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Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Sunday, August 4, 2013
To (not) learn a foreign language??
The title (and the content) of this post is contrary to common belief. But its a perspective, and may be not a sustainable one at that, that I wanted to bring up.
I must admit that amongst all of us, I belong to the sub-group with real knowledge of least number of languages - Hindi and English. My repertoire increased by a fraction when I learnt only a little bit of Kannada - just enough to speak to autowallahs in Bangalore or to follow my colleagues' conversation, Urdu - essentially learning the alphabets, Spanish - for managing while exploring the streets of Chile.
During my (very) long stay in Bangalore, I admitted that it was an intellectual failure to not have learnt to speak fluent Kannada. Then I lived in Delhi for a month before I moved to the US. Believe me, I had forgotten what it was like to live in Delhi. As I moved around on the streets, shopped at the supermarket, traveled by metro, even when I traveled by car, I realized I could understand every conversation that went on around me. I heard and understood every question, concern, joke and obscenity that went on around me. Initially it felt like, "Huh! Im home. I follow everything here!" But then I realized, it was all a lot noise around me. I actually did not need (want) it.
In a place like Bangalore, a "home" like IISc, and a job like research, was it really better that I didnt learn Kannada. Filtering out the noise was much easier because I unconsciously decided not to understand it in the first place.
And then I come to Washington DC, and I travel by metro. I understand English. I have no trouble catching on the accent, thanks to the HBO and Star movies. I have heard personal lives being discussed so loud that I started to doubt if the line between personal and public was really too thin. I have kept my book down, changed my seat, a significant number of times. And I have remembered the saying "ignorance is bliss".
Of course I do not subdue the importance of learning a language here. I am too small an entity to even attempt something of that kind. But sometimes when daily life needs peace, the "ignorant" is allowed to wonder!
My opinion (here) is not just based on my daily frustrations. Both in Bangalore and in Chile, I have seen people break the barrier of language and attempt to help you. Some of these experiences can be quite sobering. Had I known Kannada or Spanish, I would not have gauged these instances in this manner, and they would have passed like a regular kindly act. Of course I do not completely forget the autowallahs from Bangalore, but isnt it better that those instances are forgotten.
But we know man never stops at his quest for knowledge. Sigh!! Would it seem too hypocritical if I confessed here that I would love to learn Spanish as "a foreign language".
I must admit that amongst all of us, I belong to the sub-group with real knowledge of least number of languages - Hindi and English. My repertoire increased by a fraction when I learnt only a little bit of Kannada - just enough to speak to autowallahs in Bangalore or to follow my colleagues' conversation, Urdu - essentially learning the alphabets, Spanish - for managing while exploring the streets of Chile.
During my (very) long stay in Bangalore, I admitted that it was an intellectual failure to not have learnt to speak fluent Kannada. Then I lived in Delhi for a month before I moved to the US. Believe me, I had forgotten what it was like to live in Delhi. As I moved around on the streets, shopped at the supermarket, traveled by metro, even when I traveled by car, I realized I could understand every conversation that went on around me. I heard and understood every question, concern, joke and obscenity that went on around me. Initially it felt like, "Huh! Im home. I follow everything here!" But then I realized, it was all a lot noise around me. I actually did not need (want) it.
In a place like Bangalore, a "home" like IISc, and a job like research, was it really better that I didnt learn Kannada. Filtering out the noise was much easier because I unconsciously decided not to understand it in the first place.
And then I come to Washington DC, and I travel by metro. I understand English. I have no trouble catching on the accent, thanks to the HBO and Star movies. I have heard personal lives being discussed so loud that I started to doubt if the line between personal and public was really too thin. I have kept my book down, changed my seat, a significant number of times. And I have remembered the saying "ignorance is bliss".
Of course I do not subdue the importance of learning a language here. I am too small an entity to even attempt something of that kind. But sometimes when daily life needs peace, the "ignorant" is allowed to wonder!
My opinion (here) is not just based on my daily frustrations. Both in Bangalore and in Chile, I have seen people break the barrier of language and attempt to help you. Some of these experiences can be quite sobering. Had I known Kannada or Spanish, I would not have gauged these instances in this manner, and they would have passed like a regular kindly act. Of course I do not completely forget the autowallahs from Bangalore, but isnt it better that those instances are forgotten.
But we know man never stops at his quest for knowledge. Sigh!! Would it seem too hypocritical if I confessed here that I would love to learn Spanish as "a foreign language".
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