A weekly column on human psychology, youth & leadership with Dr. Debilal Mishra
International Mother Language Day 2021 Greetings! Today we’ll discuss some rudimentary questions relating to our mother tongue in the column Finding Hope with DLM!
What’s the importance of mother language in our life? A mother language is important in the sense that it builds the primary structures of the cognitive and communication behaviour. Mother language is the language of the consciousness. It enriches our creativity and enhances our thought patterns. It’s a great instrument for learning. When we learn something in our mother tongue, we understand it better since the contextual decoding is done more effortlessly in the mother tongue than in any other languages. One’s mother tongue is central to their overall intellectual understanding and creative growth.
How does the mother tongue affect the various processes of our life?
According to Nelson Mandela, ‘if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart’. Such is the observation of a leader! The mother language is more sensitive, receptive and connective in nature. The mother tongue influences the process of encoding a great deal. It helps us in comprehending, identifying and relating to symbols we learn, understand and use in our everyday communications.
The mother tongue is full of the creative rhythm, purity and cognitive flexibility. Poet Kim Hyesoon once mentioned: ‘the rhythm of my body is the same as my mother tongue. It is in this rhythm where I find sanctity, that I can return to my mother who’s everywhere in the universe!’
Kim Hyesoon
How does the mother tongue affect our learning?
Yes, the mother tongue plays a key role in all our learnings. In fact it’s an effective instrument for effective learning. The mother tongue brings in a greater degree of interest, emotion and an enhanced memory in the process that makes the learning more useful and fulfilling in the related contexts. The more we learn, the more we think; and the more we think, the more we express. With the mother tongue this psychological process becomes more fruitful and rewarding.
According to famous communication theorist Marshall McLuhan, our mother tongue shapes our perceptions for life. Also Brigham Young once said: ‘see that your children are properly educated in the rudiments of their mother tongue, and then let them proceed to higher branches of learning.’
How does the mother language influence our other linguistic abilities?
It does affect in a big way! If you aren’t properly exposed to your mother tongue, you’ll definitely miss out on the patterns of effective learning and its pragmatic values. Learning something in any language other than the mother tongue is but information; the mother tongue alone can make it more meaningful by creating more possibilities of reflections and knowledge without any cognitive conflicts. According to Mahatma Gandhi, ‘if some people are ignorant of the mother tongue, linguistic starvation will abide.
‘Swami Vivekananda also emphasized on the role of the mother tongue in shaping our cognitive, intellectual and spiritual experiences and expositions. According to him, the mother tongue is to the mind as blood is to the body. Mother tongue is the best medium for learning and transmitting information, ideas and knowledge. He accentuated the very words that everyman is capable of receiving knowledge if it is imparted in his own language. Therefore, we must develop a habit of reading and writing something daily in the mother tongue in the larger interests of our life, culture and society.
(Dr. Debilal Mishra is a communication specialist currently working at Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha as Assistant Prof., Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communication)
Congratulations,
Well written
Importance of mother language in primary education is enormous. It helps in further education and development of the child.
International Mother Language Day 2021 Greetings! Today we’ll discuss some rudimentary questions relating to our mother tongue in the column Finding Hope with DLM!
Congratulations,
Well written
Importance of mother language in primary education is enormous. It helps in further education and development of the child.