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Articles: TP Features | | telugu rathaM kadiliMdi | |
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| Sri Ramesh Babu gaariki and to the visitors of TP,
Please forgive me for writing in English while talking about the importance of mother-tongue, namely Telugu. I don't know Telugu typing.
Thanks for the excellent article, which depicts the sad state of affair of Telugu language in the same state where it’s born.
As a linguist in the past, with specialization in foreign languages such as German and Spanish, I have done considerable research on languages. With that background, I can unequivocally vouch for Dr. Ramesh Babu gaari’s contention that without a strong foundation in mother-tongue, it is impossible to master any foreign language (including English). In fact, even scientific studies conducted by the international language scientists confirm this argument.
I challenge our great policy makers to conduct a study in Andhra Pradesh state to find out who has high standards of English communication. I can assure that more than 95% of the people whose English is at the high-end level, have been educated either purely in Telugu medium or have strong hold on Telugu language.
As part of my research on Global Skills, I interviewed and observed hundreds of people who have been born and raised in metros and educated in English medium and speak English even at home. Majority of these people speak ineffective English. In other words, they either speak with lots of simple grammatical errors or their English communication is confined to very limited vocabulary and without any idiomatic expressions.
I AM not against English language. In fact, my contention is that we must communicate in high-end English and not the low-end Butler English that our policy makers want us to learn to cater to the requirements of dollar-crazy IT, BPO and call-center industries. Let’s speak English that is required to become global leaders but not for doing clerical jobs and becoming followers to other nations.
But to be able to learn high-end English (or any other foreign language), the only way out is to first master the mother-tongue. There is no other way.
By not realizing the quintessential role that the mother-tongue plays in the most precious period of a person’s life, namely the formative years, our policy makers and the parents have already spoiled one or two generations (in the last 15 years), who can’t express either in Telugu or in English even at the satisfactory levels.
If our policy makers and most importantly our parents don’t realize the importance of mother-tongue, in coming decades, we are destined to see a nation of ineffective communicators, which invariably means ineffective people.
One doesn’t have to be a rocket-scientist to appreciate the logic. Ineffective communicators can never be effective leaders.
The policy makers in developed economies such as Germany, Japan, Switzerland and France etc. are not a bunch of fools for not thrusting English upon their population. They appreciate the logic and that’s precisely why they have not anglicized their primary and secondary education. In fact, even at university levels, they implement their own mother-tongue because it’s clear to them that without strong communication, they can’t be strong leaders.
Whether or not our policy makers are going to realize this fact and do some thing that is long over due is solely dependent on the levels of their wisdom, which is anyway in serious shortage. But the little hope that I have is only on parents. If parents demand mother-tongue from the schools and colleges, we can witness tremendous changes because ultimately it is economics that ultimately makes things change.
Parents have to realize that strong foundation in mother-tongue is not a choice but a ‘sine qua non’ for effective communication in English and other foreign languages.
Finally, I feel it would be appropriate to quote one Red Indian (of the USA) saying that was told to me by one Red Indian friend in the USA, which goes like this. “The world will collapse on the day, when the whole world speaks one language… and that is English”.
Posted by: Mr. Maharshi Pragna At: 25, Feb 2006 6:53:01 PM IST
telugu bhAsha parirakshaNa kOsaM kRushi chEstunna ramEsj bAbu gAriki dhanyavAdAlu. mI prayatnAlu saphalaM kAvAlani kOrukunTunnAnu.
Posted by: Mr. Satyanarayana Putta At: 25, Feb 2006 8:00:00 AM IST
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