“What’s a good word? A good word is the right word in the right place at the right time. Each of the thousands of different words in our vocabulary has a special job of its own, and that’s why it’s important to learn as much as we can about the good words and how to use them. Are you ready to find out about some of them? Good! Let’s go!” This is how part of the introduction to the song “What’s The Good Word” happens in the Long-Play record of the same title released by Peter Pan Orchestra and Chorus in 1963.
Taking off from there was a Canadian show of the same name that was televised for four years from 1972. Soon after came India’s first all-English television show of the same name again, hosted by Sabira Merchant so professionally on Doordarshan for 15 years.
Words are fun for many of us. Some people buy the Reader’s Digest just for their monthly test-your-vocabulary page, It Pays to Increase Your Word Power. Others get newspapers featuring games such as where you make words from 9-letter wheels. Then there’s Scrabble, the classic word game on a board for friends and family, now available on handheld devices, so you can play alone too. It’s a huge learn-and-have-fun world of words out there.
The best part is, a good vocabulary is a strong promise of a better future because studies have found links between intellectual depth and word power. Research has shown that the brain actually changes as you learn more words and express your thoughts with more refinement. You become smart, setting yourself up for improved professional chances. Such progress can be shown on a monitor.
This is not to say that people who have a problem with words are dumb or guaranteed to fail. Not at all. We know that dyslexia is a condition that challenges its victims to read and write. But when things are read out to them, some of them do not have a difficulty at all. Others improve with the help of phonics, a teaching approach that co-relates sounds with alphabets. Many people have combated dyslexia and gone on to have successful careers. This includes not only Singapore’s ex-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, but entrepreneur Steve Jobs, painter Pablo Picasso, actor Tom Cruise, and physicist Albert Einstein. Why, even people working with words, like authors Jules Verne of France and John Irving of the United States have had such disabilities. Dyslexics often have other skills which can be exploited for advancing their careers and enjoying a fulfilling life. It is just such a dyslexic child who has phenomenal painting skills that form the subject of the film Taare Zameen Par (2007).
That’s about people who have special skills. For the rest of us, the world of words can be beautiful. It is therefore delightful to know that Indian kids are doing so well in the spellings and meanings area. This is particularly true of our kids in the USA, where such tests are calibrated and the winners celebrated.
On 31st May 2018, for the 11th year running, Indian kids dominated the annual championships of the Scripps National Spelling Bee championship. The 93-year-old contest not only tests people for spellings but also the origins and meanings of words. This year the winner was 14-year old Karthik Nemmani from Texas. His final correctly-spelt word was ‘koinonia’ meaning Christian communion. This was televised on ESPN in the USA and the boy took home an award of 42000$. The runner-up was a 12-year girl named Naysa Modi, also of Indian origin, as was the 2nd runner-up, Abhijay Kodali. There were over 500 contestants in this event.
We are ignoring the success that came the way of children of Indian origin just a bit before the above. This was the National Geographic Bee Scholarship, which tests knowledge of Geography and carries a prize of 50000$. The winner here was Venkat Ranjan, followed by Anoushka Buddhikot and Vishal Sareddy. Phew!
That’s great news, but now how about you? You are not being tested here for spellings or meanings of words, but do you recall these film songs in your unsupervised environment? They all have to do with words and spellings:
- ABCDEF bhi jaane na hum (Sabita Banerjee, Suman/Darwaza, 1954)
- ABC, ABC mere sapnon mein chori-chori aaya karo ji (Asha, Kishore/Ilzaam, 1954)
- C-A-T cat, cat maane billi (Kishore, Asha/Dilli Ka Thug, 1958)
- Likh padh padh likh, likh padh ke (Geeta, Usha/Kangan, 1959)
- Ee se banti imli (Rafi, Asha/Kya Yeh Bambai Hai, 1959)
- Likho padhoge to aage badhoge (Lata, Rafi, Sheikh Mukhtar, Honey Irani/Barood, 1960)
- Alif zabr aa aa alif zer ae ae (Rafi, Sudha/Love In Simla, 1960)
- L-O-V-E, Love! Love ka matlab hai pyaar (Rafi, Asha/Love In Simla, 1960)
- Ka se kul duniya hamaari (Asha/Chandi Ki Deewar, 1964)
- A for Apple B for baby (Manna Dey, Asha/Sadhu Aur Shaitan, 1968)
- ABCD chhodo nainon se naina jodo (Lata/Raja Jani, 1972)
- L-O-V-E Love ka matlab prem (Kishore, Usha Khanna/Bekhabar, 1983)
- Sa se banta hai saathi (Kishore, Asha/Yaadgaar, 1984)
- ABCDEFG hum bolega (Kasam Dhande Ki, 1990/Amit Kumar)
- ABCDEFG dil mera aake le lo ji (Udit, Kavita/Anari, 1999)
- ABCDEFG are G se ghanti baj rahi hai (Shailendra Singh, Usha Mangeshkar/Maqaar, 1986)
- ABCDEFG padh lo pyaar ki aa aa ee (Alka Yagnik/Kanoon Apna Apna, 1989)
- ABCDEFGH PPPP piya (Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan/Prem Deewane, 1992)
- ABCDEFG…XYZ (Udit Narayan, Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, Hema Sardesai/Hum Saath Saath Hain, 1999)
The inability to read and write isn’t only about dyslexia. It may have to do with illiteracy or even functional illiteracy. The difference is this: a basic illiterate person may not know how to spell or read even easy words such as bat or cat in any language. A functionally illiterate person may know how to spell such words and what they mean, but will be unable to handle a sentence such as “The cat sat on Virat Kohli’s bat”. Functionally illiterate people cannot, for example, read the instruction on the back of a can of soup. Or articles such as this one.
The illiteracy rate in India, according to 2011 figures was 26%, but global experts reckon we have 70% people who are functionally illiterate. That compares poorly with much of the west. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is a body of a few dozen countries which aim to learn from each other and promote the social and economic lot of people around the world. It is famous for its statistical surveys on a wide variety of subjects like the perception of corruption, level of democracy and peace, human development, economic opportunities etc. Its 2013 survey tabled a startling discovery, that 47% of the adult population in Italy was functionally illiterate, the highest among its member countries. That accounts for the country’s small circulation of newspapers.
But Italy’s 47% is much better than India’s 70%. One wonders if that’s some consolation for the Italians who live in India.
Originally published in DNA Jaipur on 17 June 2018, page 13 http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?mod=1&pgnum=1&edcode=131002&pagedate=2018-06-17
Featured image: Karthik Nemmani.