Language warriors!
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| Credit: Bilingual minds |
Are you struggling to communicate? Do you feel left out in some conversations? Do you get the grammar or pronunciation wrong? Dear reader, there is nothing to worry about. We are on the same page. Perhaps, we haven't used our education to equip us. The obsession with other subjects may have made some of us spent less effort when dealing with languages. Some people may have done their schooling in their native language and hence unfamiliar with other languages. Once you enter the college or attend some government tests, you realise what you missed in these years.
Learning days
I had a hard time learning Hindi in my school days. I approached a friend of my mom. After seeing my writing, she told me that I have a lot of catching up to do. Somehow, I did not get the time to meet her again. I am fond of stories. I read the textbook several times to prepare for the exam. My only Bollywood experience until that time was 'Krish'. Thankfully, all went well in the exams and I opted for my native language Malayalam for the Higher Secondary level. I had the thought of choosing Hindi but once I saw the Malayalam textbook and attended a Hindi class, I switched to Malayalam!
I started watching Hindi movies during college days. I had a good friend well versed in Hindi and she urged me to watch them. I had some relatives staying outside Kerala who used to visit our home during summer vacations. They would come and speak in Hindi. Being a child, I was shy of speaking in front of them. They'd say, "our children must speak Hindi more, Kerala should promote Hindi," etc.
Campus challenges
Watching the movies helped to establish a connection. After graduation, I joined the University of Hyderabad. I went prepared! I read spoken Hindi and memorised some daily conversations from films. English was spoken widely inside the campus. In Kerala, we barely talk English with each other. So, It was a new experience. I wanted to catch up. I managed it nicely for one year but once I was put into a professional environment, I started to evaluate all my actions. Thoughts like, did I say it correctly, was that polite enough, am I making sense, etc, troubled my senses. When such thoughts occur, you slow down a bit and it could be perceived as your weakness. At one end, I saw myself slipping down. On the other side, I saw confident faces everywhere. I shut myself up, not expressing any ideas and sat quietly in a corner.
Meanwhile, my Hindi, according to friends, improved a lot before what it was. The interactions with people helped a lot. When I spoke more, I realised my errors and corrected them. I no longer had to ask help from a third person to express myself.
Language at the workplace
My course was finished and I secured a new job. Every day, I faced problems while pronouncing some words and some friends used to mock me. I stayed calm and did not correct when they were going wrong. I slowly realised that I was not expressing myself. I decided not to worry about anything and be myself. It made an impact. Mistakes did come in but I felt good that I am trying. Soon, I could see the change in myself. I was talking well and people were happy to approach me. I often made the pronunciation errors but I said to me I'll correct it 'the next time'. 'Coffee' was my terror word! It never came out correctly.
Some of my senior colleagues often failed to get what I was saying. But I realised that the same was going with them and this issue is too common. That was a confidence dose. I corrected or emphasised myself when I made mistakes and it started working.
Learning to speak Telugu was an organic process. The people I interacted during campus days acknowledged my efforts and offered help. I needed to learn quickly. A person may not identify how good you are with languages unless you are put through challenging circumstances. So, listening was the key. I listened to people to understand the commonly accepted ways of speaking. That's how I am managing here.
At times, we fear about going wrong. It is okay to make mistakes. We need to let go of our fear and trust ourselves. Let's be fighters.
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