How Dzongkha has come a long way and why we are in the Golden Age of Dzongkha

Opinion by Tenzing Lamsang

These days there is some debate and discussion on the state of Dzongkha, with the common refrain being that Dzongkha is on the decline, and how English has gained precedence over it.

To get a proper perspective, we have to see how far Dzongkha has come from the late 1960s and early 1970s to now.

The 1960s and early 70s

His Majesty The Third King took a keen interest in promoting Dzongkha, and it was during the latter half of His Majesty’s reign that the formally written scripts of Chokey and its Bhutanese adaption of Phelkey were turned into the modern Dzongkha through the works of Dzongkha heroes like Lopen Pemala, Lopen Nado and Geshey Gempo Tenzin who helped come up with the written Dzongkha of today used in schools. Although they used Chokey as the base, however, they drew it closer to spoken Dzongkha through various changes.

Important contributions were also made by Dasho Shingkhar Lam, Dasho Sangay Dorji, Dasho Sherab Thaye  and Dasho Lam Sanga among other luminaries in their own unique ways.

As modern education made its beginnings under the reign of His Majesty The Third King, Dzongkha became an important subject taught in school. For example, among the first schools instituted in Mongar and Trashigang, Dzongkha was taught.

At the same time, the promotion of Dzongkha faced challenges as there were not enough Dzongkha school books, limited teachers, and limited resources in general.

One premise of Dzongkha being endangered now is the assumption that there were far more Dzongkha speakers in the past than now, but here, the opposite is true.

While His Majesty The Third King made all efforts to promote Dzongkha, in the later part of his reign during the late 1960s and early 1970s it was not uncommon to hear Lhotsamkha being spoken by Chimis from the south wearing not Ghos but Daura-Surawal in the National Assembly.

In the group photo of the first National Assembly in Punakha Dzong in 1953 with His Majesty The Third King members can clearly be seen wearing suits, pant shirt and Daura-Surawal.

It was also not uncommon to hear Chimis from the eastern dzongkhags who struggled in Dzongkha to switch to Tshangla to make their point. It was also not uncommon for highlanders to come in their own dresses.

On one occasion, there was even a Chimi from the south who came dressed in a suit and spoke English in the National Assembly.

During this time, the National Assembly decisions were written in English first and then translated into Phelkey.

This is why there is a long line of NA resolutions going back all the way to the 1950s in crisp English, while it may be a struggle to find their Phelkey translations.

At this time, the overwhelming majority of the masses in southern and eastern Bhutan could not speak Dzongkha. In fact, in southern Bhutan even marriage certificates were issued in Lhotsamkha script at the time.

It is ironical that modern education is being blamed for the weakening of Dzongkha, when in fact, the mass modern education not only took modern subjects to the masses, but it also took spoken and written Dzongkha all over the country.

Even in western Bhutan, where Dzongkha was the spoken language, its written form was essentially in Chokey and Phelkey, and it was mass education that introduced western Bhutanese to the written Dzongkha of today.

It was also only in 1971 when Bhutan joined the United Nations that Dzongkha was declared as the national language, though it had always been the de facto national language.

The biggest champion of Dzongkha

Apart from the written Dzongkha being developed and spread through modern education, the biggest champion of Dzongkha and Bhutanese culture, in general, would come in the form of His Majesty The Fourth King.

His Majesty The Fourth King, early in his reign, ensured that people would come to the National Assembly in Gho and Kira. His Majesty insisted that the National Assembly decisions be written in Dzongkha and be read out by Chimis to the people.

His Majesty allowed time to the Southern Chimis to shift to Dzongkha till the early 1990s after which discussions in the NA were allowed in Dzongkha only.

Following this, Dzongkha was made mandatory for discussion in all elected bodies at the Dzongkhag and Local Government level and also for official public speeches.

His Majesty created the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) in 1986 to develop and promote Dzongkha.

