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The language cauldron and the English creep

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Written By srkulhalli - 9 June, 2012

Bangalore education kannada language Analysis Language and Culture english

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This is a longish four part essay/discussion on English and our native languages.

Part 1: The status of our native/ mother tongues (they are dying, by the way)

Part 2: From a nationalist perspective, does it help to save them ?

Part 3: From an individual perspective, does it make sense to retain your mother tongue ?

Part 4: What can we do to protect and let them grow.

 

Part 1

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I do not know if you see it or not, but Indian languages are hurtling towards extinction at an exponential rate. Its not Kannada vs Tamil, or Hindi vs Marathi any more, all without exception are dying, it’s just a question of sooner or later. Some may last another 50yrs, some maybe 100, but die they will, if we don’t work hard to keep them alive. And when I say dying I am saying as a living vibrant language, used in day to day life, as a culture, as a binding force in a community. That’s where they are disappearing. As an academic language on the bookshelves and in libraries and in a few isolated homes, they may last for a long long time – but I am not referring to that. Am I exaggerating?

Recently my daughter turned 1.5 yrs. Like all parents, was seeking a pre-school. (This pre-school is another silly craze, where they want their kids to get ahead, ie get stressed and become zombies early in life – but like many other parents, you end up sending your kid just so that she gets company of her age). I wanted her to go to one in her mother tongue, which is Kannada. In my locality, there are around 2045 preschools out of the 9000 or so housing sites. I was stunned that they were stunned when I asked if the pre-school runs in Kannada.

There was one which was more lower middle class, with most of the kids speaking kannada – looked promising. The principal said she understood us perfectly, and they are not fanatical about english, it was probably she saw our car which made her say that. So we walked around and happened to meet a primary school teacher, (who was not aware what we were looking for) proudly told us, if the kid speaks us to in Kannada, we dont respond ! How is that for self-respect of our culture.

There was one with at least a very Indian name, and talked about culture and stuff. Looked promising – it turned out that all they did was start with a Sanksrit shloka and the rest of it was exactly like any other. So I went into a discussion on language with the matron saying mother tongue you will learn at home in any case, so they focus on English here. That’s not true any more. Because the kid will speak English from age of 1, and will speak only in English in schools, and with its friends and will speak in English outside the home in the shops and malls and the parents will speak in English in office and with their friends and outside of their home, and will read in English, the native tongue will just not hold. And I see it happening even in traditional households, it just too much effort to sustain, so they switch over to English while speaking to their children. The native mother tongue for practical purposes is dead with their generation.

And this is defacto understood across all strata of society. When we take our kid out, every dude we meet, like you know, will speak in English. Like they look at us as if we are from outer space, you know, when we translate the customary “what’s your name” into Kannada for the kid. And like this is not just the typical ‘I have been to USA, look at my accent’ IT guy in the car or the wannababe smartie salesguy in the Mall. Everybody from the gardener to the maid to the carpenter to the temple priest will converse with us in Kannada and will turn over to the kid and start speaking in English. It’s becoming impossible to shield the poor little kid anywhere.

And if you think this is an urban phenomenon, and this is because Bengaluru is cosmopolitan, it’s not. I have been to a remote interior village in Karnataka, and I don’t know for sure if it is typical, but the trend is equally strong, though they may lag Bengaluru by a few years.

This is about generation next – what about now. I keep my ears open when I am going around. Just listen to a few sample conversations (~transcripts 

  • Phone cover scratch agide. Change madbeku – Rural Kannada college going kids conversing in Kannada

  • Sensible agi, Simple agi irbeku – Two friends talking standing at a shop corner

  • Prashnegalu irritate agathe – An 82 yrs wise old man who has lived in remote hamlet in interior Karnataka all his life

I won’t get into more, what with these 2G phone tapping and all being in supreme court – lets await that decision before I release more of these scandalous conversations.

It’s a struggle to be speaking in Kannada without really speaking in English. Within my family its typically 70% English, just like the above. It’s not complex words or technology related words, even common everyday words which have been around in Kannada for ages have got bulldozed out – like colours, days of the week, fruits and vegetables, words like change, clean .. all become part of everyday Kannada speaking. I am not being fanatical, it’s OK to use English words once in a while, its just that we end up using Kannada words once in a while when we speak Kannada, and of course pure, perfect Queens English when we speak English. To our growing list of where we are moving to superpower status, political corruption, beuracractic corruption, media corruption, moral corruption we can add language corruption (or should it be language pollution?).

We tried to be conscious and speak in Kannada proper. Its only then we realize how far down the road we have travelled and how hard it is to come back. It becomes really irritating and stressful to remind ourselves and the other person, hey you are using English. Yes yes, sorry and a few sentences later it slips out again. Because my family members are so very nice, they have not clubbed me yet, but you never know, I can’t test their patience too far. And if you are feeling all smug that you speak only 20% corrupted, well all I can say I am ahead of the curve.

Who cares? Why bother – waste of time ? Isn’t it better for national integration if we have one language, no language clashes? Isn’t English our ticket to be an economic superpower, the earlier the better? Why trouble ourselves having an additional language – isn’t it better to speak one and speak it well? What is language, but a means of communication, why the fuss on which one. What value does it add to me to speak in the native language? Isn’t the birth, growth and death of languages a natural process, why interfere? And what does it buy me, personally – I will speak what I like – just buzz off. Isn’t my kid better off speaking English, so that he does not get left behind? So many questions, so many questions, so many questions, its going to take one long essay to answer these. More in the coming parts ….

