Language Policy and Planning in NGO's in Sri Lanka

1.0 Introduction

According to Dharmadasa (1996)";language needs to be treated as a resource to be utilized for the best interests of the society at large" (3), a premise that holds true in any corporate activity, even that of Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's). NGO's play a large role in Sri Lankan society especially with regard to the ethnic conflict in the North and East and more recently, following the boxing day tsunami of 2004, where numerous NGO's stepped up to grant relief for those affected. Given that Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country NGO's are expected to serve without discrimination and it is important to monitor whether NGO's within the country genuinely observe the language rights of the people they serve in their daily work.

Interestingly, a Parliamentary Select Committee and a Cabinet-appointed Committee are currently working separately to look into NGO activities in Sri Lanka, with their main intentions being to propose certain revisions to the current law pertaining to NGO's in the country. However neither one of these committees has even considered examining NGO language policies which is a vital part of any organization. After all, any activity, any service requires communication, and in a tri-lingual country such as Sri Lanka, its importance is paramount.

This project will discuss the reactions of the members interviewed from the above mentioned committees, and will also look at the informal language policies of two frontline NGO's in Sri Lanka that participate proactively in the attempts to eliminate the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. These language policies have been termed 'informal' because they are unwritten policies but those that are generally in acceptance within the two relevant NGO's.

2.0 Methodology

The data for this project has been obtained through face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews. I have also referred to the relevant literature in the field in order to substantiate my arguments.

3.0 Language policies in two NGO's in Sri Lanka

For the purpose of this discussion, the two NGO's that have been selected are the 'Center for Policy Alternatives'(CPA) and the 'National Peace Council'(NPC). The following is an introduction into the separate organizations.

3.1 The Center for Policy Alternatives1

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) was formed in 1996 and focuses primarily on issues of governance and conflict resolution, and is committed to programs of research and advocacy through which public policy is critiqued, alternatives identified and disseminated. The CPA identifies itself as an independent, non-partisan organization which receives funds from international and bilateral funding agencies and foundations.

CPA programs are implemented through 05 units - Legal and Constitutional, Media, Conflict and Peace, Polling and Translation. Monitoring of election related violence is conducted through the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), formed together with the Free Media Movement (FMM) and the Coalition Against Political Violence. CPA functions as its secretariat.

The work if these units range from public interest litigation and constitutional reform to the monitoring of the incidence of election-related violence, media reform, conflict transformation and a political solution to the ethnic conflict.

3.2 The National Peace Council2

The National Peace Council of Sri Lanka (NPC) is an independent conflict resolution organization dedicated to support and facilitate a negotiated solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The energetic response of the public to a campaign against election violence in July 1994, organized by an inter-religious group of individuals and organizations, led to the formation of a Peace Task Force. The strategic intervention that this group made in the peace process, particularly during the Presidential Election campaign, led to the first National Peace conference in November 1994. This conference provided a mandate for the formation of the National Peace Council, which was established on the 2nd of February 1995.

3.3 The following are the language policies in the above-mentioned NGOs in the areas of Recruitment, Projects/Workshops and Publications/Documents.

•Recruitment

The Executive Director of the CPA Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu says that when recruiting employees for his NGO, he obviously prefers candidates who are competent in English, Sinhala and Tamil. However, he added that if the necessity for other qualifications in the candidate overrides the need for language proficiency, then the candidate would still be hired regardless of his/her language proficiencies. For instance he says, if the NGO requires a candidate who is well-trained in the legal profession, and the candidate he wishes to appoint is only able to speak one language (either English, Sinhala or Tamil), then the candidate would still be recruited regardless of the language factor.

The National Peace Council says that when recruiting employees it would definitely look for those proficient in two languages (either the two national languages or a national language and English), but like at the CPA the languages depend on the post that is being filled. Again, job qualifications precede language capabilities.

Linguists note that when there is adequate motivation to learn a language, more people strive to learn it.Malaysia is a case in point where the Malaysian government gave Malay, which is the national language of the country a premium value. David (2004) observes that "A language is accepted more readily if the target language is given value in academic and professional domains" (87). Thus, if these NGO's ascribe equal value to language capabilities and qualifications, then they would have a well-rounded staff because people would aspire to reach that target. As it is, since qualifications are given precedence over language capabilities, language experts need to be recruited from outside the staff when necessary.

The following are the language capabilities of the employees at the two NGO's under discussion.