It was in the reign of His Majesty that Dzongkha got its greatest push and spread widely in both spoken and written form through the education system, government system, courts, mass media, official speeches and local governments.

The greatest contribution of His Majesty for Dzongkha was that prior to his reign, Dzongkha was almost seen as an optional language with other languages being used in the National Assembly, and even official documents being issued in other languages.

His Majesty The Fourth King, in the interest of Bhutanese sovereignty and national identity, ended any confusion on the matter, and so enforced and promoted Dzongkha, and personally led by example.

From enforcement to ownership

In today’s era, the National Day Addresses and other public addresses of His Majesty The King is an exposition in good Dzongkha in not only every day and widely known terms,  but also in terms of depth by bringing back little-known old terms like ‘Ngar’ that not only becomes popular but also inspires the nation.

An important barometer for Dzongkha, in some aspects, is how the MPs from southern Bhutan do in Parliament. From speaking in Lhotsamkha in the past, they have come a long way, and now, the overall vocabulary, pronunciations and confidence in Dzongkha has greatly increased.  This also holds true for MPs from the eastern dzongkhags some of whose Dzongkha is better than speakers in western Bhutan.

His Majesty The King has done much to further promote, strengthen and popularize Dzongkha, especially among the youth.

Under the reign of His Majesty The King, Dzongkha is no longer just a national language but it has also become a ‘cool language’ and gained more popularity as a language of the masses. This was deliberately encouraged as seen in His Majesty’s support for the film industry.

We have moved from an era where Dzongkha was seen more as an ‘official’ language of the state to now people being proud to speak Dzongkha.

For example, in the Kheng region, they have their own native language of Khengkha, but they have great pride in speaking Dzongkha and good Dzongkha at that too.

Similarly, in the southern region, they have their Lhotsamkha, but here too there is great pride in speaking in Dzongkha as part of a common national identity.

In fact, young southern Bhutanese are changing their names to Dzongkha names.

Some of us would have come across experiences where we may have attempted to speak Lhotsamkha with young Lhotsamphas, only to get back replies in Dzongkha and we have to hastily switch to Dzongkha, admiringly but also a bit embarrassed with ourselves. 

Dzongkha becoming ‘cool’ has also been helped greatly by the film industry and young music talents singing and rapping in Dzongkha, racking up millions in views on YouTube, not only in Bhutan, but across the world.

The popularity of a language can be seen in terms of its ‘street usage’ and here, young Bhutanese, who are often the butt of complaints about young people not speaking in Dzongkha, heavily use Dzongkha words on the streets to communicate with one another, make fun of each other, sing and have fun. There can be no greater assurance of a continuity of a language among the youth.

A young Bhutanese speaking the Queen’s English on the streets has a high chance of being made fun of by friends than being admired.

Today more than ever before, even on social media, posts, videos and comments are in Dzongkha.

In some way, given the number of speakers and its popularity, Dzongkha is actually in its Golden Age.

There has been no point in Bhutanese history where Dzongkha has been so widely spoken, and so widely accepted with great pride as a sign of common national identity.

Dzongkha has moved out of the Dzongs and into the hearts of the people across the nation.

It is a language that no longer belongs just to the western region of Bhutan, but it now belongs to every Bhutanese from every part of the country.

Dzongkha and English

Ironically, while Dzongkha is at the height of its popularity and usage in Bhutan, there are concerns of some young people preferring English over Dzongkha.

As explained earlier, Dzongkha could only spread on such a scale to all regions due to modern education and schools in Bhutan where Dzongkha was taught. In that sense, English is not the enemy of Dzongkha but actually a partner language of Dzongkha, given how both spread across the country.

English offered job opportunities, economic development and communication with the wider world, while Dzongkha offered culture, unity and a common national identity. It is not healthy to play off one against the other. They both grew up together and need each other in modern Bhutan.

Here, there are several aspects to consider.

