The inevitable has happened....i guess i knew it deep down but still i was very surprised when it jumped on me last week....i went to the first PTM at Aravs school....very excited to hear what the teachers had to say about my baby....They mostly had good things....i was surprised to know he is attentive and friendly...two traits he has yet to show in my presence....But then it came "He needs to improve his english"..... He understands english perfectly well but he only speaks in Hindi....Its ok now but later when he goes to the big school this might be a problem...
I came home wondering is that really true? we speak in both languages at home....not preferring one over the other....and thats what i have been speaking with Arav too....I was too busy rejoicing that Arav can now talk in full sentences and the fact that his vocabulary can justify his emotions...that he has finally got a way to express himself fully.....little did i realise that he was doing it in grammatically wrong way....So i came home and started noticing....this is what i got to hear "This is Aru ka bed and this is mamma ka bed" "Chalo mamma sleeping karna hai" "Mamma shoes open karo" "Mamma Aru ka petu hungry hai" so on and so forth...and it hit me that this is how i talk to him..not in english and hindi but in Hinglish....and i wished that if Singapore can have singlish cant we not live with Hinglish?
Isnt the main purpose of language is to be able to communicate? I am sure a lot of purists will happily kill me over this....but i found myself conversing in proper english with Arav for last 3 days and the poor guy is confused....he had finally sorted this language thing and im making things difficult again....to the point that he actually stopped talking to me for a while last evening...and i realised it was absurd....ofcourse i want him to learn his languages the right way....but i dont want to discourage him....and here i was thinking that he is ready to be introduced to Marwari....I dont know the right way of doing this....but i know that he already knows the difference between those languages....he knows that he has been using words from both of them....
The other day husband asked him "aaj school mein kya kiya Arav?" he replied "English speaking kiya" yes we have a long way to go :)
I came home wondering is that really true? we speak in both languages at home....not preferring one over the other....and thats what i have been speaking with Arav too....I was too busy rejoicing that Arav can now talk in full sentences and the fact that his vocabulary can justify his emotions...that he has finally got a way to express himself fully.....little did i realise that he was doing it in grammatically wrong way....So i came home and started noticing....this is what i got to hear "This is Aru ka bed and this is mamma ka bed" "Chalo mamma sleeping karna hai" "Mamma shoes open karo" "Mamma Aru ka petu hungry hai" so on and so forth...and it hit me that this is how i talk to him..not in english and hindi but in Hinglish....and i wished that if Singapore can have singlish cant we not live with Hinglish?
Isnt the main purpose of language is to be able to communicate? I am sure a lot of purists will happily kill me over this....but i found myself conversing in proper english with Arav for last 3 days and the poor guy is confused....he had finally sorted this language thing and im making things difficult again....to the point that he actually stopped talking to me for a while last evening...and i realised it was absurd....ofcourse i want him to learn his languages the right way....but i dont want to discourage him....and here i was thinking that he is ready to be introduced to Marwari....I dont know the right way of doing this....but i know that he already knows the difference between those languages....he knows that he has been using words from both of them....
The other day husband asked him "aaj school mein kya kiya Arav?" he replied "English speaking kiya" yes we have a long way to go :)
Hi...
ReplyDeleteThere is a big school of people who insist that we must talk to kids like we talk to adults.... language-wise, of course, not content-wise.
They shun all kinds of baby talk.
I somehow agree with them. Initially I guess, the kids are listening only to you... so what you talk to them becomes their primary language.
Ishan used to be funnier.... He would talk only in Marathi at school, and only in English at home. So when his teacher told us to please teach him at least some English at home, we were completely flummoxed!! He he...
Just keep talking to him and reading to him.. don't worry.. its only a matter of time... these kids learn fast.
Enjoy.
Thanks Shachii....i know he is only 2...he has learnt so much in last 6 months alone....plus i find his mixing both the languages very endearing :)
ReplyDeleteHey Shweta, its such a lovely post :) Like you said language is a means to an end and if the means is a medley, a bhel puri, all the better. If you teach him English alone, you will be robbing him of the joys of Hindi and Marwadi. I cant believe you're a parent now, and a darn good one at that!
ReplyDeleteHey riddhi thank you.i know it is too overwhelming sometimes.i dont know about being a good parent but i do try my best.its a learning process.and i love languages.i hope he learns all those i know and many more :)
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