Why the shame in speaking Hindi - Page 11

Originally posted by: monalidp

I'd like to add my two cents.

I am a Marathi and am proud to say I am a very well-read person in both Marathi and English. I used to live in a second-tier city in Maharashtra and started raiding the library there when I was five. I discovered a lot in that library, not just Marathi but old English literature from Shakespeare to Pearl Buck, from to Martin Luther King to Ayn Rand, from Leo Tolstoy to Margaret Mitchell.

I also grew up listening to Marathi bhajans of Bhimsen Joshi and the Mangeshkar sisters. Those bhajans are an integral part of my mental makeup.

I'd say language is an integral part of the culture. Not because of the language itself per se, but because talented authors, singers, leaders of the old express themselves through the medium. It is a medium of communication that is used by generations to express their thoughts and beliefs. People mold languages to their taste and then the language molds future generations.

Now I live in the UK, my kids are being brought up here. They learn nativity plays and Christian stories in their schools. They learn about Vikings, not the Mughals/Shivaji/Indian freedom struggle. They sing Christmas carols, not Marathi bhajans.

Sometimes I feel far removed from them. There is an emotional disconnect that is hard to explain. It breaks my heart when they don't appreciate the Marathi language or the sweet songs. They don't understand the quirks of the language that's almost the life source for me. I think that is why the native language is called ''Mother Tongue'. The bliss I feel when my child calls me 'Aai' is not the same as when they call me 'mum'.

But It's nobody's fault. I can't hold it against them as they are being brought up in a different environment. When I was in Belgium for a short-term work assignment, I was told I'd have to learn Dutch/French/German as those were official languages, not English. It was a hassle for me, but I appreciated their pride and will to preserve their heritage, their roots, the language that has nurtured and enriched their minds.

As you can see, I sit on a fence. I love my language but have no problem with others loving theirs too. In today's day and age, when there is so much divide in the world already, we should learn from history and choose our battles wisely. Pride and prejudice will only take us so far. Live and let live should be our mantra.

Coming back to some Bollywood kids using a jumble of language struggling to get their point across, I pity them. They just have missed the bus, it's their loss.

@Bold: I was very much attached to my mother tongue and grew up believing that Language is the representative of the culture. But after moving around more and rubbing shoulders with people from different languages and cultural backgrounds, I started realizing how Language is nothing but a medium in the scheme of things needed to be able to bond with people. Then motherhood happened to me which completely changed my entire being. The movies have brainwashed me that being ‘called’ by your child as ‘mom/ma/amma’ is bliss. But my son didn’t ‘call’ me or anything at all except looking out for me or reaching out for me when he needed me, then we eventually found out that he is autistic. He is 5 now and only refers to me as ‘mom’ in third person. But the bliss I feel just being his mom is inexplicable and bet it’s no less than what you are any other mom must be feeling. That’s when I realized fully that Language is nothing but a medium to express. My son taught me and helped me consolidate my belief that Language is overrated and it’s nothing more than a medium. In a world where there are so many issues, picking on a language is just what they call - First world problems!

Bhaisaab kya ghamasan mach raha hai yahan.. main to shayad aag laga ke nikal gayi..

I am against language impositions of any kind. Yes, language can be a part of someone's identity. But it is up to the individual to decide that. We can go about imposing a certain language as someone's identity just because they were born somewhere or belong to a certain family.

Many of India's larger cities are cultural hubs. They are home to people with different linguistic backgrounds. You can find hundreds of languages and dialects spoken within a small area. Naturally, when there is linguistic diversity a lingua franca emerges.

In North Indian cities the lingua franca is Hindi because it has the widest speaking range and most people were familiar with a form of Hindi. In South Indian cities the lingua franca is English because due to colonization it was the language they had in common.

