Mother Tongue Influenza

Rain is falling On what is it falling?? Im coming to home Im going home would sound much better, eh? I speak in English- Is English a room or something??! Jinc, Jero, Joo, Jebra- in which country is Z pronounced??? That is what mother tongue influence has done to the beauty of English Language. English is a language which has been accepted as the International Medium of communication. You can go to any country and not know their language. But, English is such a language which can be spoken and understood world wide.

Countries like USA, Australia, etc. have turned and twisted the British English into their own style. But we cannot say that American Accent is a form of English which is spoken in such a way due to mother tongue influence, as English is also USAs Mother Tongue. But we Indians have created our own style of speaking English which is definitely due to Mother Tongue Influence or Mother Tongue Influenza. Of all the influences, the mother tongue influence is the most difficult to get rid of, or so we believe. You can never proclaim to know all the words or their correct pronunciations, especially in English. English is an evolving language. New words keep getting

added to it virtually on a daily basis. No one can say that they have mastered in English. Everyone is a learner. The only difference is that we are placed at different levels of learning. When we make mistakes in our own mother tongue (or even our national language for that matter), these are taken as oh, he/she cant speak his/her tongue. No one cares if you cant speak your native language. But English is something different; it is the language of commerce and higher learning. Not being able to converse in impeccable English marks one as someone not up to the mark.

The first step towards limiting this unwanted influence (it is difficult to overcome overnight) is by acknowledging the problem. If we are ready to admit to ourselves and to others that we have a problem and solicit everyones help in correcting us by pointing out our errors, our language will soon improve. But this effort requires a lot of courage and deep willingness on our part. Listening to English news, reading aloud (to hear your own voice), paying attention when others are speaking and making continuous effort to correct yourself, go a long way in helping overcome mother tongue influence. While you see that none of the Americans or Australians are under pressure to improve their

pronunciations and grammar; we Indians have become the torch bearers for Queens English. Why dont we just learn to deliberately speak in as much a neutral accent as possible? We should have the confidence that as we practice more, we will eventually become proficient in speaking so called Public School English.

The purpose of any language is to communicate. When we speak slowly and deliberately, we can be understood better. In case someone still doesnt understand a particular word, we can always spell it out for them.. We need to be patient with each other.

The day is not far when India would be a Superpower. That day we will not feel inferior to anyone because of our mother tongue influence. We will be proud of it. We have already started feeling proud of our cuisine, customs and Indian-ness). Words like prepone, redressal and wheatish complexion, expressions like I am understanding it, She is knowing the answer, preposition usage like, discuss about, pay attention on and frequent use of question tags like, you are going, no? etc will become a part of Standard Indian English that we will expect the world to understand. Let us wait for such a day to dawn. That will be the new Freedom day!