Week #9 - Amratha Rao - Mother Tongue
Amratha Rao
Week #9
Mother Tongue
I’m sure most of us have grown up listening to and learning other languages at home. I am no exception. From the moment I was born, the idea of accepting and adopting my ancestral mother tongue became my parents mission. I was constantly spoken to in Tulu and annual India visits made it impossible for me to ever forget the language. Even today, my parents constantly converse with me in Tulu, and it's become a huge part of my life.
Tulu is most commonly spoken in Mangalore, Karnataka, India with only 1.85 million people in the world speaking it, all from India. To provide a wider image, that’s only 0.00134% of India’s population and 0.00023% of the world’s population.
However, my language has never been anything I’ve ever been able to share. No one around me, outside of my immediate family, has ever even heard of the language, let alone spoken it. While this may not seem like a big deal, it definitely was to me. Growing up in a largely Asian-American community, almost all my friends went to language classes on the weekends and had other friends to whom they could converse with in their mother tongues. They learnt the dialect and passed notes to each other outside of class. As we all got older, many of my friends bonded over music or tv-shows in their native languages. I even remember there being language programs and classes for students in elementary school. I grew up with none of this.
It took me a really long time to be proud of it. Before, whenever anybody ever asked what language I spoke, I always responded with a generic Indian language, too ashamed to be “different”. Coming to terms with it took a lot of confidence and I can wholeheartedly admit that Tulu has become a unique part of my lifestyle and definitely empowers me by shaping my identity.
Hey Amratha, your recount of your childhood experiences with Tulu reminded me of this article I once stumbled upon, discussing the lesser well-known languages of humanity. What has been happening is that as our new generation is becoming more and more interconnected, the younger population turns to speaking more well-known languages, consequently leaving their native tongues behind. As a result, this has left many native tongues with the older generation, unable to be passed down to the new rising generation. Reasonings behind this may be similar to those of yours, that the new generation does not see their native tongues as useful as compared to other languages, thus they unconsciously begin to slowly use them less and less. Although they definitely will remember their tongue till their passing, the chances of them passing their language down to their children is significantly lower, and thus the native language becomes dead in the family. This phenomenon is prevalent across the world, and us humanity as a whole should take extra care to ensure such an extinction of language will not occur to us.
ReplyDeleteHey Amratha! I kind of know what you’re talking about actually! In my experiences in both China and Ireland, I was not only a minority in terms of being one of the few South Asians there, but I was the only south Indian, and it was vaguely grating to hear only Hindi spoken, if any Indian language at all. That aside, its still really cool that you know your native tongue and how rare it is. It is even better that you have understood the power that it has over you and molded it to best suit you.
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha, I can also relate to being ashamed of my culture, thus leading me to compromise part of my identity to fit in with others. I am Taiwanese, but when I was in elementary school, I would just tell people I was Chinese because no one knew where Taiwan was, which made me embarrassed to share. However, similar to your experience, I learned to embrace my culture and accept that part of my identity, being able to share where I am from more comfortably. Language and culture definitely plays a huge role in forming your identity, so I am glad that you came to terms with that part of yourself.
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha! That must have been really hard for you. I speak Tamil, and I eventually came to realize that there are more people than I thought who also speak it, so I can’t exactly relate. But I think it’s really cool that you know how to speak such a rare language, and I love that you were able to accept it as a part of your identity. I think that our generation has largely become modernized, and my parents’ friends' kids who are our age don’t really speak their mother tongues at home. Although speaking a less well known language is a “difference,” I think it is definitely a positive one.
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha! I think it is so fascinating that you speak a language that is not super common here. I never heard about Tulu before, but I had so much fun learning about it and think it is extremely unique. I also grew up speaking a different language which is Mandarin. My parents also spoke to me in Mandarin from a very young age and even sent me to Chinese school at Washington High School during the weekends. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteTutu sounds like a very interesting language. I've struggled feeling proud of having a "different" mother tongue as well because I did receive a lot of unfavorable opinions, to say the least growing up. Your mother tongue sounds really cool and I'm glad that you have gotten to be proud of it.
ReplyDeleteAmratha, what a great and interesting blog to read. Being an Indian- American, I never knew a language called Tulu existed or that you spoke it; it was very surprising to read. Reading this post, I definitely feel very grateful to be around so many people who speak my language and have organizations in relation to my language. I cannot imagine how hard it was for you to feel accepted and known in the Indian community with a language that is so unique and rare. The power that you hold is great because you are able to pass this rare language along to your children and keep your language alive for longer, hopefully.
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha, I’m glad to hear that you are now proud of the unique language you are able to speak and understand. I think being bilingual or trilingual is something that everyone should be proud of because it is a talent that not many have. It is also extremely difficult to adapt another language and it practically introduces you into a whole other world of culture and traditions. Adapting a less popular language also helps to keep that language alive. As each year passes, there are more and more languages that are disappearing but if the new generation continues to adapt their mother tongue or even the languages of other ethnicities, this will prevent the disappearance of languages and culture.
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha, it's nice to hear that you've come to accept a big part of your identity and have come to be proud of it. I understand what you said about your classmates conversing in their mother tongues, something I have done with my friends since small, and I can imagine it was very hard growing up without being able to do this with any of your peers. However, knowing a different language sets you as unique from others and in a way makes it more special to you and your family.
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