COMMENTS

Good observation!

kbsyed61 - 11 June, 2012 - 03:46

srkulhalli

Nice observation and every good narration of an important aspect of our lives - Communication. Really do not have any idea as to how you preserve your mother tongue and still be able to communicate to the world in the language that is prevalent.

But one thing shook me off again is the little one of 1.5 yrs going to school

Recently my daughter turned 1.5 yrs. Like all parents, was seeking a pre-school. (This pre-school is another silly craze, where they want their kids to get ahead, ie get stressed and become zombies early in life – but like many other parents, you end up sending your kid just so that she gets company of her age).

This phenomenon is common to every household. I am still not comfortable with the idea that 1.5 yr old needs school for staying ahead in the rat race. Even for company it is too much for that little infant who can hardly understand that is around her. I am sure this will be a topic for another discussion.

I can 100% concur with the observation that English has made inroads into out daily lives so much that even when we speak our mother tongue we have become used to using more English words than using Kannada/Tamil/Marathi/Urdu words. My own experience is that until my eldest one started school, we spoke Urdu all the time at home here in US. Her admission to school change all of that. Later when younger siblings joined her the situation has become worse. Now these guys speak only in English with each other. What can these poor souls will do when, English has become the De Facto communication media - Everybody speaks in English at School, Mosque, community centers, in our social gatherings and even the Hindi news is 50% English. My only hope is my plan this year to teach them Urdu this summer. I have failed twice in past years. Wish me good luck :)

The language issue

psaram42 - 11 June, 2012 - 04:46

 

This issue is a much debated one. Why this Kolaveri language issue? On Sundays we don’t miss SP Balsubramyam’s Karnataka music programme. When compared to English music this one is extremely scientific, melodious and exhilarating.

Second point is, why is English creep? Positive view is probably one could see it as the “lingua franca” of the world. Languages and races can and should co exist. Importance of mother tongue of course can not be denigrated.  

cheer, not tear

murali772 - 12 June, 2012 - 14:02

@ Kulhalli saahibare'  -  I expect the Shakesperean pundits in Stratford-upon-Avon would also be lamenting the corruption of the "Queen's English", by none other than the Oxford English dictionary, by the assimilation of hundreds of new words into it on a regular basis, the word 'pundit' itself being one such. Apart from that, you now have the American English, Spanish English, aur apna "Hinglish", mathu namma "Kinglish". So, while the Shakesperean theatre may continue to stage its plays in the "Queen's English", the rest of England, as well as the US, Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Madras, Calcutta, etc, will be using their own everyday versions of English. And, simultaneously, there will always be enough proponents of Shakespearean English to keep it alive and kicking too.

Likewise, there will always be enough proponents of all major Indian languages to keep the respective languages and cultures alive and kicking, with their numbers being sufficiently large, and now spread all across the world. Why else would Google facilitate usage of these languages? Also, that's how you are now finding "Yakshgana", "Thayambaka (from Kerala)", etc being staged/ performed across the world. In fact, if you ask me, there is a noticeable revival of many folk-art forms, post globalisation.

As such, there will always be enough scope for purists who want to preserve/ pursue their language and culture. I would even say they have become stronger today. But yes, more and more, it will get confined to fine arts, culture, etc, and perhaps lesser and lesser to fields like medicine (Alopathic), engineering, etc.

So, rather than shed a tear, I am cheering on.

However, for medium of primary education, I would agree with Mr S A Aiyar's view expressed here

my 2 cents on the language thing

blrpraj - 28 December, 2013 - 07:09

Language and culture continuously evelove over time and is not written in concrete, having said that here are some
views

1) I question the concept and the term "mother tongue". Let's look at it from a different perspective in an increasingly
   cosmopolitan and globalized city & world. Let's look at it from this perspective; a person has - a) a primary language (in which he or she is
   proficient in reading, writing, speaking AND uses most(50% to 70%) of the time). Quite often nowadays we find ourselves
   in a situation where mother and father are from different lingual and cultural backgrounds thus raising questions about
   blindly following the "mother tongue" concept. b) secondary language(s) - less proficient and used less c) tertiary language(s)

2) Market forces/natural forces/survival of the fittest -  Leave it up to the language. The language itself will do well if there it is strong and there
   is a need for the language. Do we have Sanskrit around? No it isn't. Was it a popular defacto language in it's heydey? I guess so. So, what happened to    it? Over hundreds of years things evolved and i guess it finally fell out of favour; and, no matter how much you force people it won't be spoken now, but that does not prevent people from learning it and speaking it even today if they want to and love sanskrit.
  
   And, for heavens sake government and people should stay away from making policies and forcing languages down peoples throats. Give all the avenues for
   people (especially kids) to pick and choose languages in terms of a) having cultural centers;b) plays/skits & dramas;c) schools in various mediums of languages, so that multiple languages have an equal footing and kids pick up languages based on the environment they are growing up and interacting in.

3) Last but not the least, we underestimate kids and their intelligence. Leave it to the kids to figure out what language they want to converse in.
   Conversing in english at home with the parents or with other folks outside of school? That is perfectly ok. What matters is that kids become better all rounded human beings with emphasis on sports, education, extra curricular activities, better civic sense, better drivers ...and the list continues with language figuring much lower in the priority list when compared to these items that people forget about.

Very interesting!

SJ - 30 July, 2012 - 10:45

Hi,

Just writing to say that I found your article extremely interesting.

I'm a PhD student, studying the impact of the English language on people's lives in Bangalore. I'd like very much to further discuss some of the points you made in this article. Do let me know if I could email you!

Best,

Sazana 

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