Just recently, a video of the Aspire College girls visiting Murree went viral on social media. While the video made rounds here and there, memes regarding the girl who had a slip of tongue and said, “We are proud of you” to a reporter of a local news channel was mocked and ridiculed.
The reported asked the Aspire College student her feelings regarding the trip so far and in excitement, which is very common when you are on national TV for the first time, she spoke in English and went totally out of context and told they report, “We are proud of you”. The reporter uploaded the video on his Facebook page (later removed it) when the friends of the ‘We are proud of you’ girl claimed that she is under severe depression and “wants to kill herself“.
Facebook page: Satirical Affairs
While there is no truth behind whether this said claim of the girl being depressed is true or not, it sure made Pakistanis realize how extremely unethical it is to mock someone based on their speaking skills, that too when we know that English is not our mother language.
Ushna Shah, the Bashr-e-Momin lead actress who made a lot of news in 2014 after her breakthrough performance recently talked on how Pakistanis should be proud of their mother language and must not care if they don’t know how to speak proper English.
Here’s What She Had To Say:
Ushna mentioned in her video how important it is for entertainers (media personalities) to shed light on important social matters as part of their responsibilities since their voices can be heard in larger masses. While Ushna was addressing the girl who had a slip of tongue, she also highlighted how Pakistanis should be proud of Urdu, the lashkari zaban. Ushna shares her personal experience in the video as well – she explains when she moved back from Canada where she spent most of her life, she had problems in reading Urdu and that is what she believes is more embarrassing to a Pakistani than failure to speak proper English.
Ushna has addressed a matter in her video which most of the grammar-Nazis feel proud in doing everyday. While it shatters someone’s confidence, bullies enjoy using their “superior” English skills and feel they have an edge over someone just because they know the language better than someone else. What Pakistanis don’t understand is that is Urdu they should be proud of, not English.
Read Also: ‘Suno Kahani: Reader’s Club Promises Urdu’s Revival
