India is a country which is known for its magnificent blend of
numerous languages which not only make this country culturally rich but also
gives a message of unity in diversity. There are more than 19,500 languages or
dialects that are spoken in India.
Language is a system of communication in the form of speech and
writing that is used by people. Moreover, language plays an important role in
an individual’s life. Language is the true reflection of one’s culture and
ethic. But what if someone described your language as the worst language?
A similar case happened when a screenshot surfaced, of Google showing
Kannada as the ugliest language in India. How can anyone call a language ugly?
And what would be the consequences?
Kannada Language
Kannada is the Dravidian language, that is predominantly spoken by the
people of Karnataka. According to the 2011 census, roughly 43 million people
speaks the Kannada language.
Moreover, Kannada is one of the scheduled languages of India and also
the official language of Karnataka.
The Kannada language has a very long history; this great language was
the court language of the most powerful empires of India such as the
Vijayanagara Empire, Hoyasala Empire and Chalukya Dyansty.
Moreover, several literature works in the Kannada Language is also
commendable nowadays. This language is one of the most respected languages of
India.
What is the
issue?
Recently a screenshot surfaced on the internet of a Google query that
which Indian language is the ugliest. And the answer represented the Kannada
language, as the ugliest language of India which is spoken by over 40 million
people in India.
Now this reaction of Google made Kannada speaking people enraged.
Moreover, several politicians also came up and started criticizing Google
search engine and asked Google to apologise.
Governments
Reaction
Enraged by such an act, the Karnataka government said that it will
surely take stringent legal action against Google. Arvind Limbavali, State
Minister of Karnataka, told the reporters that a legal notice would be served
to the tech giant for its act.
Several other ministers also came up to Twitter and criticized the
search engine for its act. They called this tech giant irresponsible and asked
Google to apologize to Kannadigas.
Kannada is one of the most beautiful languages of India which has a
history of its own, which was originated around 2500 years ago. Kannada has a
rich heritage, glorious legacy and unique culture. Hence no one has a right to
claim this language as the ugliest.
Moreover, a hashtag has also come up in support of the Kannada
language i.e. #KannadaQueenOfAllLanguages.
Google Reaction
Google apologized to Kannadigas for hurting their feelings. Moreover, they quickly
removed Kannada "as the ugliest language in India". Google also clarified
that the search results are not always perfect. Naturally, it is not Google’s opinion but it is the outcome of the Google’s algorithm for
which the tech giant has apologized.
Moreover,
Google has also assured that they are aware of the glitch in their algorithm
and are consistently working on it to improve it. The whole world is dependent
on the search engine of Google and if such a large tech firm makes such a
mistake it surely leads to a drastic impact.
What Exactly Happened?
The search results on Google are algorithm-based which are completely
dependent on keywords. When a user enters their query, the algorithm looks
across the internet for websites and articles that have related keywords and
brings the result that it thinks is the best fit.
This is commonly known as search engine optimization. According to
experts the real culprits here are the sites that may have written content
based on these lines and used the keywords.
Google search engine has emerged as our daily use platform; this tech
giant has made people believe blindly in its searching.
Each and every piece of information today is available on Google which
is widely used by people across the world. Google has to work a lot on its
algorithm and should keep a regular check on such information.
Language is such a sensitive topic which can lead to riots. India has
also seen a lot of turmoil during the time of independence on the topic of
language. India is a nation with diverse cultures and diverse language and
everyone should respect it.
But the case of Kannada and Google has made not only politicians
enraged but also hurt the sentiments of normal Kanadagians. This lead to a
controversy between Google & Karnataka Government. As there was a mistake
on the side of Google, hence it apologized for the act and also removed it.
Now Google has learnt a lesson from the incident and has promised the
people to swiftly work on its algorithm. Hence now we all should also ignore
such conditions and should respect others culture.
Edited by – Adrija Saha
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