Thursday, April 29, 2010

In India we have ‘ENGLISHES’

Why do we have mother tongue influence in our English Language?

If not English is our mother tongue, it obviously becomes a foreign language for us. So how can we learn English, the foreign language then? So it’s possible for us to learn English only in and through our mother tongue. I being a Mal, I was introduced
to the English language through Malayalam dialect and I learned English, through Malayalam dialect.

It would not have been possible for me to learn English without Malayalam dialect. In a way Malayalam dialect was the bridge between me and English. So there is all the reason to have that dialectic influence in my English, the way I speak, the way I write and the way I think. Hence my English is dialectically polished rather than polished by the polished English language. It might it be difficult for me to speak, write and think as the English men do.

In India we don’t have ENGLISH but we have ‘ENGLISHES’. The English spoken by Mal might be called Manglish, by Tamilian Tamiglish and by Hindi people Hinglish because of the mother tongue influence. As we have 15 official languages in India as many as ENGLISHES we have. However we don’t have a single uniform English standard in India. Everything is culturally politically and linguistically polished. The Indian English rather the Indian ENGLISHES are culturally, politically and above all dialectically polished. It is very difficult to get out of the hang of the dialectic influence.

Language is for conventional purposes. The main purpose of the language is to communicate with people. The purpose of the language is served if it could convey the message. Though we have ENGLISHES spoken I think all these ENGLISHES serve the purpose of communicating the messages with one another.

It is not fair that we put down or humiliate people for the accent or pronunciation with which people speak ENGLISHES because everyone’s English is culturally, politically and above all dialectically polished. Some speak better English because their place of birth and the exposure they got are something great and different.

Language is not anyone’s property. It’s everyone’s property so anyone and everyone can possess it by hard work and continuous effort. Any language we learn it by speaking it and through mistakes. Once we set a good basic and platform for our English we should built on it rather than be content with the little English known. We must start to think in English and that can make us speak and write good English.

Let us get out of our mother tongue influence from our English language. The narrowing down of the dialectic influence shall help us to have a single uniform standard of ENGLISH in India and get rid of ‘ENGLISHES’. Let us think, speak and write English that is next to the English spoken by the Englishmen.



1 comment:

  1. We can do all this, but the schooling matters.
    The level of education differs from place to place.
    Everyone may be good in their mother tongue. But not all people can be good in English.
    It is such a beautiful language, which most of us love, if taught in a proper manner, in all education institutions.

    Today we lack good teachers for all subjects because most of them aren't paid well, and so they go for other jobs which give them a better pay.

    Education system should be developed in all parts of India. If schooling system develops, the whole India would shine, for it is the young minds which work towards the betterment of themselves, thereby the whole of India.

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