A 6 year girl stood crying continuously asking
for her mom, she was midst 40 more children in an auditorium. She knew me well
and I asked her why she was crying, and in between a concert how could I spare
her to leave. Least did I realize what exactly did that child want.
I couldn't see her cry anymore and let her go,
she ran and hugged her mom so tight, and it was fright more than love. The
sense of insecurity was high, she wasn't happy talking to me later, her eyes
filled with tears spoke to me a million words when she left the auditorium with
a firm good bye.
I wondered what went wrong until I spoke to
her dad; he apologized for his daughters’ behaviour. I thought that was so
genuine, with much hesitance I asked him if his daughter was alright and why
was she crying that hard. It was embarrassing for him to tell me but I was
adamant in knowing. In simple words he said “My daughter is unable to follow
English and is fluent only with the mother tongue.” I disconnected the call
with a heavy heart, cursing my ignorance and sympathy for the little child.
I have noticed a common dialect problem; many
children living away from their homeland do not speak their mother tongue or
only speak their mother tongue. Why is it so confusing, and create complexity
in others. It is believed that children can speak and understand many languages
when taught at a tender age; why do we emphasize in teaching children what they
don’t like, studies say 1 million children do not speak English at all.
It is widely accepted when people in Germany
speak only German; France people speaking French and in Spain only Spanish!!
When we relate this issue in India, there is a criticism when the educated
don’t speak English; India has about 398 languages out of which only 22 are
recognized by the constitution of India. The primary language of Indians is
Sanskrit (संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) secondary being Hindi and only then English. However the
language situation is completely reversed. If a foreign language like French or German or
Chinese can be taught for survival abroad, then why are we so reluctant in
learning our 22 official languages?
The dialect phobia is too much in the air,
anxious parents are making the child go through stress in focusing on a
particular language .My message to the worrying parents, show pride to your
mother tongue. Reassure the child that language is only for communication and
not a scorecard for survival.
Don’t let the child go through dialect depression,
there is a Shakespeare or Tulsidas hidden in each one of us immaterial of the
dialect we relate to!
