Monday, November 14, 2005

How important is it..?

Now, I was wondering, how important is it to know your mother tongue? I mean, if you are living in a place different from your native place and the language spoken there is not your mother tongue then what difference does it make wether you know your mother tongue or not?
I have seen people getting teased for not knowing Malayalam...but why must we expect them to know it when they have been living outside Kerala for so long. There are exceptions...lotsa NRKs who speak their mother tongue too are there, but no piont in teasing the rest. They have hardly any need to use their mother toungue unless ofcourse their family uses it at home or something.
Will I have been on both sides of the court..teasing and getting teased, so I was just wondering. When I first came to Kerala I didn't know the language, my parents would speak to me in English (because fluency in english was important for school admission) and friends would use Hindi. Well, I am very fluent in Malayalam now, no probs.

But, why make people ashamed about not knowing your mother tongue? Teasing them is one thing, but making them feel really bad about it is another. Its simply a language after all...why is it a must you have to know it, when you hardly ever need to use it? Ok, so if you are living in a particular state it is good to know the local language..thats it.

Now, there is a particular class of 'weird' people who know the language but pretend to not know it or something. God knows why they go through all the trouble to pose they don't know it...its really funny.

Well, I used to feel terrible about not knowing Malayalam...it was something to be ashamed of. But now when I think about it..I don't really know why should one feel ashamed about it? Is it really that important?

14 comments:

kickassso said...

Dont feel that Bad.I was born and brought up here , And my fols had anything alayalam banned in my house! no mal serials/ movies / books/parpers etc........... all i know of malayalam is what i speak!

at least I know I'm in good company

kickassso said...

damn pselling! its getting ewors!

Prakash Gopan V said...

Hmm. You have got yourself a better template.

By the way I feel that NRKs feel the warmth of home and the sweetness of the language, to a degree much more than those who are residents of Kerala.

Navaneeth said...

I think knowing the mothertounge is important to a certain extend.if you are a non resident keralite, It helps you communicate more with your family more effectively (not your household, they will be able to understand u). In addition to that, learning a language helps u understand the culture and values of ur nativeland with all its essence. translations never do the job like the originals. And about the people who act like they doesnt know their mothertounge, they need to get their butt kicked and the shame is on their family for not letting the kid know what it means. I agree with prakash that there re a lot of mallus who embrase malayalam more than the so called "western culture loving new generation" of kerala.

Nivedita said...

@kickasso: aiyo! Everythig malayalam banned, eh? Why so?

@prakash: yeah, I have felt that too...maybe the reason NRKs or even NRIs for that matter, appreciate their language and all because of their need to want to belong to their commuity..its about strengthening their identity.
Helps get over an identity crisis or something...

@navaneeth: True, nothing compares to the orginal. Translations can never bring out the feel of the orginal language. Family plays a major role in ones appreciation of their language and culture.

Nivedita said...

I was also wondering...can not wanting to learn and appreciate your mother tongue be equated to not loving and respecting yor motherland.

I mean, by saying why learn your mother tongue, its just a language after all...then why don't people say why love your motherland its just one of the many countries, after all?

So, basically what I have felt is that learning and understanding what is yours(language, people, culture...), it only helps strengthen your feeling of belongingness and all.

Human beings are all trying to belong...

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kickassso said...

dunno! cos they knew That english was they way to go! At least on the bright side, getting a job was a walk in the park for me (compared to most of my college mates) because of my "proficiency" in speaking english! Wonder when english became an essential part of being an engineer!

One in the crowd said...

Shashi Tharoor says in his book, "Bookless in Baghdad"..."Mine is a Malayali voice in English language"...not verbatim but that's spot on...

Take my example, I know Malayalam but having grown up elsewhere, I am more comfortable with Hindi and English...so I don't use Malayalam even now that I am in Trivandrum...but that's no shame...language is just a means of expression...it shouldn't be given the larger role of determining identity and all...

Anonymous said...

yes, yes, yes one should be ashamed for not knowing his/her mother tongue i.e. malayalam. few points to ponder.

a) why do u then call it mother tongue?

b) would you prefer to be a foreigner in your mother land?

c) prefer to be a guest than a host at your own home?

If u're a malayali, regardless of where u're now u have to know malayalam, period.

Jina said...

I empathize...seriously..especvially because I know a lot of my friends outside Kerala who really wants to speak malayalam..but is not able to simply because they are not used to..but i despise those fake ones who pretend not to know the language even if they know it..

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Anonymous said...

I agree with it, but I see this all in a different perspective, according to what I witnessed. It's important to know the culture and values of your motherland..that's a must, but I don't think that not speaking the language will isolate you completely from your cultural background as some people say. It's ok to not speak the language fully, but it's important to have some sense of it, meaning you should at least understand it, and make an attempt to speak it when it's really necessary. I can fully understand malayalam well, but I can't talk back well although I do try my hardest when speaking to relatives in India. My parents speak malayalam in our household 95% of the time, but I speak back to them in only English, and the same applies to the kids of our relatives and family friends. But does the fact that we all can't really speak malayalam mean we are not cultural and don't respect our homeland? NO. We LOVE our culture to death and we are all proud to be Malayalees. We love spending time with family friends and attending the big events, such as Onam, which is one of my favorite indian celebrations. Definitely we learned a lot about Kerala's traditions and values from being in the community. Everyone knows that here kids are exposed to American culture more than Indian culture since they are growing up here and that they tend to be careless about Indian culture for the most part, but that's not for us. My family is very happy that even though the kids may have some american in them and may not speak malayalam, they have a wide respect for their culture and tradition and know how to carry out the values that show how true they are as a malayalee like me. That concept I mentioned is MORE important than anything else, and all parents MUST teach that to their children. Just because they cannot speak the language doesn't mean they'll never know nor learn anything about their culture. That is just one factor. There are so many other factors that parents can expose their kids to that will make them feel as they are part of the Malayalee society and proud to be an Indian as a whole.

J.K. said...

It's good to know, at least everyone should have familarity w/ it..and they don't know at all, but they know their culture and heritage through other things..it's nothing bad at all. The most important thing ever is that you make sure your kids/grandkids know about their origin and heritage. Language is only one thing that can tie you to your culture, but not the only thing...there are several other factors as well. I don't really speak malayalam, but I know more about Keralite culture than anyone other malayalee I know..