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Old Monday, December 09, 2013
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Default Reason why Pak Eng Newspapers have Difficult English?

Dear members.

I am fond of reading of reading newspapers every day of not only Pakistan but also other major international news papers. Specially Washington Post, LA Times,Herald, Financial Times UK and The Guardian. I also read Pakistani news paper like DAWN and THE NEWS and some times THE FRONTIER POST.

I have noticed rather strange thing. The countries whose first language is English use very easy English in their newspapers and I rarely open a dictionary to find out a meaning of a word when I read UK or USA news papers. However when I read DAWN or THE NEWS, most of the time I am only looking at dictionary. What is the reason of that ? The situation should have been opposite where UK and USA using difficult English in their news paper as their first language is English and Pak news papers using Easy English as its not their first Language.

Are Pakistani English news paper only written for those with strong English or is it the mindset of our society that we want to show our skills and quality to other people and show them that you are not better then us?

If Dawn is writing an English Newspaper, or the people who are writing articles and opinions in Dawn or The News, do they want to show to people that we have a very strong English? And this is sadly a typical mindset in our society. Everyone wants to show to others that they are better then you from individuals to institutions etc.

Those who disagree with me straightaway, I will recommend them to first read a foreign English Newspaper once and compare with our's. I personally thing news paper is something in which you should write in a way where vast majority of people can understand rather then showing your English vocabulary and giving an impression that 'I am better then you'. Vocabulary is something which can be learnt from dictionary by anyone who makes an effort, however newspaper has other purposes.

In this regard I think we should learn something from Western English Newspapers because despite of English being their first Language they always use very simple easy English which can be easily understood and saves you alot of time and fulfills the purpose of newspaper which is to Educate the reader in short time about what is happening around the world.

Seniors what do you say about this ? Those who have passed CSS must have definitely read international news paper during their preparation and will probably agree with me.
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Old Monday, December 09, 2013
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And yes, indeed they are able to make that impression successfully in minds of many people. When I started reading Dawn for the first time I was so impressed by their English. But when I started reading USA and UK newspapers and articles in their newspapers, I asked my self a question, why are they not trying to make their impression? Its because English is the first language of people here, so there is no point showing to people that you have a better English as people will give a damn about it and are not impressed by your level of English. We in South Asia specially India and Pakistan are very much impressed by English. You must have noticed people giving that extra attention to those having good command over English. People here are obsessed with English not their national language and probably that's the reason why our local English Newspapers and writers use such level of English where they are successful to give a impression to people that 'We are better then you, we have strong English' but does not fulfill the full purpose of a Newspaper.
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Old Wednesday, December 18, 2013
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You are absolutely right. For Pakistan English Newsv esp dawn, they might think WE KNOW THAT MUCH ENGLISH. tribune has changed the trend saome how. For foreign i.e. time, W post, economist they try to convey the message effectively, and that readers could enjoy and it is the truth. I myself enjoy reading mostly Fareed Zakaria esp but paki.... Dictionary nikallll....
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Old Friday, December 20, 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pakistan10 View Post
And yes, indeed they are able to make that impression successfully in minds of many people. When I started reading Dawn for the first time I was so impressed by their English. But when I started reading USA and UK newspapers and articles in their newspapers, I asked my self a question, why are they not trying to make their impression? Its because English is the first language of people here, so there is no point showing to people that you have a better English as people will give a damn about it and are not impressed by your level of English. We in South Asia specially India and Pakistan are very much impressed by English. You must have noticed people giving that extra attention to those having good command over English. People here are obsessed with English not their national language and probably that's the reason why our local English Newspapers and writers use such level of English where they are successful to give a impression to people that 'We are better then you, we have strong English' but does not fulfill the full purpose of a Newspaper.
Unfortunately you are very much right. Although I am not senior enough to fully cover whole of the aspects involved in this misfortune of our society but I will try to put my opinion, right or wrong, here.
What I think is that our very first relation with English as a language was when East India Company started flourishing in Subcontinent and, of course, at that time the west was advancing in every field of human life and they made astonishing discoveries and strange inventions etc. All this was leaving the same impression on the rest of the world as was left by the supremacy of Muslims during their climax. Under such impression of inferiority complex every region adopted the languages of their new sophisticated rulers as we can see the usage of French language in previous French colonies of Africa.

Now as long as the rulers kept ruling the colonies, their language kept on evolving along with them. But as soon as they left, the evolution of language stopped although this evolution continued in the regions of which it was regional language. With stop of that evolution we are still conveying that old styled and traditional vocabulary which we inherited from old English people. But on the other hand our own regional language is still evolving in simpler and simpler form at the same land among same people.
And yes no doubt this is all due to our inferiority complex and our spoiled system where we ourselves place that person on height of respect who can use different vocabulary.
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