Many immigrants, particularly those who grew up in their homelands, use their mother tongues on a daily basis. However, there are concerns, fears even, that the use of these mother tongues will disappear in this country with the next generation. As an immigrant Bangladeshi I share similar concerns that the use of my mother tongue (Bengali) will slowly diminish in Britain.
As David Crystal, Professor of Linguistics at Cambridge, said, “Language is a sensitive point to focus on if you want to keep people down”. The West Pakistani government tried to do this in post-Partition East Pakistan, by banning the propagation of Bengali. It is because of the sacrifice of a number of students in 1952, who were killed by Pakistani military as they protested their right to use Bengali, that UNESCO commemorates February 21st as International Mother Languages day. In Bangladesh this day is commemorated as Basha Andolon Dibosh (Language Revolution Day), and many historians believe that the Language Revolution later lead to the war for independence from Pakistan in 1971. Thus, a Bangladeshi’s mother tongue is an integral part of his cultural and national identity. When Bangladeshis abandon their mother tongue they also abandon their history, and by doing this they keep themselves ‘down’.
There is an immigrant Bangladeshi father I know who is on the road to abandoning this history. He crows with delight every time his 2-year-old son learns a new word or phrase in English, but never teaches him any Bengali. What he fails to grasp is that children who grow up in this country are going to automatically learn English. Undoubtedly it’s a good idea to teach them essential words and a basic understanding of English, however it’s important to prioritise and practise the mother tongue at home. Schools, television and the wider world will give them as much practise as they need to become fluent in English, but not for their mother tongue.
As a child I was very blasé about learning Bengali, to the point that I can’t even recite the Bengali alphabet. Now I wish I’d paid more attention back then because although I’m always telling them to speak Bengali at home, I often find myself inadvertently talking to my sisters, nieces and nephews in English. They never speak in Bengali unless I prompt them. When they do try they struggle; sometimes they give up speaking for a couple of minutes altogether, and as Dr. Crystal says, “It only takes a generation (or less) for a language to come under threat”.
Parents in Britain need to emphasise the importance of the mother tongue. If parents and older siblings don't, then children are unlikely to learn and use it. There is a danger that they can lose touch with it and its associated culture, traditions and folklore. Learning about this folklore in their mother tongue rather than in English, is the difference between reading a recipe and eating the food: as one person said at the Endangered Languages Exhibition (SOAS in April 2007) “to learn a language is to live it”.
I’ve often heard people ask, “Wot am I gonna do wiv Bengali, man? Wot do I need it for?” Well, for a Bangladeshi-Brit, learning Bengali can be more useful than learning Italian or French. For example, a quick Google search of “the most spoken languages in the world” will show you that Bengali is ranked 5th. French, German and Italian are far behind in the spoken languages league, yet these are most commonly offered as subjects in UK comprehensives. There is a bias towards European languages, perhaps as they are seen as the most ‘useful’ in the wider world.
Yet our mother tongues are just as useful, as the Endangered Languages Week brought home: “Every last word is another lost world”. Phrased differently, every language lost is another lost vision of the world. If like me you have a mother tongue and you’re not fluent in it, then learn it, live it and envision the world in a completely new way.
By Kamal Hussain
