Mr. Amitabh Bachchan proclaimed many years ago in a movie, "English is a very funny language!" He couldn't have been more accurate. Incase you are wondering, no, I didn't watch the movie yesterday and I am not writing a review about it. What I am writing here, is how it is difficult to explain a language without any rules, to a four-year-old.
Every Indian language has rules. Set rules, which say that x = x and y = y. The grammar is perfect. You can't mess around with the rules, and they make it easier to understand the language. But English, is indeed, a funny language. That it has been adopted as the universal language, is a bit of a shame. What is more shameful, is that many Indian parents today, for whatever reason, choose to speak to their offspring in English on a routine basis. What ensues is a child who is neither proficient in English (because none of the so-called English speaking parents speak the language fluently), nor do they know their mother-tongue. They are a bit of neither this, nor that.
Whatever be someone else's choice, it was completely understood between my husband and me, that we would speak to our children in Marathi. Once they grow a little older, we would speak to them from time-to-time in Hindi. These two languages, the child must learn at home. For English, there's always school. Now that formal education of Saee has begun, and she has started assimilating, and more importantly, questioning stuff, it becomes impossible sometimes, to explain the nuances of the Queen's language.
For example, it was tough to explain why 'G' makes a 'ग' sound, and not 'ज' sound which is made by 'J'. Somehow, we managed to convince her that this is how things stand. One day, in the supermarket, she said to my husband, "बाबा, मला गेम्स पाहिजेत". Shrikant told her, "बेटा त्याला गेम्स नाही जेम्स म्हणतात." To which she retorted, " पण G चा sound तर 'ग' असा असतो ना!" Shrikant was rendered speechless.
Once again, we faced the same problem while explaining the difference between 'C', 'S' and 'K'. S makes 'स 'स' sound, whereas 'C' makes 'क' sound and so does 'K'. Then according to Saee, car should be spelt as Kar, or why isn't c-a-r pronounced Sar? Why does kite not begin with a 'C'? Why do we not write our surname as Cecre instead of Kekre? Why does 'giraffe' not begin with a 'J'? Tough to explain to a four-year-old.
Tough, because I have no answers to these questions. I may have had these questions in my formative years too, but just like everyone else, even we as kids, learn to accept a fundamental law of life. "It is so, because it is so." You can't change things, even though you know they aren't quite right. Just like you can't change some people. Sometimes, the sooner you learn to accept things the way they are, the easier life becomes for you.
But as far as English is concerned, even though I write my blog in this language, it isn't always a language which is well understood. It is in a way, like a life-partner. I wasn't born with it. I didn't really grow up with it. But when I was old enough to understand, I assimilated it, tried to understand it, and with its faults, accepted it the way it is, and made it my own. It doesn't mean that I let go of my mother-tongue. It is still the language with which I think. But English is a language I live with.
And so must my children, until they become old enough to make their own decisions. This way, I'll give them roots, until the day they find their wings.
Every Indian language has rules. Set rules, which say that x = x and y = y. The grammar is perfect. You can't mess around with the rules, and they make it easier to understand the language. But English, is indeed, a funny language. That it has been adopted as the universal language, is a bit of a shame. What is more shameful, is that many Indian parents today, for whatever reason, choose to speak to their offspring in English on a routine basis. What ensues is a child who is neither proficient in English (because none of the so-called English speaking parents speak the language fluently), nor do they know their mother-tongue. They are a bit of neither this, nor that.
Whatever be someone else's choice, it was completely understood between my husband and me, that we would speak to our children in Marathi. Once they grow a little older, we would speak to them from time-to-time in Hindi. These two languages, the child must learn at home. For English, there's always school. Now that formal education of Saee has begun, and she has started assimilating, and more importantly, questioning stuff, it becomes impossible sometimes, to explain the nuances of the Queen's language.
For example, it was tough to explain why 'G' makes a 'ग' sound, and not 'ज' sound which is made by 'J'. Somehow, we managed to convince her that this is how things stand. One day, in the supermarket, she said to my husband, "बाबा, मला गेम्स पाहिजेत". Shrikant told her, "बेटा त्याला गेम्स नाही जेम्स म्हणतात." To which she retorted, " पण G चा sound तर 'ग' असा असतो ना!" Shrikant was rendered speechless.
Once again, we faced the same problem while explaining the difference between 'C', 'S' and 'K'. S makes 'स 'स' sound, whereas 'C' makes 'क' sound and so does 'K'. Then according to Saee, car should be spelt as Kar, or why isn't c-a-r pronounced Sar? Why does kite not begin with a 'C'? Why do we not write our surname as Cecre instead of Kekre? Why does 'giraffe' not begin with a 'J'? Tough to explain to a four-year-old.
Tough, because I have no answers to these questions. I may have had these questions in my formative years too, but just like everyone else, even we as kids, learn to accept a fundamental law of life. "It is so, because it is so." You can't change things, even though you know they aren't quite right. Just like you can't change some people. Sometimes, the sooner you learn to accept things the way they are, the easier life becomes for you.
But as far as English is concerned, even though I write my blog in this language, it isn't always a language which is well understood. It is in a way, like a life-partner. I wasn't born with it. I didn't really grow up with it. But when I was old enough to understand, I assimilated it, tried to understand it, and with its faults, accepted it the way it is, and made it my own. It doesn't mean that I let go of my mother-tongue. It is still the language with which I think. But English is a language I live with.
And so must my children, until they become old enough to make their own decisions. This way, I'll give them roots, until the day they find their wings.
No comments:
Post a Comment