* The figures indicated in this table are rough numbers given by the NGO's concerned

* These figures include only the permanent staff of the two NGO's

It is noteworthy here that when asked by the relevant official of the NPC as to which two languages those who fall into the 'bilingual' category speak, he said that he cannot provide the accurate statistics since the NPC has no documentation available in this regard. However, he said that the management of the NGO is generally aware of the language capabilities of its employees.

At the CPA however, it was pointed out that out of the 5 people who are primarily Tamil speakers 3 or 4 are also somewhat proficient in English and Sinhala. 50% of the NGO's total employees are proficient both in Sinhala and English. Again, the administration did not possess the exact statistics because it has not been documented.

Although both these NGO's seem to be trying their best to conduct transparent and trilingual operations that will serve the society at large, it should be pointed out that they have not paid adequate attention to the language capabilities within their own staff. As indicated in this project, no documentation is available on the language abilities of each employee which could result in finances being unnecessarily spent on outside translators when there may be capable people in-house who could carry out translation tasks. An official from the NPC said however that it is not always possible to keep proper documentation of its staff's language capabilities as most often people are employed only for projects that last over a couple of weeks or months. Therefore, as the 'traffic' of people moving in and out of these NGO's is quite large, documentation would need constant revision which would be difficult. Still, since the figures given above pertain to the two NGO's permanent staff only, this argument does not hold as it is always possible to keep documentation of their permanent staff numbers.

Thus, the failure to recognize the need to be aware of their staff's language capabilities thus far is an indication of the lack of importance given to language proficiency within these organizations. Padilla (1999) states that "language is in a very real sense the glue that holds together a single social group or collectivity of groups that have enough in common to form complex social networks and to create and maintain culture" (111). Thus, the lack of knowledge by the authorities of such NGO's regarding the language capabilities of their human resources indicate a gap in their attempts to access social groups in the course of their daily operations.

An official from the NPC also felt that it was unimportant to conduct language-teaching classes for its employees so that they may be conversant in more languages. According to her, since the NPC deals with conflict-related issues it does not entail training its staff in English, Sinhala and Tamil. She obviously failed to realize that the ethnic issue involves dealing with people from different ethnicities and language capabilities, and thus having a trained staff to interact with them would be more beneficial to the NPC especially in terms of conserving its financial resources which would otherwise be spent on hiring translators.

NGO's cannot arbitrarily hire outside translators to bridge the deficit of those capable in the various languages. As Vaillancourt suggests, in a corporate environment "The cost of changing the language mix will depend on the availability of trained personnel and of the necessary services (translation services, language schools) and on the cost of these inputs"(169). NGO's are also not like other corporate organizations which as Vaillancourt (1983) points out, can ";pass along some of their costs, shifting them to the users of their products through higher prices or to their employees through lower wages"(170). Since NGO's depend on local and international donations to ensure their operations continue, it is best that they keep costs at a minimum, and training its employees to be proficient in English, Sinhala and Tamil as stipulated above is one means of doing so. It is also important in that employees be shown that the knowledge of more languages equals greater opportunities within the scope of their work.As Vaillancourt (1983) says, "Those with the right language skills will have greater opportunities while others will have lesser opportunities"(170).

The CPA however notes that it has initiated a program to educate its employees in the national languages, beginning with Tamil. However, an official at the CPA regretted that they were experiencing a slight delay in the program due to logistical reasons. Yet the initiative taken to implement such a program needs to be applauded.

•Projects/Workshops

At the CPA these are carried out in all three languages if necessary. Dr Saravanamuttu stated that most often, the language in which projects and workshops are carried out, depend on their nature/purpose. For instance, he noted that a conference/workshop on a legal subject would be carried out only in English because the audience was expected to be First Language speakers of English. He went on to say that as such, 'audience' is a key factor in determining the language in which the projects and workshops will be held. Therefore, if the target audience consists of Sinhala and Tamil language speakers as well, then translators would be made available. Dr Saravanamuttu also showed that for example, community-based workshops conducted for University students or media organizations would be held in Sinhala and Tamil only.

The NPC also indicates that the language in which Projects and workshops are held primarily depends on the audience, but often they are held in at least two languages. The geographical area that the project/workshop is being held is also taken into consideration when selecting the languages they are to be held in.

Ex:- In Colombo workshops/projects would be generally held in English and Sinhala, but the audience is always consulted beforehand with regard to the necessity of translations.

