Students are Jack of all languages but master of none

Agreeing with the observations of Sarah,Director of Regional Institute of English (RIE),Chandigarh,Sharda Kaushik said,“Most students these days are using a blend of English,Hindi and Punjabi or whatever be their mother tongue. This happens because they lack vocabulary in any of the languages. This develops as a habit over time.”

Veteran linguist,M L Tickoo said,“Our mindsets are now framed in such a manner that we run after the most competent language – English. Our best schools make it mandatory for students to speak English,while prohibiting them from speaking any other language. This lead to negligence of the mother tongue. A majority of the children end up learning only portions of the languages,failing to excel in any of them.”

The linguists further said that the key solutions to the problem can be regular literature reading and simultaneous learning of their native tongue with other languages.

“I feel if the students integrate to the procedural learning by practicing the basics of every language of their choice,the problem can be easily resolved,” said Kaushik.

Communication problems

Observations of the linguists who were here on Monday to discuss various dimensions of linguistics at a national conference:

* Lack of overall proficiency (reading,writing,listening and speaking) in even one language has emerged as a common problem among most students these days.

* They speak a blend of English,Hindi and their regional language.

* The key reason for this is the inclination of society towards learning the most competent language – English,while a majority fail to excel in any of the languages.