"My father still reads the dictionary every day. He says your life depends on your power to master words" - Arthur Scargill
The force and the certainty of this statement is very provoking to me. Even though I am no expert in structural linguistics nor do I claim to have any sort of mastery over words, I hold a firm belief in the cliche that language is what makes us "human" and i mean human in every sense of the word. Language carries with it not only grammar and usage but all the cultural peculiarities, the slippages and silences, and hence what one CAN feel is conditioned by language (which includes signs, of course). My bilingualism (i will not count my superficial knowledge of hindi and japanese) has made me occupy a space that can be located at any point in and between my two languages (i will not get further into the varieties of Mizo and English). Homi Bhabha's notion of 'hybridity' comes to mind. I guess this answers many basic questions about the identity of the postcolonial subject. This hybridity can be dangerous for a rapidly changing society like mine because one can privilege a language (and thereby the cultural connotations) over another. The globalized world and the power machinery in function is slowly but surely erasing the markers of language/culture. It seems we are headed towards a certain juncture in our history and there is little we can do to change it. But I am digressing; this is a topic for another day.
If people ask me whether I regretted anything in my life at this point of time I would probably say that I regret not knowing atleast 5 languages. By this I mean I should have been exposed to different languages while growing up. My native language Mizo is not rich in vocabulary, but the tonal qualities and the rich rhythms contain certain feelings that defy any easy English interpretation. English functions as the more convenient language to "think" in: due to its lexical flexibility. That does not mean I feel in Mizo and think in English. I move between the two depending upon my situation and context.
Which brings me to my current predicament. Since most philosophy is either originally in French or German, reading their translations in English becomes very problematic. There are times when I would be stuck in a few pages for days because I cannot comprehend what these weirdos were trying to say. If i had a good command over those languages and read them in their original texts, maybe I could "get" them much more. Maybe philosophy is indeed more suited to German than English. I meant to say that my life would make so much more meaning if i can discuss Heidegger and Derrida without blinking because for me these people have made so much more significant strides towards transcending their mortality, which is the main aim of our existence. I can never transcend my situation, my middle-class upbringing, my beliefs.
It is precisely due to this that i cannot move beyond what i am. i am of the firm conviction that you teach children properly in school or don't teach them at all. I can only hope i give my children (if i have them) this opportunity, one which i did not have, to explore the world by giving them access to many languages.
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uiiii linguistics??? seriously??? ooookeeeyy kudos kudos lang. is a topic i shun away from p.s: kn xinnah khn hindi keimah hlir min hman tir velah thiam lh thiam loin van phakar k vocab tlem tak kha k lo potkhom ve ngar2 n u probly were laughing at me behind my back!hmmph bad bad!
ReplyDeletedeconstruct yourself???a derrida in our midst??
ReplyDeleteIs this jay-me our own sweet Jamie? (Hiiii Jamie!)
ReplyDeleteAs a longtime (or should that be long term, I've never really figured out) teacher, I have to disagree with your statement - "teach children properly in school or don't teach them at all." In keeping with the rest of your post about languages and linguistic skills, I assume you're talking about teaching language in a classroom situation. I think you can only teach language skills upto a certain point in a way which is bookish, grammar-based and not really very practical in real-life contexts. To really master a language, with all its nuances and connotations, you need all round exposure to it - reading/writing, hearing and speaking, which book-based classroom teaching isn't equipped for.
Have to agree with Miz Calliopia here Al. Fat lot of good my classroom Hindi did me when travelling.. What do I say to Auto drivers trying to fleece me? "Ishwar Allah tere naam. sabko sanmati de Bhagwan"... Sorry if this sounds blasphemous :)
ReplyDeleteAnd it wouldn't help either if we tackled the language in-depth... some people (like me) need the experience of interacting in a language. classroom learning, no matter how extensive, just isn't enough.
Foregrounding a particular language at the expense of another- huis, reminds me of a comment made where a blogger semi-seriously accused another's blog of being 'less' Mizo because it was written in English.You're right. Hybridity is going to be a big issue.
@jamie: well well, she who deleted all her social network id's but stuck to her blog is here? im honoured. and no i never laughed behind your back hehe.
ReplyDelete@miss z: i get where you're coming from and i don't disagree. personally i don't think i ever learnt much in all my years of schooling at the supposed best schools in aizawl (sir dara's attempt at speaking english, sir mawia talking about his youthful byronic adventures rather than doing even a chapter during the whole year, our beloved sisters pronouncing every word like they are written, etc etc, kuku can testify to that) i know that it will take several years to make changes to a system that is still very flawed. but it is not the system per se i am criticizing but the way we handle learning. kids are made to learn by-heart 1-200 in KG 1 and teachers take pride in the matter that their school gives homework where toddlers who have not even developed full body coordination are tortured to write 500 numbers in one day/night. they can write the word "green" but have trouble identifying the colour. your grammar skills are based not on whether you have grasped the concept but on whether you have a pretty handwriting or not. this system runs throughout where kids get full marks if they reproduce the exact same sentences given to them but score less if they take liberty with individual thoughts. this for me is not how education should work. if i want my kids to be better than this i have to make them learn outside the schooling system. this is what most people in the plains have been doing. most kids go to coaching classes, and the artistic ones are made to go to places where they can develop their talent for theater, music etc.
this is why i said what i said. many mizos, even though we are economically well-off are still too ignorant of the fact that school teaching is not sufficient to develop a kid's potential. and even if that is where we are stuck at, then the quality of teaching still leaves a lot to be desired.
@kuku: i get you when you say that one has to go beyond the classroom to really learn. but is there any school in mizoram that uses an interactive mode of teaching to HELP them in achieving that? not everybody is as privileged as we have been.
ReplyDeletewhoever it is that criticizes one's Mizo-ness because they keep an English blog should talk to me. I will be very happy to deconstruct his very notion of Mizoness.
@miss z: please understand that i am not undermining your qualities as a teacher. i am talking about elementary level teaching. and i can only speak from experience.
ReplyDelete@ calliopa yes its me sweet ol' jamie hehe nt so sure abt da sweet part but older i definitely am can i follow u??pls pls :)
ReplyDelete@al now hold on dear!is the water/heat of baroda eating away your patience...are the mosquitoes brainwashing u as they buzz past ur ears...brainwashing=be bitter, hate mizoram, love the plains, stay 4over here and criticise all the systems in mizoram...kidding2 hehe just trying to lighten up the mood here sory i guess im "lehlama or dum lehlama or sen" heheh i agree to everything hehe bt its gud we now have at least u who cn cum up wit a debatable topic...i guess when ure really patriotic, u tend to search 4 defects in certain systems that u put ur heart into n i agree dat the teaching method is not enuf to facilitate our converstion skills bt in terms of vocabs. n wat not, heh, i'd say, fr my own personal experience(had done almost my entire edn in mizoram),i cant help bt praise the system for the many things i picked up during the process, look where it has brought many of the successful mizoram-educated 2day. But, its tragic that most of us have trouble using eng witout "umm,ahhh,ih ih" in between causing strain on the listener obviously...wat should we do?wat cn we do to reduce our stammers?
@jamie: you are absolutely spot-on about the bad conditions here getting to me. i even irritate myself so my apologies sincerely.
ReplyDeleteabout the stammering, LOL brings back the memories whenever i try to have an academic conversation in English. I guess to shake it off we need more practice.