Sometime back we discussed here Narendra Modis English-speaking ability, his accent etc, a debate compounded later by apprehensions of Hindi hegemonism. Setting aside politics, Im pleased make a bunch a bunch of observations based on this video of Modis speech on the occasion of the latest PSLV launch. One, as I had maintained on the basis of hearing him first hand, he speaks perfectly decent English, screw the accent; it doesnt matter. Everyone had an accent. Im particularly delighted to see his use of a teleprompter. You cannot see it in this video because of the tight shot but I checked other videos and I saw teleprompters placed on either side. I may be wrong, but may be a first in India; I havent seen it before. In any case, it is a good decision. We are not natural English speakers and there is no need to kid ourselves that our leaders can pull of 20-minutes of off-the-cuff, extempore speechifying in English. As you can see, a prepared speech and use of teleprompter enables a certain structure and discipline...no rambling asides, no Gandhiji ne kahaan tha garibi hata na hain kind of bullshit. It is not the greatest speech, but its a start. At least it has substance. Im also very pleased with the digressions in Hindi, as much as I am happy he spoke in English on this occasion. Its good for the primary audience and he is also keeping a large parts of the country involved. If this is preparation for his address to the Joint Session of Congress in Washington DC in September, it is an excellent start. In fact, even if he decides to speak in Hindi on that occasion (nothing wrong with that and they wont mind), it is good to use a teleprompter. And the more he uses it the better he will get. All the great Obama/Clinton speeches dont come extempore. They work hard at it and even practice delivery. For too long our pols have gotten away with poor preparation, mediocre speeches, and awful delivery. It is insulting to an intelligent audience. I hope NaMo changes that culture, but I wont hold my breath. indiatoday.intoday.in/video/narendra-modi-pslv-c-23-successful-launch-isro-space-programme/1/369206.html
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 17:42:45 +0000
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