The imagery of an English-speaking family maybe disturbing for some, but this is only in Thimphu, and within Thimphu, it would be a very small percentile. Even this narrow percentile will be mainly quite fluent in Dzongkha, but may be using English like others use Tshangla, Khengkha, Bumthapkha, Kurtoepkha, Lhotsamkha, Mangdip, etc., within the confines of their homes, family, community or friends. 

This should not be an issue as long as Dzongkha is the lingua franca of Bhutan, which it is.

The vast majority of young people across the country speak in Dzongkha, and even though some may struggle with it as young children, they do pick it up as they go through the education system, now further helped by popular culture.

Again, the imagery of a senior government official not fluent in Dzongkha may disturb some, but here again this is an exception and not the rule.

The mass of the civil service, at all levels, are good Dzongkha speakers due to their formal education, and the fact that they cannot enter the civil service unless they pass the written Dzongkha test.

As long as the said senior official does not become the DDC head or is tasked to come up with a Chokey book, things should be fine.

Some have talked of an IELTS like test for Dzongkha for civil servants. If we go for this, civil servants, to save their jobs, will prepare for the test instead of implementing the 13th plan or delivering services. And what do we do if a good STEM teacher is poor in Dzongkha or a good surgeon in JDWNRH is poor in Dzongkha? Do we fire them?

Ironically, the answer to the Dzongkha debate may come from the Dzongkha masters and experts themselves. They acknowledge the importance of English and openly say that they are encouraging their own children to focus more in English as the opportunities are there.

They say that for Dzongkha to be picked up early, like English, it is better to use technology like popular Dzongkha content on YouTube, child friendly Dzongkha video and content, etc., and there is a move being made towards this. If a single cartoon show called ‘Chota Bheem’ spread the popularity of Hindi among young school children, there is so much possibility for Dzongkha.

Some people may cite countries like Japan, Germany and France where English is not widely used, and yet people solely using the local language get good jobs in various sectors. However, this is not due to the strength of their language, but due to the size and strength of their economy.

These are large developed economies and countries with large populations and so they did not need English as the medium of instruction. In fact, in some of these countries, English speakers from outside, in the past, had to learn their languages to pick up important scientific discoveries or learn cutting edge science courses developed in German, French, Italian, Dutch, etc.

Dzongkha is an important part of our identity and culture, but it cannot offer the same opportunities, as we are a small country of 700,000 with a very basic economy, and this is why we need English.

In the early days, when Bhutan had just joined the community of nations at the United Nations, the Bhutanese delegation and representative would stick out sitting dressed in Gho in a sea of suits. Bhutan was then a poor, backward and little-known country, and as the Bhutanese Representative dressed in Gho went up on the podium, the UN gathering expected some vague tribal language but when the Queen’s English was spoken with great sophistication, it grabbed attention and eyeballs.

It was common then for Bhutanese diplomats to be approached by diplomats from countries that struggled with English, including developed countries, to congratulate them and find out how they knew such good English.

The role of English in enhancing Bhutan’s international profile and also seeking and getting much needed developmental assistance cannot be underestimated.

The double impact of the two can be seen when Bhutanese religious masters, Khenpos and even monks fluent in both languages are widely sought abroad with growing followers.

Attempting to replace English with Dzongkha will be not be good for either languages, impact economic development and push us back several decades at a time when we need to move forward.

Dzongkha’s challenges and solutions

However, this is not to deny that Dzongkha is facing some challenges.

The importance of Dzongkha is not only as the national language, but like any language, it carries the history, culture, beliefs, indigenous knowledge, thought process, arts, romance, intrigue, emotions, music, folklore and the root identity of the people.

Bhutan and Bhutanese will be much poorer if Dzongkha wanes, and here, it is important to address the real threats to Dzongkha.

The biggest and clearest danger to Dzongkha is the largescale migration of Bhutanese to foreign destinations where they take their young children who are never exposed to Dzongkha in the classroom or the societal setting. Dzongkha classes abroad is a temporary band aid only.

