International Mother Language Day 2018 - Is Learning Your Mother Tongue Still Relevant?
One language disappears on average every two week
Today is International Mother Language Day. UNESCO has been celebrating International Mother Language Day on 21st February for nearly 20 years. The aim is to preserve linguistic diversity and promote mother tongue-based multilingual education. Apparently one language disappears on average every two weeks, taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage.
Is there any point teaching your kids your mother tongue?
In this day and age of the majority of people in the world learning some level of English, is there any point passing on our mother tongues to future generations? I say hell yes! Will teaching other mother tongues to our kids just confuse them? especially if they are being brought up in and English speaking country. Hell no!
Being bilingual boosts brainpower
On the contrary, kids who grow up being bilingual are said to have better problem solving skills. There are studies to show that learning another language boosts brainpower. In my experience, people who have grown up speaking two more more languages pick up other languages easier too. I happen to be one of those people. I started speaking Punjabi first and then English. I think in Punjabi and English. I can also speak Hindi, it's not as good as my Punjabi but when I go and spend time in Delhi I improve very quickly. When I visit countries where English is not widely spoken I can easily pick up on words and phrases.
I speak to my kids in Punjabi
I am trying to pass on my mother tongue to my kids. Since the day they day they were born I have been speaking to them in Punjabi as well as English. I'm not going to lie, this takes some effort because my husband is not Punjabi so family conversations take place in English and then I have to consciously keep switching to Punjabi just to teach the kids. Now Mini Me 1 and Mini Me 2 go to school and so most of their lives people are speaking English to them. But I still persevere because I know I will regret it if I don't pass this on. They answer most of the time in English but I sometimes make them speak a few sentences of Punjabi to me just to make sure they can pronounce the words and string a sentence together if they need to. The test came when we went to India and I was happy to see that my kids could communicate with older family members in Punjabi. They can use simple sentences and they can understand a lot of Punjabi and Hindi. This time around Mini Me 1 and Mini Me 2 were translating for their cousins (who only speak English) and for their dad.
My kids have dual-heritage
Really my kids should be tri-lingual but because my husband is Ghanaian. However, her was never taught to speak his mother tongue. His parents didn't want to teach him or his siblings because they didn't want them to end up with African accents. My eldest sister in law is fluent in Twi though and does sometimes speak to my children in her own language. I hope that as they grown up they will want to learn more Twi as it will enable them to communicate with more people. I feel that because my kids are dual heritage it's even more important to teach them the languages from both sides of their roots. It will help to give them a sense of belonging. Even just being able to understand another language that people are speaking around you is the difference between feeling left out and feeling a sense of community.
Not everyone in the world speaks English!
I've heard people who don't speak their mother tongue say it doesn't matter because everyone in the world speaks English anyway and there is a universal language of love! The love part is fine but it still doesn't mean anyone knows what you are saying! I have been to various countries around the world where people speak very little or no English. And why should they?! They have their own language. We should make more of an effort to try and communicate in their language, just like we like people to try and speak English when they come to the UK. I think the more people you can communicate with in the world the better and learning your own mother tongue is the first step to doing that.
MummyImperfect x
Great post!
Although I don't have kids, I often think about it. They will probably be trilingual. My mother tongue is Portuguese, my boyfriend's is Dutch and we talk between ourselves in English.
My concern is that only Dutch culture will be part of my kids lives and also how they are going to communicate with my family in Brazil, and to be able to talk to my dad is something really important to me.
I do know some Brazilians who don't speak Portuguese with their children and they can't talk to any other Brazilian in the family, a bit sad.
It doesn't matter how great they are going to speak, as long as it's there and part of them, it already counts.
Thanks for sharing!
It's nice to know other people in mixed relationships also think about these things. When you have kids I'm sure you will try and teach them some Portuguese and they will probably pick up Dutch too. I think kids can handle it and they get used to communicating in different languages.
Wonder full post.very nice work at this post
Even if the whole world could speak English or some other international language in the future, I still believe people should preserve their mother tongue and learn some other languages as well. Language is deeply tied to culture and Each language offers a different perspective. There are many ideas which I can express much better in Japanese or Chinese despite being a native English speaker. The more ways we can all see the world, the better off we all are.
Same! There are some wonderful phrases in Hindi and Punjabi which I wish I could translate into English but it doesn't work. I think it's awesome if you can speak to other people in their mother tongue. They immediately open up to you. It's also good to know what people are saying about you when they think you can't understand! lol!
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STOPgreat post and narrative. Thank you for sharing!
and you make me feel like being a kind sometimes so l could fing my way via your interesting classs...thanks for the great impact you make on the kids @mummyimperfect
It's good that you speak Punjabi with your kids. I think kids should know their roots, and one of the ways is by speaking the language their mom/dad is speaking. I myself am confused how I should do that because I speak Dutch to my kids, English to my husband and my husband speaks German to the kids. So they are already learning 3 languages. I am not sure if they can handle a fourth language :-D. They do know a few words, but not a sentence yet in Indonesian.
Yes that's a lot of languages floating around in your house! I think it's great though and your kids will be able to communicate with so many different people. They will probably be able to pick up Indonesian if they are used to learning other languages. As long as they can understand it that's good.
Great post! Followed you. We have a lot in common. My older hardly knows Korean. He's almost 7 and I'm afraid he's so behind in learning :(
Thanks for reading.
Don't worry he can still pick up if you persevere with teaching him.