I have seen many people who do not know their mother tongue may be because they are located in states which have a different mother tongue or abroad. I think parents must pay attention to this shortcoming and encourage the child to learn their mother tongue. It's definitely helpful and communication becomes sweeter when people with the same mother tongue speak in it but I am against the practice when people start speaking in mother tongue while other mother tongue speaking people are around. In such a case one should speak in the language which is common to all.

Parents play a vital role in this regard. The minimum parents can do is, to whet the appetite of the child to learn more about its Mother tongue. For this, , the parents should start communicating with the child in their Mother Tongue in the home.. Then the things fall in their respective places, when the child grows up.

Karnataka has many languages spoken in different parts of the state like for example Tulu in Mangalore, Udipi and most of South Kanara district, Kodava in Coorg and Konkani in the Konkan coast, added to which is Kannada which is the state language spoken by the majority of the people. So, in effect we have to learn both mother tongue and state language and of course English and Hindi ! Of course it is an asset to know as many languages as possible ..

usha manohar wrote:

Karnataka has many languages spoken in different parts of the state like for example Tulu in Mangalore, Udipi and most of South Kanara district, Kodava in Coorg and Konkani in the Konkan coast, added to which is Kannada which is the state language spoken by the majority of the people. So, in effect we have to learn both mother tongue and state language and of course English and Hindi ! Of course it is an asset to know as many languages as possible ..

Knowledge of more than one language is also good for the health of brain.

anil wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

Karnataka has many languages spoken in different parts of the state like for example Tulu in Mangalore, Udipi and most of South Kanara district, Kodava in Coorg and Konkani in the Konkan coast, added to which is Kannada which is the state language spoken by the majority of the people. So, in effect we have to learn both mother tongue and state language and of course English and Hindi ! Of course it is an asset to know as many languages as possible ..

Knowledge of more than one language is also good for the health of brain.

Knowing more languages will never go waste. They will be  of much help during tours. Communications with different people will become easy.

 

Learning many languages is undoubtedly helpful but here I would like to point out that knowledge of mother tongue helps to remain connected with his/her root. I feel it's very important for a person to stay connected so one must give equal importance to the learning of mother tongue.

You are right. Learning any number of language via your Mother tongue helps in sharpening your brain and  its activities.  I was responding to the member in a different context about the multiple advantages of learning languages and the necessity of communicating with the children by the parents in the home.

One must make the children understand that learning mother tongue is not similar to learning any other language. It has got some blood connection and the knowledge of mother tongue helps to make a strong bond among the family members. Just for example if we are good at English and Hindi but fail to communicate properly in our own mother tongue at home then being at home we would sound like an outsider because we cannot expect everyone to communicate with us in English and Hindi without hesitation. I feel it's necessary to be able to speak and understand one's mother tongue side by side if one can also read and write the mother tongue then it will be like an icing on the cake.

Being good at some language and unable to communicate in one's Mother tongue is the parental mistake. For example, I'm good at four languages. But I did not forget my Mother tongue. Which is why, I always ensure to communicate with my children in Telugu, wherever I'm located. For the same reason, when I shifted to my own state AP, my children did not face any problem to learn Telugu

Here, I can state my own example that I am a Bengali but born and brought up in Bihar where I studied in Carmel. In my school I studied three languages: English, Hindi and Sanskrit. What happens is, the child never likes to take interest in learning another subject at home. Speaking Bengali was not a problem because at home our mother tongue is the medium of communication but I was unable to read and write. Every year during summer vacation my father persuaded me to learn to read and write Bengali and by the time I reached 10th I learnt it. Thanks to my father. My writing is not good and may be I am not perfect in spelling too but I am able to manage it quite well. I have no problem at all in speaking and reading Bengali. Today while staying in Delhi, my son is at the same situation. He is fluent in speaking Bengali because at home that's our language to communicate with each other. The problem is with reading and writing so I have opted my father's method. He is gradually progressing which gives me immense pleasure.