Mother Tongue : Language of Your Soul

Language is created by humans to express their thoughts and feelings to others. Oral language appeared first and only later written language evolved.

Language and mother tongue are deeply connected, as the latter is often the first language a person learns and holds a special place in their identity. It shapes the way we think, express ourselves and connect with others.

What is Mother Tongue ?

Mother tongue is said to be the basis for thinking, speaking and writing what is in one's mind from birth. Although there are many languages ​​in the world, his mother tongue is very important to him. Learning in their mother tongue and speaking in mother tongue will always make them feel better.

Everyone should be proud of their mother tongue and should be a literate in his/her own mother tongue. This is very important to preserve our cultural identity. If a language becomes extinct, so is the culture.

The worrying fact is that the recent generation has evolved in such a way that they give more importance to foreign languages and fail to learn their mother tongue.

A list of Indian languages such as

Gadaba, Juang, Kharia Thar, Koda, Kurukh, Parji etc, have become extinct plans are being worked out to revive them.

There are several reasons why Indian languages are becoming extinct, some of the key reasons include:

Linguistic dominance: The spread and promotion of dominant languages, such as Hindi and English, at the expense of smaller and lesser-known languages.

Economic factors: The lack of economic opportunities and resources in areas wherecertain languages are spoken, leading to a shift towards more widely-spoken languages for better prospects.

Education: The marginalization of lesser-known languages in education systems, where the focus is primarily on dominant languages and English.

Globalization: The influence of global cultural and commercial forces, which often lead to the promotion of a few dominant languages over others.

Migration: The displacement of communities due to development projects, conflict or other factors, leading to the loss of language transmission from one generation to the next.

When people migrate to other places far away from their mother land, they learn & adapt to new culture and there are chances they tend to forget and fail to preserve their mother tongue & culture. This is a serious threat to native languages.

There is nothing wrong in learning a new language but it should not be done at the cost of mother tongue. Learning multiple languages without learning mother tongue is like constructing a multi storeyed building without basement. Yes Mother tongue is the base , even when you talk in a foreign language it gets converted in to your mother tongue inside your heart and then only you tend to understand its meaning. If you never learn your mother tongue, you will find it very difficult to express yourself.

Countries like Japan, France, Germany , Finland have become developed nations only by promoting their mother tongue in all aspects of life. They have implemented some key strategies to promote mother tongue which includes the following

Language revitalization: Encouraging and supporting the use of the mother tongue in all aspects of life, from education to media to government and commerce.

Bilingual education: Promoting bilingual education, where students receive instruction in both the mother tongue and a dominant language, such as English.

Language rights: Ensuring linguistic rights, such as the right to use the mother tongue in official settings, and protecting linguistic communities from discrimination.

Support for local media: Providing support for local media in the mother tongue, such as radio and television stations, newspapers and online media.

Encouragement of cultural expression: Encouraging and supporting cultural expression through the mother tongue, such as literature, music and theater.

Investment in education: Investing in education to improve literacy and language proficiency in the mother tongue, as well as access to education in general.

On the other hand, due to globalization people have started mixing English words when they speak in their mother tongue. This activity will also eventually lead to extinction of the native language. It never happens in countries where people value their mother tongue.

For example, when two Japanese communicate with each other, you cannot find a single word from other language during their conversation.

Also without learning your mother tongue , you will never know its real history.

There are chances that a good amount of treasures may be available in our ancient literature registered in mother tongue. We may miss out on many things if we don't learn our mother tongue.

For instance, My mother tongue is Tamizh, one of the oldest languages on earth. I am not aware of all the literature available in my mother tongue.We all know the scientific fact that Sun is at the centre and all the planets including earth revolves around the Sun. This has been discoved by Galileo in 19th Century. What many are not aware is that Famous Tamil Poet Thiruvalluvar registered this fact in his literary work called Thirukkural about 2000 years ago. Here is the couplet from Thirukkural.

"However the earth rotates, it must follow still the ploughers team.

Though toilsome,culture of the ground as noblest toil esteem"

There are lot of other gems that could have been registered in the ancient history of one's mother tongue. We will definitely miss the treasure if at all we fail to be a literate in our mother tongue.

Losing or losing touch with one's mother tongue can lead to a sense of disconnection from cultural heritage and personal history. Preserving and valuing mother tongues is important for maintaining linguistic diversity and cultural richness.

Missing the mother tongue is missing your mother. You cannot catch hold of branches after cutting the tree's root.