|
Dzongkha:
Bhutan's national language
|
 |
Bhutan's
Culture: Dzongkha |
|
|
Bhutan Information |
|
|
 |
|
Dzongkha:
No readers
|
 |
 |
When
was the last time you read a book written in Dzongkha? For most people
it is the Dzongkha textbooks that they read in school or college to prepare
for examinations. If Bhutanese, in general, have poor reading habits, there
are literally only a few people who read publications in Dzongkha.
"I
don't remember the last time I read a Dzongkha book to the last page,"
says a corporate employee, Ugyen. "After the Namthar (biography) I read
in college, I never read any other Dzongkha publications," he said. |
|
Apart
from limited Dzongkha readers, reading materials in the national language
are even fewer. The few that are available are lying covered in dust in
the bookstalls and libraries.
The
only public library in the capital does not have any Dzongkha books for
its members.
According
to librarian Chandra Gurung, the public library has 62 adults and 89 children
as its members and none of them read Dzongkha, hence the library did not
have any Dzongkha books.
The
National Library does have a sizable collection of Dzongkha publications,
mostly in Choekey, which very few people can read.
 |
| "Very
few people buy Dzongkha books", said the salesman of DSB publication, a
bookshop in Thimphu. "It takes more than three years to sell about 500
copies of books published in Dzongkha," he added.
Kezang
Choden of the KMT bookshop, which mostly sells Dzongkha publications, said
that most of the customers were gelongs (monks), anims (nuns), and gomchens
(laymonks).
The
sales girl does not remember selling any book to a student. |
|
"Unless
the Ministry of Education buys the books, customers are very limited,"
said another bookshop owner
Many
people said that it was difficult to read anything written in Dzongkha
leave alone writing.
"I
am sure many would have forgotten to write their names correctly in Dzongkha,"
said a civil servant reasoning that the language was 'very complex' compared
with English language.
According
to teachers, the poor interest in Dzongkha was because students studied
the language not out of interest but just to get through their examinations.
Researchers
at the Dzongkha Development Authority (DDA) attribute the lack of interest
to the lack of literature in Dzongkha.
 |
| A
researcher said that while there was not much literature, the poor knowledge
in Dzongkha grammar is also an impediment.
"To
develop interest in Dzongkha, grammar books need to be revised and spellings
should be simplified," said researcher Pema Wangdi of the DDA .
Many
students also considered reading and speaking Dzongkha as 'unfashionable'
among themselves. "Speaking English is a matter of pride," said a class
IX student of Yangchenphug Higher Secondary School. "If you fail in Dzongkha
it is not embarrassing, but if you fail in English, it is shameful," he
said. |
|
DDA
Dzongkha experts are writing short stories, comics and translating Choekey
into simplified Dzongkha.
The
Public Library is also conducting reading classes among its student members
where Dzongkha reading is one of the activities.
Meanwhile,
DSB publications will be conducting a book fair by the end of this month
at Jigme Sherubling High School in Khaling, Trashigang.
The
revised Dzongkha curriculum from pre primary (PP) to Class XII, which is
to be implemented in three phases from next year, rates reading skills
as a priority among the students.
| By
Jamyang Phuntsho, first published by KUENSEL, Bhutan's National Newspaper
2006 |
 |
| Information on Bhutan |
|
| Links |
|
 |
|
External
Links |
|
