Beating the Language Blues

‘The Unbeaten sagacious astuteness of Varanasi is no less than a figurine of rectitude for the people.’ Did you get an idea of what this sentence is trying to say? No right, not at the first glance for most of us.

Let me tell you what this sentence means. It is trying to tell us that the wisdom of the sages of Varanasi is quite equivalent to the morality of the people there. Did you know that this was officially tweeted on the Twitter handle of Uttar Pradesh tourism? Why something so simple was told to the people in such a complex way? This was because they wanted to break the stereotype that the people of Uttar Pradesh were not fluent in the language of English.

The real question is that we as Indians are so obsessed with the language English that we can’t seem to accept the fact that it is completely reasonable to not know a particular language. It is just another language that you are not familiar with. Yes, I do agree that the reach of English linguistic is more than our mother tongues and the national language which the sole reason for me writing this in English and which should not be the case but the sad fact is that our qualifications include knowing English.

We didn’t even leave the stone unturned in sports as well. We judge several sportsmen and women on the basis of their English knowledge and not their ability to play well on the field. Even after reaching a certain level in sports, they try to develop their English-speaking skills for their interviews. Why is this necessary?

All of us at some point in our lives might have considered people not knowing English weaker than those who know it. Some of us have even thought that we belong to the elite class because we know English. According to some reports written by a foreigner who visited India, he has described English as the language of the elite in India and also the basis of some of the discrimination. This even leads us to differentiate between an English medium school and a state board school right from our childhood.

A parent wants their child to go to the best school which can provide their child with the best English-speaking ability because since they were not able to learn the language properly at least their child should; in order to survive in this world. The trend of learning this language is not because they are genuinely fascinated but because they feel pressurized by the society that they are living in.

This sudden push towards English is because they feel that learning this language is a quick solution to each of their problems. This is not true, knowing how to read, write, and speak in English can give you an upper hand in some matters, but it is not an answer to all your worries.

Often the children of remote areas are deprived of this language due to the fact that there is an inadequacy of skilled teachers. Even if they learn the language there are some cracks and holes which are later made fun of. This even further breaks their confidence.

In India especially, what resonates with the language is the colonial term period. People often judge the English language as still abiding by the rules of the British Empire. This obsession is not only seen in India but other middle income and low-income countries as well. The reason behind this being the rise of the west.

Not only do we have a fascination for English but we also have an attraction towards ‘The West’ or more importantly ‘The United States of America’. The fall of Nazi Germany and the British Empire paved a way for the rise of the west. This lead to even the differentiation between British English and American English. And now even there is Indian English and Hinglish coming up which is mostly the texting language but still, it shows us that we are no longer ashamed of our own accent.

It is also important to remember that as soon as you step out of your house in India, the autowaalas are not going to take you anywhere if you don’t know the basic language of conversation.

There was a time when all of us were not ready to accept people with poor or bad English skills, but now I think society has changed and that too for good. People have accepted the fact that the personality, attitude, and characteristics of a person matter the most. Learning a language after all is all depended upon you. One should consider English as just another language like Hindi, Marathi, French, or anything else.

If you feel that learning English will make you more confident about yourself then you should definitely learn it but if you feel that it is of no help to you then you should not. After all learning, a new language helps in your personal growth and it is wiser to make that decision based upon your willingness to learn and grow. Speaking a certain language does not augment your capability it is just a choice you make. It is always good to be multilingual.

I would like to let you know some of the famous people who have made it big without knowing English. Lionel Messi, the most famous athlete is considered to know other languages like Spanish but not English. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin might have spoken English in his life but he can’t seem to have a full conversation with a native English Speaker. There are few other people who have been successful and then learned English because it was their choice and even some people who even after being successful haven’t still learned English because again it was their choice.

All these examples tell us that there is no real connection between knowing English and success. Both of them rely on quite different factors. Ending with a hope that this article is easily readable and understandable for most of the people viewing it. In the end, one should always remember that what matters the most is the message that you are trying to convey not the means and modes of communication.