MURDER OF ENGLISH

I grew up in Kerala, India at a time the medium of instruction in Schools was predominantly Malayalam, the official language of the state. I am happy that I was born here. I am proud of my language and its rich heritage.

The teachers taught us pronunciation of the English words in Malayalam. ‘Auto’ was ‘Ahtto’, Mall was ‘Mahll’, Australia was ‘Ahstreilia’, Austria was ‘Ahstria’ and like wise almost all English words had their own special pronunciation in Malayalam. There was a teacher in English who taught us Leopard as ‘Lee-oh-pard’. We never thought that such words were spoken differently all over the world and that our state was the sole exception. We never thought we were wrong. The newspapers in Malayalam too kept to the same pattern. Literacy being very high in Kerala people happily followed the restructured pronunciation the news papers conveyed. It is said newspapers have a big role in the formation of public opinion. What is unsaid is that news papers in Malayalam or the vernacular have a big role in the teaching of pronunciation of English and other languages.

When I had to move out of Kerala for higher studies and later on  employment I found to my dismay I was in the wrong most of the time in the pronunciation of English words.  People used to poke fun at me for the aberration at my back. The information percolated to me slowly. I still remember the two girls in Karnataka who asked me to articulate the number’72’. I happily responded, sevendy two. They commented that this was how they picked out the Malayalis. According to them Malayalis had  ‘Malayalified’ English and  erred in their  accent  on many occasions.  They taught me that it had to be ‘seventy two’ with the stress on ‘t’. That was indeed a learning experience. It made me keep a dictionary ‘Daniel Jones’ that laid stress on spoken English with me all the time. 

The advent of English medium schools in Kerala has corrected the lacuna to some extent. But a lot more remains undone. The deficiency affects Keralites who migrate to other states in India and to foreign countries mostly in search of employment. They are not able climb up the hierarchy due to the manner in which they express themselves in English.  Sometimes their job prospects disappear on this count. If you are on a visit abroad it is certain you will find it very difficult to make others understand what you are speaking about.  When English is the universal language of the world no matter whether we like it or not, all the people except Keralites are unhappy with the spoken English of Keralites.

Finishing schools in all the towns and villages may help us tackle the challenge to a great extent. Newspapers in Malayalam may chip in avoiding a different or dual pronunciation in their daily issues and periodicals. The fraternity of teachers too may take it upon themselves the duty of correcting their students. When awareness is built up on the live yet hidden issue resolution is not far.