Note before you read this piece. This particular article and three more were pending for approval with a news editor but I think it’s high time I get them to be read.
Sandhya an architect by profession calls out for her two year old daughter to come inside the house and play and the chubby toddler replies in a language that was never her grandma’s or even her mother’s original native language. With society changing its face in the form of globalization, English has entered our lives in way it is almost becoming our primary language. In addition with curriculums being dictated and taught in Queen’s language urban Indians are increasingly speaking to their children in English rather than their own native language
In the last decade modern India has witnessed an upsurge in intercaste marriages and this maybe one reason why parents feel it is better to communicate in one universal language that is accepted globally rather than speaking to the kid in two regional languages. Moreover with colleges and workspaces having one unifying language which is English, it is conveniently spoken amongst couples and passed on to children.
Some may consider it to be a surprise that a language when traced down in the country’s history is actually a contribution of invaders is grabbing more attention than any other regional language in urban India. But for couples who speak in this language more than their own mother tongues feel it is the influence of globalization and many admit they have grown up thinking and speaking in English and that habit is continued with children too. This also maybe a trend in cities like Bangalore where the culture that predominates itself is cosmopolitan and the result is that it is people have adopted modern lifestyles so how language could be left behind?
Says Shiril Pinto, a HR professional, “I am in a mixed marriage where my mother tongue is Konkani and my husband’s is Bengali but because we were unable to learn each other’s languages we have resorted to speak to our three old kid in English. Also as we have always communicated to each other prior to marriage in this language so it just continued as a natural progression of communication at home.”
There are other reasons like being educated in convent schools and the belief that children who are able to speak in flawless English right from young age are able to work in global environments much better with the diction, grammar and pronunciation having leant perfectly from young age.
This is the case of Smitha Roy who feels speaking in English to her two plus daughter Aahna is something which is natural as she and her husband have always spoken in English as a matter of convenience. She further adds, “However one thing we make sure is that Aahana learns correct language skills so that her diction, pronunciation is by far the best. Yet we are ensuring she learns Kannada as well from her grandparents whenever she visits them at their place, as I don’t want her to feel when she’s grown up that she did not get the opportunity to learn any other language very well other than English”
According to Nandini Ashok an educator who runs a preschool, “I think one reason is there is an increase in mixed marriages. Another reason for rising popularity of English is parents these days generally find he interview process at the kindergarten level a procedure cumbersome enough where he or she is spoken and interview in English as the primary language. This according to me is unfair to the child and in a certain way pressurizes parents to speak in English. “
If one thinks it is the case of intercaste marriages which India has witnessed as a boom factor to be the contributor for speaking in English a parent like Chaitra Kiran has another perspective to offer. “I do speak in Kannada and am very much married within the same community. Yet I feel parents like me have started stressing on English is because we see children are not able to understand anything if they are not on par with this language and somehow it has become the unifying language in activity centres, play areas like in upscale apartments and so on
Many consider that it is a fact that malls or kids activity centres or for that matter schools communicate in English as it is easier to converse in one language rather than multiple languages. Though they may help children to understand though other languages as well it is obviously the Queen’s language that is gaining prominence in places like bookstores, preschools and this is indirectly making parents speak in English.
Yet undeniably the bottom line is that given the choice urban Indians want to focus on multiple languages mainly their` own native mother tongue as many feel children will be better quipped irrespective they live in India or elsewhere if they have knowledge of many languages.