the agreements forged this week will help India further shed its socialist past and open new opportunities for everyone. " http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110008048
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