Neeya Naana: English- the way we use

20th Sep 2009:

I missed the introduction part of this episode. The subject of this episode is to discuss about the way we use English in our day today life. Are we using English in appropriate places to appropriate persons? Are we misusing it against those who really don't use English in their day to day life? Is it really worth it or is really needed?

Side A: We misuse English to the commoners; unnecessarily using English to show the hep in us; we are trying to ape west

Side B: We are least bothered whether we misuse of not; and so be it, we are gaining out of it.

The views placed by Side A:

~While speaking Tamizh with friends, suddenly we start speaking in English when we meet someone whom we are damn sure that they too know Tamizh. For e.g. to the friends என்னடி மாதுளை ஜூஸ் குடிக்கலாமா? and to the shop keeper "one pomegranate juice please"
~Speaking English even to the less educated people such as door keeper, billing person in grocery shop, labourers, security guards etc
~Looking down at someone who cannot speak English properly
~Speaking with an air and showing off as if they were of high class

The Views placed by Side B:

~We get a kind of satisfaction and bring in confidence when we speak in English
~We use it as a weapon to have a upper hand in a conversation
~We get attention and get things done in a short time

The counter Views placed by Side A for Side B's views:

~The satisfaction or confidence should be accepted if they were spoken amongst those who are equally educated / professionals
~If they are using it as a weapon then what is the difference between the ruffians and these people-only thing is the weapon is different but the intent is no different.
~One should question their character if they would take other person's ignorance as an advantage
~If they get hurt / get injured if someone throws stone at them, would they be crying ஐயோ அம்மா or "Oh my god" / "ouch"

The counter views placed by Side B for Side A's Views:

~We use English in our day to day conversation so that we think high and want to get placed high
~ By passage of time, when we regularly converse in English, perhaps we would be crying as oh My my! Ouch! Oh my God! etc

Special Guests' take:

Guest A: Mr. Narsiah, whose mother tounge is Telugu, born and brought up in Tamilnadu, has written many books in Tamizh, well traveled person, a post Vietnam war social worker- says that it is due to Colonial Hang over. He also says that most of the Non-Asian-non-English countries do not speak in English and in fact they feel contempt when we speak to them in English.

Guest B: (I couldn't recollect his name) says his native language is not Tamizh but he could learn it from the common man and he also said that he felt sorry for the Tamilians as many of them do not know the richness of their own language.

My take on the discussion:

Many of them who know me a little would know that to the extent possible, I speak in Tamizh (though I am not good at it). From my personal experience, in most of the time in office, even in some meetings, while other speak in English, i have responded to them in Tamizh (if the whole of the members understand Tamizh). And none has objected it rather i have seen people immediately switching their conversation to Tamizh. Of course, I don't have any native Tamizh speaking female in my team.

I feel pitty for those who speak English to the commoners. Of course I don't mean to say that we have to speak only in Tamizh for many of the proper nouns we do not have equivalent Tamizh words or if used many do not understand. But even for அம்மா அப்பா if we start calling them Mummy and Dady it is ridiculous.

I do agree that one need to improve their English knowledge so as to maintain a statu quo with rest of the colleagues especially when we have team that is cross culture, cross races. But it doesn't mean that one has to speak in English even to the commoners. One should get the maturity of striking a balance between official environment and personal environment.

Confidence should come from the way we carry ourselves and the depth and breath of the knowledge we possess on the subject that we are experts and not by speaking English to the commoners.

Those who speak English to the commoners - How many of them know how to write a proper letter to any Officials? How many of them speak a paragraph without any Grammar mistake? How many of them can write without any spelling mistake (Had MS Word do not have spell check, career of many of them would have been a question mark)- how many of them know where to use commas and where to use semi colons -how many of them know what are the various parts of a speech?

We have to realize that we are not Native speakers of English. As a mater of fact, though i studied in a English Medium school, English was taught in Tamizh. So my English was pathetic until my higher secondary and it got improve a bit during these years.

Though one may feel elated when they speak in English, there is nothing gained when they speak it with commoners or when they speak it even though the situation does not call for it.

By acting ourselves as if we are Brits and Americans and trying to ape them-we miss the richness in both English as well as Tamizh.At the end most of them end up neither being good in Tamizh nor good in English.