Thus, the "language marketplace" that Hence, Breton and Mieszkowski (1975) 3 allude to apply here, since the language spoken by the people in the area in which the workshop/project in held in determines the "language of work" (166).

3.4 Important Projects

The CPA operates a Vibhasha translation unit as a part of its projects. The following is a detailed description of the program.

3.4.1 TRANSLATION UNIT (Vibhasha) 4

This program was undertaken by the CPA to contribute towards the conflict resolution process in Sri Lanka. The CPA says that "Mutual understanding and effective communication among the diverse ethnic groups of Sri Lanka could be strengthened through creating a culture of respect and knowledge of each others' languages" which is what the Vibhasha program envisages.

The CPA points out that there is a dearth of competent translators in Sri Lanka, in addition to the fact that there are no standards of translation, nor any official certification or accountability. It interestingly reveals that "studies have demonstrated that in the Sri Lankan Mass Media, the Sinhala, Tamil and English publications of the same media organization reflect entirely different worldviews and do not engage in any dialogue with each other." The NGO also explains that in universities too bilingualism does not exist and the translation of key texts is not carried out, thereby limiting the learning process.

The CPA warns that "Unless this situation is remedied, Sri Lanka will lag a decade or so behind the rest of the world in popular access to disciplinary knowledge, as well as suffer internally due to the lack of communication between and among its multiple ethnic groups. The Vibhasha Translation Program was conceived as a remedial measure to help address these difficulties."
Components of Vibhasha
i) Translation Training Programme
This program trains and awards certificates to translators across social strata. The CPA says that the first program was completed by 28 out of a total of 64 students and obtained their certificates in 2003. The program is still continuing.
ii) Core Advisory Groups

At present, Vibhasha has 52 professionals representing the following six broad disciplinary areas:

Arts and Humanities

Social Sciences

Science and Technology

Business Administration and Accounting

Law and Public Administration

General Subject Areas (including Communication Studies)

The roles played by the members of the above Core Advisory Groups are stipulated below.

a. Assisting and overseeing the compilation of a single publication (the Vibhasha Volume),

The Core Advisory Groups have been successful in compiling four Volumes in the disciplines of Social Sciences, Science and Technology, Business Management and Public Administration. They have been published in Sinhala and Tamil. It was the intention of the Core Advisory Groups to target a potential multiple audience in the publication of these Volumes, such as university students, intellectuals etc. as well as the informed general reader. Their aim was to cater to all these strata of society and contribute to the general usage as well.

b. Serving as resource personnel in the Diploma Course in Translation Studies.

Meeting and interacting with the teaching staff and the students, and provides opportunity for students to obtain one-on-one feedback.

c. Meeting monthly to discuss translation issues within the core disciplinary areas, which is open to the public:

Includes providing guidance and expertise to translators, the Vibhasha team and others, and also helps to create a culture of translation through public exposure and dialogue.

iii) Vibhasha Newsletter

A bi-monthly newsletter is issued free of charge in all three languages on a national scale. The publication provides knowledge in the area of translation studies. The readership targeted spans across school children to the general public.

iv) Regional Centres

Vibhasha has set up Regional Centers to ensure wider accessibility. They have been established in Anuradhapura, Amparai, Batticoloa, Badulla, Galle, Kandy, Kurunegala, Tissamaharama and Vavuniya.

•Publications/ Documents/ Online facilities

The CPA sees the printing of over 200 publications during one quarter, and Dr Saravanamuttu explained that 60-70% of them are in all three languages (Sinhala, Tamil and English) while the rest come out in English with the exception of a handful that are published in Sinhala. This is mainly due to scarce resources and also the language capabilities of the editors. The Information Officer Chandrika Gadiewasam stated that the quarterly newsletter Alternatives is published only in English while the bi-monthly magazine Media Monitor is also available in Sinhala (Madhya Vimarshi) with a Tamil translation currently being carried out. The Peace Monitor first comes out in Sinhala titled Sama Vimarshi while a Tamil publication has also been printed, although Gadiewasam noted that the Tamil magazine was not a direct translation of the Sinhala publication. The reason for this is that the different language publications have different editors who are proficient in the language of the respective publication they are each in charge of. Thus, if the editor of the Tamil translation of Sama Vimarshi feels that certain articles in his publication deserve more attention than has been given in the Sinhala publication, then he does so according to his discretion, while he may do away with certain other articles that came out in the Sinhala publication. This applies to all the editors of the respective publications. It was also pointed out that all outreach publications come out in Sinhala and Tamil.

