Mother Tongue ...

‘Mummy why is knowing/learning mother tongue important?  Btw what is mother tongue?’ Asked my daughter last week. Now my daughter does know what is mother tongue (language which parents speak at home and with other family members) but you see, she is growing up with parents who are speak more Hindi and English than Malayalam at home. And she is comfortable communicating in Malayalam, English and Hindi. In school, Malayalam is getting tougher and she has not read many Malayalam literary books (children’s or general) other than the text book and a bit of Malayalam version Bible. Whereas she has read lot of English books. Now this question came up as one of the topic in her Malayalam Essay writing assignment was - ‘Why is mother tongue important?’

Now this is very tricky situation for a parent like me – who herself is not comfortable communicating in her ‘official’ mother tongue. It is even tougher to explain and prove why something you are not comfortable with/in is very important for your child’s development. So I ask her  

Which is the most common/used language when you talk to your friends ? – Malayalam.

At church, which language songs and prayers are sung ? – Malayalam

At any family functions which language is prominent? – Malayalam

The place you live now which is the most spoken language by the people around? – Malayalam

So what is the common factor which connects you with others at home with your grandparent/cousins/relative , at school, at church, community in general? – Malayalam.

So that’s why mother tongue is important – it’s a language you pick up on your own – and connect with people around and is the link with your traditions and culture – your identity and that’s why its important.

The next question – what/which language is mother tongue ? Now this is trickier one to answer.

For me mother tongue is language – which I picked up as a child on my own, in which I am most comfortable, in which I think, in which I can communicate and express best – So its Hindi ! J Now think of a situation where parents are from 2 different culture/ states/countries. So which one will be mother tongue of the child :?. There have been quite a few researches and the conclusion has been that Mother-tongue plays a tremendously useful role in the education of a child. It has a great importance in the field of education. Therefore, mother tongue must be given an important and prominent place in the school curriculum. But what if you have class with students who have different mother tongue ? Like I  studied in 3-4 different schools and in a class of 35 students we had atleast 10-15 (including me) students who had different mother tongue than the local language or Hindi (spoken by majority) - so did they not learn things well ? 

Though this is debatable topic – but my thought is in the early (0-5 )  formation years of the child – more than the language parents speak at home, the language which the child is exposed to most in the community and place he/she is in, matters the most, and the child naturally picks up the language which helps her/him to communicate with more people. Like I had “Malayali” classmate in school who used to speak ‘Poshto’ with her mother as she grew up in Afghanistan. She could speak  Malayalam (accented) also but she preferred talking in Poshto (with her family) or English (with her friends) ! Which I thought was cool J. I am not trying to downplay the importance of the ‘official mother tongue’ , but being on the other side of getting ridiculed for my very heavily Hindi accented Malayalam, and people being surprised  for my very ‘Saaf Hindi’ being a Malayali – I have mixed feelings when people say but ‘Malayalam is your mother tongue’. My policy has been simple when I am not in Kerala, I am not particular about people/food/things/church/language of Kerala – all that I care for is language which make me and people around me comfortable. And that’s what I tell Esther als0, there should be one language which you should be comfortable –expressing yourself and being comfortable with people around, you decide which language its going to be and feel free ! You can learn multiple languages - speaking, reading, writing based on your interest, need  and exposure

2 different thoughts on importance of Mother tongue