The real solution here is economic in nature, whereby, we develop our economy to prevent such mass migrations.

According to Dzongkha experts, the other threat is to written Dzongkha adapted from Chokey and Phelkey.

For example, Thimphu should actually be written as ཐིམ་ཕུག ‘Thimphug’ in Dzongkha, which adapted from Chokey gives the story behind the name of Thimphug which is the ‘Sunken Cave’ in the Dechenphug Lhakhang. However, some modern Dzongkha writers have started writing it literally as Thimphu in Dzongkha ཐིམ་ཕུ which loses the real Chokey meaning of the word. The word ‘phu’ in Chokey means hill which corrupts the original Chokey meaning of the word ‘phug’ which is for a cave. Some have even interpreted ‘phu’ in literal Dzongkha as ‘flying.’ Even the Wikipedia dictionary mistakenly calls it ཐིམ་ཕུ now.

According to the experts, this has happened to several other Dzongkha words. People should have the ability to write Dzongkha in its original Chokey derived spelling not to lose its historical meaning, but pronounce it in another way. This is simple phonetics, and used widely in English where each word can be tracked backed to its historical source.

A major challenge for Dzongkha is that Dzongkha is yet to get its Shakespeare or even its Charles Dickens. While spoken and written Dzongkha has spread well in Bhutan, the challenge is the paucity of great literary works in Dzongkha, which are few and far in between, and hence fails to give further strength and depth to the language.

Even celebrated Bhutanese Dzongkha masters, like Lopen Pemala and Lopen Nado, wrote their books in Chokey, out of love and reverence for Chokey and perhaps to appeal to a wider audience outside Bhutan. This trend has continued to the modern era where a major recent Bhutanese work was published in Chokey to get a wider audience abroad. 

Another issue, while not being a threat to Dzongkha, is the unnecessary translations of technical terms, best left untouched, into Dzongkha causing confusion and complicating the language.

The Japanese and French are extremely proud of their national languages, but they also steer clear of translating technical words that did not originate in their civilization.

For example, the Japanese term for Rocket is ‘Roketto’ just giving the word a Japanese accent and adaptation but leaving the word largely as it is.  Similarly, the French call it ‘la roquette.’

In Bhutan, a rocket is translated as ‘me shug phur dha’ or a ‘fire powered flying arrow’!

Words like this, bereft of any originality and meaning, will not do Dzongkha any service.

This still leaves the big question of how can Dzongkha be further promoted? Here, enforcement and getting stricter is not the answer, as we have moved well beyond that stage and in fact, the people have taken ownership of Dzongkha.

Be it a young child holding a mobile phone or a Dzongkha master wanting to further sharpen his or her skills, the answers is the same, which is, more of good content in Dzongkha.

The child should be watching Dzongkha content on his or her phone so that the first language they pick up is Dzongkha, and this can be used in our ICT friendly classrooms too, to get them comfortable with the language at a tender age.

Like we used modern education to spread Dzongkha, we should now use technology as a force multiplier for Dzongkha, and this is very doable, given the right investments and content.

The aim should be to attract young minds rather than use enforcement and fear, which will only push them away.

The education system should not look to fail students due to Dzongkha, as not everyone can be a Dzongkha master, but instead, there should be a more liberal and smart policy where students actually look forward to Dzongkha classes, and ways are found to connect with Dzongkha and to make it more appealing to them.

At the higher levels, we need to produce more literary works in Dzongkha. 

In both of the above cases, the government must invest, given our small market size.

We should avoid loading Dzongkha with new and unintelligible terms, and stick to the pure form of the language.

For all the complaints about Dzongkha, it is an eminently practical language and much easier to read and understand than Chokey, which is now consigned more to religious altars and monasteries.

In contrast, Dzongkha is the language of the people, and it has come a long way, to the extent that people of all hues and regions have taken ownership of it and take pride in speaking it.

It is best to move along this route, and make the language more popular in keeping with the times.