Indians are discarding their mother tongue and adopting English.
–
When the cities observed a kneading of different languages a few years back, from the college campus to the drawing rooms, Hindi and English vocabulary largely started replacing the ‘difficult words’ of the mother tongue. Athough it seemed like a momentary trend initially, the tiff over the mother tongue and the more used universal langauge saw the latter triumphing. Today for many families it’s an uncomforatble acceptance of the fact that their native tongue only adorns the list of languages they ‘know’.
A variety of reasons, excuses and influences are responsible for the change — from children going to convent schools, migration from other states and so on. Neha Raval, a Gujarati, has never stayed in her native state and converses in English at home. “I can speak Gujarati because I stayed with my grandparents as a kid. However, if we were settled in that state, we could have found the need to talk more often. Although we are settled in Maharashtra, I am not fluent enough in Marathi. I studied in a convent school and my parents too never stayed in Gujarat. So, English is much more convenient. Although I believe one must know the language, it forms an important part of our roots and culture,” says Std X student.
Mughda Adkar, besides being fluent in English, Hindi, Marathi and French, also comprehends German, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi. But the high school teacher, who makes it a point to speak in Marathi with her two-year-old daughter, admits observing the drift among her students. “I think parents are responsible in a big way. The cosmopolitan environment does have an impact but one should know your roots. I observe youth literally feeling ashamed to speak in Marathi, or in their mother tongue. In fact, me and my husband are making a conscious effort to continue conversations in Marathi so that our kid picks it up right now,” adds Adkar.
Sujata Rao, a homemaker, who has never spoken in Kannada at home, leaves it optional for her children to learn the language. “I studied in a convent school and my parents would be speaking at home in English. So, even I speak in English with my children. It is not something I feel great about or would like others to follow. However, I have seen even those who can speak their mother tongue avoiding it on many instances and I think it’s because of a whole global influence. Although it’s a welcome trend, losing touch with their mother tongue is an irreconcilable loss.”
For those in the army, transfers are an important reason why not many are well-versed in any one particular language. One should know one’s mother tongue, feels Col (Retd)Suresh Rege, chairman, Mailhem Engineers Pvt Ltd. “Being in the army, you want to be fair to everyone. My mother tongue is Marathi and if I would speak the language, non-Marathi speaking troops would feel left out or I would appear to be partial towards Maharashtrians. To avoid that, we would speak in Hindi, which is known to all. Later when I moved here, Hindi wasn’t so popular and the kids got home English from school. Now it’s more of English that we speak.”