Learn English To Get Out From Under The Coconut Shell!!!
(or Why You Need To Learn A Language That Is Not Your Mother Tongue)
Once, there was a child who only knew how to speak Malay, his mother tongue, who found himself at a school in London a couple of days before his 8th birthday.
He had trouble understanding his teacher, classmates and those around him, so during recess, he chose to sit down next to the fence that separated junior school and infant school, to watch over his 4-year old sister, who also spoke nothing but Malay.
They sometimes cried together holding hands through the fence, because they found themselves lost, especially in translation, and missing their parents.
Their parents were also students at that time, so were away mostly at Uni, but spent time every night to help the children learn English.
Their parents were kampung kids too, coming from villages far from Kuala Lumpur, so they didn't speak Queen's English, but were very determined.
Today, the two children can speak the language better, and are able to speak in front of large audiences to deliver messages. Especially of overcoming challenges.
While one has gone on to embrace being a corporate high-flyer, the other has found a calling that goes the direct opposite, but towards the same goal. For a better tomorrow.
The elder brother misses his younger sister often, but time and experiences have made them grow apart in distance, but never at heart.
Often, he wishes she can embrace the child within her again, just to see the world he is seeing again, now.
And to imagine that their journey of discovery became all the more apparent, once they started speaking English.
HUMAN SERVICES PROFESSIONAL
6 年POWERFUL...
Training / Counselor / Industrial Engineering / Software Developer / Life Planner and General Insurance Proposer
6 年ADIT R. You have brought out a significant issue which we face regularly in Indian environment. Speaking, understanding, writing and reading even mother tongue is, at times, literacy index. Translating software are now available and we are in the brink of conversing in two different languages with same understanding. Globally, we are coming closer. Hence, now reading, writing Malay, English or Tamil are simple. Regards.
Healthcare Executive Driving Technology-Enabled Disruption
6 年Good article Adit. One practical consideration is that language adoption is a textbook case of a network effect: the more people who speak a language, the more valuable that language becomes, independent of any inherent superiority of the language (simple grammar, expressive vocabulary, etc.). In that context, English has "won"--it is far beyond the tipping point necessary for domination. The timeline is a couple of generations, which is a blink for an eye for a civilization-altering change. This is the reason that people in China, India, Malaysia, Brazil, etc. study English, despite strenuous efforts on the parts of the respective governments to promote "local" languages. (Full disclosure: English is not my first, or second, language.) Best, Aneesh
Forbes 30u30. Author of ‘Flawed Prophets’ Was in Tech+Startups. Now I tell stories.
7 年I definitely agree with this one ADIT R.. As someone who's taught himself 4+2 languages I can attest to the usefulness. Before you ask, 4+2 means 4 Indian and 2 foreign languages. I'm separate because I don't want to take much credit for the first 4 as they were pretty much in the environment and accessible.