In a place like Bombay which is along the north-south divide, Hinglish emerged which combined Hindi, English, and even Marathi the local language. Most Hindi speakers cringe when Bombayites speak Hindi because it is dramatically incorrect and uses tons of borrowed words. I had a mind-blowing moment in my life when I learned that Kanda-batata is not Hindi. Outside the upper class that has an immersive English education - Bombay spoken English can be terrible with many improperly formed sentences and frequent insertions of a Hindi word.

My mother did a major part of her schooling in USA before her parents moved back to India. So she only knew Gujarati and English. She did not know Hindi or Marathi. As a result, my English is solid because she could always correct my English but my Hindi/Marathi is terrible because she can't read or write those languages properly. But she has incredible speaking fluency. She learned to speak Hindi/Marathi as a 15-16-year-old after moving back from the US. She learned to speak Konkani as an adult after marriage.

I also sometimes cringe at the expectation that people know their "mother tongue" because I don't speak my mother tongue, Gujarati. I speak my father tongue, Konkani because I grew up immersed in my father's side of the family. I wish I was more immersed in the Gujarati side of my culture, but language is not one I regret. Gujarati is still widely spoken, but Konkani is spoken by fewer people and the variation in Konkani in communities up and down the Konkan coast is stunning.

There was a time when German was actually the most spoken language in the United States to the extent that the founding fathers almost made German the national language. But English eventually won over. Most Americans now speak English. After multiple generations of being born in the USA, immigrants who came from all over the world lost their native tongues to English. Today so many Americans will proudly claim Italian, German, Polish, or other European descents but know scant little of their home language and culture.

The point is you don't need to speak a certain language. You get to decide your linguistic identity and no one can impose that on you. And it might evolve over time. Today you are where you are - tomorrow life may take you to another part of the world that might shape your linguistic identity differently.

Always try to speak the local language because it is a respectful thing to do. At the same time never demand someone speak your local language because respect is earned not demanded. Don't make fun of accents or mistakes because learning a language is hard.

Try to learn a new language because it's a valuable skill to have and can open a whole world of new possibilities. I speak four languages and continue learning Spanish. I plan to learn another language when I get through Spanish on Duolingo.

In the end its not the language you speak but your willingness to communicate with other humans that matter. The desire to communicate can overcome anything. But no amount of language fluency can save you if you are a language arse or a language imperialist.

Dravidians are the only original native inhabitants of India. Not Aryans.

Koi Bhakto ko batao...that regions fighting for their linguistic identity has been going on way before BJP ever existed or even before RSS hired a fashion designer to design their Fashionable kache & topi.🤣

Originally posted by: monalidp

I'd like to add my two cents.

I am a Marathi and am proud to say I am a very well-read person in both Marathi and English. I used to live in a second-tier city in Maharashtra and started raiding the library there when I was five. I discovered a lot in that library, not just Marathi but old English literature from Shakespeare to Pearl Buck, from to Martin Luther King to Ayn Rand, from Leo Tolstoy to Margaret Mitchell.

I also grew up listening to Marathi bhajans of Bhimsen Joshi and the Mangeshkar sisters. Those bhajans are an integral part of my mental makeup.

I'd say language is an integral part of the culture. Not because of the language itself per se, but because talented authors, singers, leaders of the old express themselves through the medium. It is a medium of communication that is used by generations to express their thoughts and beliefs. People mold languages to their taste and then the language molds future generations.

Now I live in the UK, my kids are being brought up here. They learn nativity plays and Christian stories in their schools. They learn about Vikings, not the Mughals/Shivaji/Indian freedom struggle. They sing Christmas carols, not Marathi bhajans.

Sometimes I feel far removed from them. There is an emotional disconnect that is hard to explain. It breaks my heart when they don't appreciate the Marathi language or the sweet songs. They don't understand the quirks of the language that's almost the life source for me. I think that is why the native language is called ''Mother Tongue'. The bliss I feel when my child calls me 'Aai' is not the same as when they call me 'mum'.

But It's nobody's fault. I can't hold it against them as they are being brought up in a different environment. When I was in Belgium for a short-term work assignment, I was told I'd have to learn Dutch/French/German as those were official languages, not English. It was a hassle for me, but I appreciated their pride and will to preserve their heritage, their roots, the language that has nurtured and enriched their minds.

