This post and the next are meant for kids who are studying in or people who had studied in rural schools.
I studied for some time in Govt. Primary School, Napoklu, had my higher secondary education at St.Annes, Virajpet and graduated from Kavery College, Gonikoppa all in Coorg district, Karnataka and am therefore quite familiar with many of the problems faced by students who had a small town upbringing and education.
To begin with, there is this business of English. If you are not proficient in English, you are supposed to be lacking in knowledge, and aren’t intelligent! I really don’t know how English makes one intelligent.
If you ask me, what is really shameful is one’s inability to converse in one’s native tongue. The French, German, Spanish, Italian people, the Chinese and the Japanese would really be ashamed to admit that they couldn’t speak in their native tongue. It is only we Indians, with our slavish mindset, who pride ourselves in our proficiency in a foreign tongue like English and run down our own native languages.
Be that as it may, one is indeed handicapped if one isn’t able to express oneself in English. So how does one overcome this shortcoming?
To begin with, remember, English is just another language like Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, or Hindi. I am sure, you are proficient in one or more of the above.
You’d have learnt bookish Hindi from the silly Hindi textbooks and conversational hindi by trying to speak with ‘Bengali’ or ‘Assamese’ labourers (who are neither Bengalis nor Assamese but illegal Bangladeshi immigrants) or proper Hindustani by watching Hindi movies and television serials. You’d have learnt certain languages by conversing with labourers from neighbouring states.
Now think, why did you learn these languages? Because they increase your prestige? Because you’d be considered knowledgeable if you knew these languages? No! You learnt them because you had to communicate in that language. So why this problem with English, which is just another language?
First remove this mental block. English is just another language like Malayalam or Tamil, which we learn to communicate with people. That’s all.
But unfortunately, no one laughs when we speak bad Tamil. But if one doesn’t speak good English, people put one down.
If you want to learn a language, you have to converse in that language. This is how we become proficient in that language. But this tendency to snub those who cant speak ‘propaah’ English, sets people back.
Thick skinned people like me went ahead and spoke, not minding the sniggers and tongue in cheek comments. But if you are reticent and sensitive, this becomes a problem.
So what’s the way out? Simple. If it is difficult to converse in English, THINK in English! Now no one will poke fun at you if you slip up. We are thinking of something or the other all the while, generally in our native tongue. Instead, think these thoughts in English.
In the beginning, you’ll grope for words and expressions just like when you first spoke in Kannada or Tamil. But soon, you’ll be expressing all your thoughts fluently in English.
When you learn a new English word or expression, you’ll be surprised how often it will appear in your thoughts. Once you are able to think fluently in English, speaking becomes a natural extension of your thought process. Forget others, you yourself will be surprised by your fluency.😊
This is how I learnt to speak in many languages. I made a conscious effort to THINK in that language. And in a short while, it became second nature to me. I would be surprised to realise that the process had got automated.
Start thinking in a language; before you realise it, it’ll become second nature and you’ll never have problems in conversing or expressing yourself in writing, in that language.
I can read and write in Malayalam and Tamil. That is because I often think in those languages.
And do read English books. Reading is the best way to improve your vocabulary and familiarise yourself with many aspects of a language generally absent in its conversational avatar. There are many beginner’s editions of classics. Begin with them and slowly move up the ladder.
Pronunciation is another issue. It used to be a huge challenge for our generation. Now, just type the word on Google and you get to hear the correct pronunciation.
Again, you can look at synonyms on the net. When you are trying to say something, it is awkward to repeat the same word several times. Synonyms are different words with the same meaning. They give you a choice of several words to employ in a sentence or a paragraph, all meaning the same thing. And they obviously enrich your vocabulary.
Following these simple tips, especially by making a conscious effort to think in English, you should soon master the language PROVIDED that you look at it as just another language.
