We have come to understand our ‘mother tongue’ as a term which means the language which a person has grown up speaking from early childhood. But this is where the crux of the problem lies!
We are now in an age where switching cities, states, or even countries to advance one’s career are not uncommon. The early trends describing these relocations have now manifested as a national ‘phenomenon’.
These relocations have however come with their own share of problems. As an author laments, “More and more urban families are losing their original colour and character because their children no longer speak their mother tongue!” The observation that children are more proficient in the local languages than their own mother tongue is indeed a matter of concern!
According to Dr Sahana Prasad, a distinguished personality with over 33 years of experience in academic teaching; the mother tongue reflects the traditions, values, customs, and history of a particular community or region. Preserving and using one’s mother tongue helps individuals maintain a strong sense of self and connection to their roots.
Another interesting point we get to garner from her blog is that maintaining a common language across generations facilitates communication between grandparents, parents and children. This in turn ensures the transfer of cultural values, stories, and wisdom from one generation to the next.
She elaborates that mother tongue is often associated with emotional bonding and comfort. Using one’s native language, she says, can create a sense of warmth, trust, and familiarity in personal interactions. Our mother tongue is considered to be a lifeline to our identity and culture.
I particularly chose this article to draw ‘inspiration’ from considering that Dr Sahana Prasad has been able to clearly paint a succinct picture of this peculiar situation where the penchant shown for the disregard of one’s mother tongue will eventually, I feel, result in loss of identity for the individual.
Although we, in our wildest dreams, wouldn’t like to deny the significance of this statement, the proclivity shown by youngsters today (with exceptions of course) to imbibe a mannerism driven by ideas of pseudo-sophistication invariably finds one’s mother tongue as the first casualty when it comes to personality development.
Each language has its own charm and its choice of terms for addressing elders and relatives in the family. But getting away with the use of ‘uncles’, ‘aunties’ and ‘cousins’ to generalize relationships, the English language as that global lingual franca has established its own standards that the others have aped blindly to appear in vogue with the times.
I have always believed that our mother tongue is the first language we learn to speak and the one we use to communicate with our family and friends.
Once in conversation with my educationist friend over the ease with which the current corps of TV anchors and hosts on regional television channels in the state could articulate and put their point across; I was told that it was their eloquence in the native language which helped them to grasp things better and converse more freely without getting lost for words.
My friend explains that people are able to express themselves more clearly, accurately, and emotionally in their native language.
The contention that knowing one’s mother tongue well is a matter of self-esteem as it enriches one’s confidence and creates awareness in one’s mind further lends weight to the fact that it is the most suitable and preferred language to learn anything.
Hence, as a language in which one is most comfortable in every situation, the proclivity shown for sidelining one’s native tongue in their order of priorities is indeed shocking!
Conversing in the local language and gaining fluency over it comes so very naturally to the youngsters. So it is not at all appropriate to blame them for their lack of interest in their mother tongue.
When the parents themselves are conspicuous by their insistence to have their child speak only in an ‘alien’ tongue at home, the ‘survival’ of the first language it has been exposed to from birth will definitely be at stake.
At the same time there are instances where the parents have been equally fastidious about having their children speak as much as possible in their mother tongue.
I have this Bengali friend of mine, married to a Maharashtrian, and settled in Pune. The children, now both of them grown up and busy pursuing a career of their choice, speak both Bengali and Marathi fluently.
Generally it is observed that many who are not privileged enough to have had an upbringing in one’s own native land tend to be ignorant about their mother tongue.
As a Keralite settled here in Goa; whilst on one hand I am disappointed at the sheer ignorance of their mother tongue as exhibited by the Gen Z, on the other hand I am often amused by the way the youngsters have brought a distinct accent to the Malayalam they speak - regional accents of English to be precise!
In this respect, the ‘Malayalam Mission’, the project launched by the Government of Kerala to provide mother tongue learning opportunities to Malayalees around the world stands out as that novel venture aimed at inculcating a love for one’s native language right from a young age.
Besides playing a big role in the promotion of Malayalam globally, ‘Malayalam Mission’ is benefitting non-resident Keralite children who are not aware of their culture and language.
Such programmes which address the lingual challenges individuals face in their native place are the need of the hour and state governments without exception should be endorsing such initiatives which brings about a love for one’s mother tongue in every child.
I am sure the mother tongue problem is not restricted to Kerala alone!
