Dear fellow goanet readers
A well known actor/comedian in the United Kingdom recently described London as
"no longer English". On my way home
from work, as I travel by bus, observing fellow passengers around me, he was
quite right of course. However this bus
journey also brought home some interesting "truths". Most, if not all of the
passengers on the bus, spoke in their native
tongues. Whether it was to each other or on their mobile phones, I certainly
could not understand a word of what any of
them were saying. Even mothers spoke to their children in their native tongue.
What makes communities from around the world, now living in the United Kingdom,
so proud of their language? Do they
see their native language as essential to their sense of belonging and
therefore have never given it up? So why is our
community so different?
Moving from these shores, let's take a look at the French, they are delighted
to hear any tourist attempting to put together
a few words of French however grammatically incorrect. The fact you tried
matters more to them. If you spoke to a them
in English, they would frown on you but would happily start a dialogue with you
in Konkani even though you would not
understand each other but somehow got the message across.
Often, I have questioned, how it has come about I can't read, write or speak
Konkani very well. My origins are from Goa,
both my parents come from the same village Saligao. Most of my social time was
spent with our community. Was Konkani
not spoken in this "closed" environment, and if not, why not? At least I can
thank my father's mother for my limited
knowledge of Konkani as she didn't speak any English.
I have brought this matter up several times with my mother. Even when she has
conversations with her friends, all of
whom speak fluent Konkani, why do they always converse in English?
At the centre of this, it could be that our parents saw the reading, writing
and speaking of English as essential for our
"future" and thus the need for it to be spoken at all times. Who knows? Today I
feel all this obsession about speaking
proper English still continues and quite frankly it has to stop. And it has to
stop now this day, this hour, this minute. The
English language needs to be compartmentalised as "useful" and "needed" by some
of us to sustain our livelihood but not
given the status of being "superior" or "above all else" or as our parents
viewed as "fashionable" and "our future". We
need to follow other communities and be proud we have our own language, Konkani
and feel comfortable using it in public.
Konkani is not just our mother tongue. It is at the heart and essence of who we
are as a community. The meaning of
words, phrases and sentences are unique to our culture and completely lost when
translated into English. What about all
our songs. Take the example of the lovely Konkani wedding song blessing the
bride and groom, this just wouldn't be the
same in English, would it?
In the United Kingdom the freeze on Konkani has started to thaw. Over the last
few years, I am delighted to see Konkani
in our cultural events springing back to life as more of it is being spoken
here. The beautiful singing of Konkani hymns at
the recent 84th Commemoration Mass of Fr Agnelo attended by over 500 of his
devotees was a real testament to our
finest, talented musicians based in Southall. It is not just the new arrivals
from Goa, even those who have never spoken
the language before are starting to say a word or two.
Its a sure shift back to our roots, or may be the recognition that now it is
time for us to stand up, claim back the language of
our birth right and show that in time all will not be lost.
Rose Fernandes
Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom
29 November 2011
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