Noted
actor, who is also the chief donor of My Marathi project released the
book for Communicative Marathi for Beginners’ Level 1 at the University
of Mumbai
Bollywood superstar, Aamir Khan on Wednesday launched the book, My
Marathi, a Communicative Marathi for Beginners’, Level 1, at the
University of Mumbai. The book is an initiative of the Department of
German, University of Mumbai and Granthali, a respected name in the
Marathi publishing business since 1974.
Expressed
his joy at the endeavour undertaken by the University of Mumbai and
Granthali, Aamir, who is also the chief donor of the My Marathi project,
said, “I want to congratulate all the people who worked together to
bring out this book. I am very happy that this book has been released.
It will prove extremely helpful to many people like me who do not know
the language.”
My
Marathi uses the latest integrated communicative techniques for
teaching Marathi to non-native speakers. Aamir is also the chief donor
of the My Marathi project. Five more books of upto Level 6 will be
released in the future.
Aamir
also added, “I am surprised that the Maharashtra government never
thought of doing something like this to popularise the Marathi language.
I am also surprised that the University of Mumbai’s Department of
German spearheaded this project and not the Department of Marathi.”
He
also expressed hope and said, “I am sure the ministry of culture can
take huge steps to carry out more such projects in Maharashtra.”
The
book was released in august presence of Dr. Rajan Welukar, Vice
Chancellor, University of Mumbai and the guest of honour was Mr. Michael
Siebert, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany. One set of
My Marathi consists of a textbook, a workbook and a free audio-visual
DVD for Beginners’ level Marathi for non-native speakers (Anyabhashak)
and Rs. 1,250 is the printed price made available for in just Rs.
1,000/-.
My
Marathi has been authored by renowned writers, Suhas Limaye, and
Jaywant Chunekar and is published by Granthali. “Granthali is very proud
to publish this book and it will help Anyabhashak. The book will serve
as a guide and prove to be a good counselor for the Anyabhashak who are
interested to learn communicative Marathi,” said Mr Sudesh
Hinglaspurkar, Trustee, Granthali.
According
to Dr Vibha Surana, Head, Department of German, University of Mumbai,
though there is a lot of political rhetoric about the use of Marathi in
Maharashtra, if a non-native speaker wants to learn Marathi language,
there are no structured courses to take the learner from the beginners
to the most advanced stage of language proficiency.
“This
social lacunae is the genesis of the two year old innovative Marathi
Language Teaching Project at the Department of German, University of
Mumbai. It undertakes to modernize the teaching of Marathi to non-native
speakers using the integrated communicative approach used for German
language teaching, prepare Teachers’ Training modules to use this new
method, offer Teachers’ Training for Communicative Marathi, network to
proliferate such courses in Maharashtra and globally,” she added.
Today,
if one wish to learn any foreign languages – German, French, Spanish or
Japanese – there are standardized, structured courses with uniform
content for each level, which take the learner systematically right from
the beginners to the most advanced stage of proficiency in that
language. “For mastering a language generally about 700-800 hours of
classroom teaching in about 6 levels are required. However, if one
wishes to learn an Indian language such standardized courses and content
are not available,” Dr. Surana pointed out.
With
My Marathi books quality content for teaching material (textbook,
workbook and DVD) has been prepared. A part-time Certificate Course in
Communicative Marathi is starting at the Department of German.
Teachers’ Training shall also commence soon.
“Teaching
of Indian languages needs to be revolutionized,” said Dr. Surana adding
that if substantive funding is available similar projects would be
undertaken for Hindi and other Indian languages in the future.
The
book, My Marathi, is an initiative of the Department of German,
University of Mumbai and Granthali and will be available at all the
major bookstalls as well as on the online platform – Flipkart.com and
Amazon.com. “We are glad that Aamir Khan took the initiative to finance
this prestigious project and became the chief donor. At Granthali, we
continue our dedicated service for the cause of promoting reading habits
by keeping alive the literary movement to educate and empower the
readers,” asserted Mr Hinglaspurkar.
Established
in 1974 by a group of people from different professions, Granthali's
success has largely because of its ability to change with the times,
according to him. “Granthali is a unique publishing venture and has
earned a place for itself as a Reader’s Movement in Maharashtra.
Supporting this innovative Marathi language Teaching Project in
promoting our four decade old literary movement financially will help
us” Mr Hinglaspurkar appealed.