The CPA website, www.cpalanka.org is in English, but offers translations for its various projects/surveys in Sinhala and Tamil which are available in PDF format.

* The Executive Director of the CPA emphasized that translations of publications may take time depending on the resources (human and financial) available. Thus, he showed that sometimes the lack of time and money resulted in certain publications being done in only one language, that is, English.

At the NPC newsletters are published in all three languages. The language of booklets and other publications depend on the audience, and translations are done when needed. Its website however is solely in English although the organization says that if anyone should perhaps require a soft-copy translation of a news release etc., from the website, it can be facilitated depending on its importance.

* The National Peace Council noted that they have sufficient financial allocations for translations and translators if necessary. Translators are usually hired from outside the organization.

4.0 Parliamentary Select Committee investigating NGO Operations

A parliamentary select committee comprising members of parliament representing all political parties in Sri Lanka has been carrying out studies into NGO operations within the country over the past 9 months. The committee is headed by Parliamentarian Vijitha Herath who says that his committee expects to present an interim report in mid-November to parliament that looks at possible revisions to the current law pertaining to NGO's within the country. These revisions have been arrived at following in-depth studies in NGO economic activities, transparency within operations, projects, etc. However, when questioned with regard to studies on language policies within NGO's the parliamentarian said that there are no such studies that are being conducted either by his committee or any other, adding that NGO's are free to operate in whatsoever language they choose.

He however expressed his concern over certain NGO publications that have been found to be detrimental to the country's security as they seem to be spreading false ideologies among the public and school children. He said that the parliamentary committee proposes through its intended revisions to the existing law, to keep a check on NGO publications so as to safeguard the country's sovereignty. Sadly, when questioned regarding any precise language policies with regard to NGO operations, the parliamentarian implied that such policies were unimportant in the face of larger issues such as threats to the country's security.

It is surprising that while the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee is quite absorbed with the task of monitoring and curbing the publication of false ideologies by certain NGO's, he does not recognize that language is the vehicle through which such ideologies are transmitted and internalized. Belsey (2002) asserts that,

"Ideology is inscribed in language in the sense that it is literally written and spoken in it. Rather than a separate element which exists 		 		independently in some free floating realm of 'ideas' and is subsequently embodied in words, ideology is a way of thinking, speaking, 		experiencing (5). 		independently in some free floating realm of 'ideas' and is subsequently embodied in words, ideology is a way of thinking, speaking, 		 		experiencing (5)."

In fact, Woolard (1998) explains that Eagleton (1991) 5 points out that "the word 'ideology' is itself a text, woven of a tissue of conceptual strands" (5). Woolard speaks of four important strands, the first being "an understanding of ideology as ideational or conceptual, referring to mental phenomena; ideology has to do with consciousness, subjective representations, beliefs, ideas" (5). The second she says is "a conceptualization of ideology as derived from, rooted in, reflective of, or responsive to the experience or interests of a particular social position, even though ideology so often represents itself as universally true" (6). The third outlines that ideology "is a direct link to inhabitable positions of power- social, political, economic. Ideology is seen as ideas, discourse, or signifying practices in the service of the struggle to acquire or maintain power" (7). The fourth one says that ideology can be related to "distortion, illusion, error, mystification, or rationalization" (7). Taking all of this into account, one cannot ignore that at some point or other, all these four'strands' relate to, or include language. Consciousness, ideas, experiences, power, rationalization are all contained within language. Therefore, it is a cardinal error for the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee to deem that the government can keep a check on ideologies within NGO publications, without addressing the need to implement and monitor language policies within NGO's. As such, paying attention to ideology entails paying attention to the language through which it is carried as well.

5.0 Cabinet-appointed Committee to study NGO operations

This is a five-member committee comprising academics from various fields and was also appointed to carry out the same tasks as those allocated to the parliamentary select committee. Jeevan Thiagarajah who is a part of the Cabinet-appointed committee and is also the Executive Director of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies was in agreement that language policies within NGO's was extremely important, but regretted very much that the government was not interested in looking into such matters. In his personal view, such language policies are an essential part of operations within any organization, but he felt that there was a huge lack of attention given to this area, and one which the government was not interested in filling.