As you can see, I sit on a fence. I love my language but have no problem with others loving theirs too. In today's day and age, when there is so much divide in the world already, we should learn from history and choose our battles wisely. Pride and prejudice will only take us so far. Live and let live should be our mantra.

Coming back to some Bollywood kids using a jumble of language struggling to get their point across, I pity them. They just have missed the bus, it's their loss.

See, what you're talking about is culture. While language and culture are intertwined, for vast majority of people, language is merely a medium of communication. I don't have data, but I'd venture a guess above 80% in India don't really care to read in any language (not that they can't read). It would be the same in any other country.

Those who are interested will of course learn. I'm trying learn Sanskrit. 😆 Not succeeding to any meaningful extent, but trying just the same. It's because I want that ability to read the texts in the original language. Which, by the way, is not even the original language because Panini formulated the rules of the language much after the texts were orally transmitted for the first time.

But culture can't be forced on to people. Nor should they be looked down on if they're not interested. I mean... the software engineer, the fashion designer... these are middle to upper middle class people who might not see any benefit in it. Let them live their lives in peace, bhai. That's all I'm saying.

The Bollywood natives are a diff breed. My peeve is they know they want to be in HINDI film sector from childhood. They go for gazillion other types of lessons. So why not language lessons? From whatever else I've seen, I can only assume it's coming from a place of classism.

For me personally, respecting and loving my mother tongue is important. It is the language that helped me express my thoughts and communicate to the world. Of course, I'm gonna have attachment to it. Mother tongues are called mother tongues for a reason.

I respect English as well because knowing it made my professional life easier and it has become the global language.

I don't like people looking down on any language, and more so if the language being looked down upon is an Indian language and yes, it does happen in cities and I find it sad.

Originally posted by: Festival

You never blocked her? Then why did she become an Avenger?

Who knows? I've given up on trying to figure out people for now. 😆

What happened to the concept of live n let live? Specially on IF

Coz I live in South side of India and have seen the localites pick up Hindi much faster than me learning the local language..once upon a time there may have been n aversion to learn Hindi..but I feel people r more open and receptive nowadays..whatever helps them to pursue their interests in terms of profession, hobbies, business interests.. people learn that.

M a Gujarati..and have malayali friends since childhood still living in Gujarat and they speak fluent proper gujarati..they tell me I speak the language with n accent🤣though I dont agree.

Sabki apni apni choice hai

Originally posted by: NimbuMirchi

In early 90s, our next door neighbor was Tamil couple working in govt office, neither knew Gujarati nor Hindi. None of us knew Tamil or English, we still gelled up well. Some sign language some hinglish and some broke Gujarati. It was so cute. Johnson uncle’s been my Dad’s friend for years after moving out.

He lived in Gujarat for years and still didn’t learn Gujarati or Hindi. We Gujaratis are cool that way. We don’t impose anything or take offense at smallest of things. Not that I have seen in general.

The key is he wasn't forced. I took Hindi lessons for years in school. It irritated me because I didn't anticipate working in North India. Believe me, Bollywood taught me more Hindi because I was doing it for myself. But I'm still more comfortable with English.

I love my native language, Malayalam, but I think in English mostly. I was watching Malayalam movies, reading Malayalam literature, even the ridiculous magazines with melodramatic serial novels. 😆 I still gravitated to English because my personal life was far removed from these. The people I mingled with, my fam and friends, spoke Malayalam at home, but we lived regular lives. And yeah, English was considered very important because it was global. And I started reading, watching the movies, etc. Etc. It was fun. Same as Bollywood was fun, and I learned Hindi.

English then became my first language because I use it more, and I see nothing wrong with it, either. For me, it is only a medium of communication.

Yes, there is culture which is intertwined with language, but that is not a necessity for every human. It is to me but may not be for others. I don't think they should be judged for it if there is classism/elitism involved.