Is The English Language Overrated ?

‘ English is a very funny language, I can talk English , walk English , I can laugh english’

I don’t know about funny, but English is just a language for sure. However, majority of the Indians do not feel the same. In our country, this language is on a pedestal. If someone is fluent in English, they are considered superior.

When I was admitted to an English medium school, it was a proud moment for my family. The main focus of the family was that I should become extremely fluent in the language. It was a challenge for me because no one, absolutely no one in my family was even slightly familiar with the language.

 My mother took upon herself to make sure that over the years I become good at English. It did not take me long to learn the language. In fact, I was amongst the best in my class. My family was proud and would often boast about the fact that their kids (my sister and i) were good at the subject. Everyone around me, my parents, teachers, classmates implied that knowing English was one of the greatest things.  So, it got to my head. Like I  have mentioned, that I was amongst the few who was good at the language (at least I  thought so), I started feeling that I was superior to the other kids in my class (by the way, I was in 1^st then). I spoke to only those who would speak English, and the others were considered dumb.

Fast forward to the time when I passed my 4^th grade.  For the 5^th grade I was given admission in one of the best boarding  schools in India. I was very confident about myself and I loved the environment there. It was the perfect school for me.  And then the classes began. And I realized that I was not the best in English here. There were so many kids better than me. In fact almost the whole class was way better than me. It came as a big shock to me. I started feeling inferior to others. This took a toll on my confidence, my academics and my social life. I spoke with only a few people. There was always a fear of being laughed at, and I was laughed at.

It took me many years to release that my fluency in English did not speak anything about my personality. That it’s okay to be not so fluent in the language.

I do hope that people realize the same.  Even now I find a lot of people judging the other on the basis of their knowledge about English. This is truly disturbing. At least the kids should not fall victim to this. It is harmful for both, the kids who are good at English and the ones who are not. The feeling of being superior to someone as well as the feeling of being inferior to someone can be dangerous .  

By writing this I do not want to demean the language. In fact I am in love with the English language. Its absolutely beautiful. I mean I am a bookworm. I love reading so obviously I love the writers and the language. The point I am trying to make is that we should  just learn  English for the beauty of it. For knowledge. To explore a foreign language.

Let us appreciate our local languages too because there are the very soul of culture.