Given that a large number of NGO's in Sri Lanka exist in order to mediate in some manner with regard to the current ethnic conflict in the North-East, it seems surprising that the need for language policies and planning among such organizations has never been recognized by any authoritative body. Ackoff (1978) 6 explains that "Language planning can be said to be an action plan, a problem-solving method for reaching some ideal in the future" (qtd. in Jernudd 1982). In this context, since the basis for the existence of most NGO's in the country is to reach the 'ideal' of future peace in Sri Lanka, it is a huge anomaly that there are no language policies and planning implemented for their operations, especially because it is the lack of such planning in implementing language policies in the past that gave way to the ethnic conflict in the first place.

6.0 Conclusion

In the course of gathering information for this project it became evident that while the Sri Lankan Government does not pay any attention to language policies within the Non-Governmental Organization sector, the NGO's themselves strive to incorporate informal language policies into their daily operations, which is commendable. In fact, the Vibhasha translation unit conducted by the CPA is testimony to this. Yet there is still room for improvement as close observation within the course of this project revealed that there are areas in which NGO's themselves need to improve on and realize the importance of language policies. This was revealed quite clearly in terms of the lack of attention given to language training for employees at the NPC.

It however is noteworthy that only two NGO's were studied in-depth for this project and one cannot generalize across the board. There may be NGO's that follow stringent language policies, and there may also be those that are lagging behind in the same area. It must be pointed out however that the two NGO's selected for this project are frontline NGO's and that they can be regarded as credible examples of NGO activities in Sri Lanka.

In general it is regrettable that while still dealing with the effects of the language policies implemented at will in the past such as the 'Sinhala-Only policy of 1956, the government is still showing a lack of focus with regard to language policies within the certain sectors of the country. Thus, until authorities recognize that language is an important medium that needs to be given adequate attention within the course of any service in society, they will not be able to correct the mistakes that they are striving to do away with through the conducting of various studies.

In the meantime, NGO's also need to recognize the need to implement and monitor appropriate language policies in the course of their operations. Given that most of them are dealing with a sensitive issue such as the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka they should embrace language policies that help them serve society better while providing for more transparency in their daily work. As stated previously in this project, while job qualifications superseded language capabilities, the time has come to reverse this trend so that there are not only qualified people serving society, but those that are able to reach a wider area of society as well.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Belsey, Catherine. Critical Practice. 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2002.

David, Maya Khemlani. "Language Policy in Malaysia-Empowerment or Disenfranchisement?" (2004). In Language policy, planning and practice. Eds. Sabiha Mansoor, Shaheen Meraj and Aliya Tahir. Oxford University Press, 2004.

Dharmadasa, K. N. O., ed. National Language Policy in Sri Lanka 1956 to 1996. By R. G. G. Olcott Gunasekara, S. G. Samarasinghe and V. Vamadevan. Kandy, Sri Lanka: International Center for Ethnic Studies, 1996.

Jernuud, B. H. "Language Planning as a Focus for Language Correction". Language Planning Newsletter. 8.4 (1982): 1-3. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Padilla, Amado M. "Psychology". (1999). A Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity. Ed. Joshua Fishman. Oxford University Press, 109-121.

Vaillancourt, François. "The Economics of Language and Language Planning". Language Problems and Language Planning. Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 1983, 162-175.

Woolard, Kathryn A. Introduction. "Language Ideology as a Field of Inquiry". Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. By Schieffin, Woolard & Kroskrity. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, 3-27.

ENG 4282: LANGUAGE POLICY AND PLANNING

PROJECT ON LANGUAGE POLICIES IN NGO'S IN SRI LANKA

INDEX NO: A 11506

1 Information obtained from the CPA website, www.cpalanka.org

2 Information obtained from NPC website, www.peace-srilanka.org

3 See Breton, Albert and Peter Mieszkowski. "The Returns to Investment in Language: The Economics of Bilingualism." Working Paper 7512. Toronto: The Institute for the Quantitative Analysis of Social and Economic Policy, 1975, qtd in, Vaillancourt, François. "The Economics of Language and Language Planning". Language Problems and Language Planning. Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 1983.

4 Information obtained from the CPA website, www.cpalanka.org (translation unit)

5 See Eagleton, Terry. Ideology: An Introduction. London: Verso, 1991, qtd in, Woolard, Kathryn A. Introduction. "Language Ideology as a Field of Inquiry". Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory. By Schieffin, Woolard & Kroskrity. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

6 See Ackoff, R.L. The Art of Problem Solving. Wiley 1978. qtd in, Jernuud, B. H. "Language planning as a Focus for Language Correction". Language Planning Newsletter. 8.4 (1982): 1-3. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
