and siblings I can usually expect to
find good food a relaxed atmosphere a
few jokes and always yes always
mysterious secrets shot off in
rapid-fire Hindi conversation it’s not
the rapid-fire part that bothers me my
parents could speak Hindi as slow as
they wanted and I still wouldn’t be able
to understand a word and this is
actually quite a normal occurrence for
me as Hindi is my family’s home language
a home language can be defined as a
language most commonly spoken by members
of a family for everyday interactions at
home so Hindi was always heard
especially at every single one of my
extended family’s regular Sunday dinners
together being that I couldn’t speak
Hindi I almost always had to redirect my
attention from my elders who spoke this
incomprehensible language that was alien
to me to my cousins and siblings who
were as comfortable speaking English as
I was most conversations then ended up
with my grandfather with my grandparents
and even in some cases my
great-grandfather being forced to speak
English or Thai in order to communicate
with me
I now realize though that my elders
shouldn’t be the one having to bear this
burden in order to in order to
accommodate me but rather I should be
the one stepping forward and trying to
learn Hindi in order to communicate with
them I started to question though why
don’t I know Hindi
especially as I hear it so often in my
everyday life here are my conclusions
language is the driver of information
and communication technology it is not
only the tool for transmitting this
knowledge and information but it has
made social integration cultural
identity development and sustainability
a reality however with the advent of
globalization languages has become much
more homogenized and linguistic
minorities are slowly but surely
drifting further and further away
from their home cultures and native
tongues my grandfather was one such
immigrant who experienced these effects
of globalization as he escaped the chaos
of the 1947 india-pakistan partition
eventually making his way over to
Thailand where he started a family
raising my father as a first-generation
Thai and me as a second-generation time
my grandfather also set the precedent
for an international based education in
the family by sending my father and his
siblings to an international school my
father though still acquired Hindi as he
was sent to a boarding school in India
for two years when he was very young
being immersed in a completely pure
Indian environment set the perfect
conditions for my father to start
speaking Hindi and my mother was put
into a very similar situation as well I
on the other hand lacked this experience
lack this exposure which is the main
region where I do not speak Hindi today
while I received that while I received
the benefits of an English language
based education my drive for sports and
academics left little to no time for me
to acquire this vital aspect of my
cultural identity but I could speak
English with my family and friends and
my grandparent understood some Thai as
well so to be honest not knowing Hindi
never really troubled me this was until
I attended an Indian family wedding in
which my friend who is approximately the
same age as me was shooting off the same
rapid-fire Hindi with elders who
embraced his skill with pride I was the
only one there who did not know how to
speak Hindi I felt isolated my cultural
experience at the wedding felt ambiguous
I questioned my identity it was then
that I realized that one’s language
especially their home language is not
just a tool for communicating but it is
an axe as an indicator for cultural
identity the relationship between
language and culture is deeply rooted
and one may be able to foster a deeper
connection to
their parents family relatives history
culture and religion do the use of their
home language being unaware of one’s
language culture or history can leave
one with no other option than to seek an
alternate identity but what about in our
classrooms learning in one’s home
language has also been linked to
academic growth as well having a strong
foundation in one’s home language can
contribute to developing stronger
literacy skills and other language
potentially learned at school as a
student can transfer their knowledge and
abilities across languages a study
conducted by the by the George Mason
University found that younger students
who had enrolled in the second language
immersion program often outperform
students who didn’t in coursework
standardized tests and throughout the
scholastic careers basically those who
had the opportunity to learn in their
home language they better than those who
didn’t now embracing one’s home language
is clearly an extremely important issue
but to what extent are our home
languages being represented in everyday
life what is our community especially
one as diverse as is be doing to promote
the use of home language among young
children as we walk through the hallways
entering is B the number of colorful
flags flying above our heads clearly
represents the diversity of the
nationalities of our peers but it wasn’t
until only a few years ago that our
languages were represented as well to
name a particular example there are
approximately 40 different mother
tongues belonging to students at ISB
however in the classrooms most of these
languages are invisible only last year
were Korean and Japanese added as mother
tongue elective courses in the middle
school and the time allocated for
students to learn in the home language
will only increase next year while I
commend ISB for making this important
change more still needs to be done as I
am currently a junior taking the IB
Diploma program
I’m required to take a language other
than English I chose to take Spanish now
I consider myself to be a Thai born
non-hindi speaking Indian who studies in
English and is currently taking a
Spanish class simple right
having taken Spanish for approximately
half a year I saw I started I felt like
I’ve picked up enough to have some small
conversations with my friends but it got
me to think if I can learn Spanish a
language completely unrelated to my
origin and identity why aren’t I
learning why aren’t I learning my home
language after all I have a family full
of teachers waiting for me at home
learning other languages is clearly
beneficial but one shouldn’t forget
about their home language everyone has
the need to belong we need to realize
the importance of staying connected to
our home language as much as possible so
I challenge you to immerse yourselves by
watching movies reading books and
listening to music in your home language
and try to incorporate what you’ve
learned it’s a conversation with their
parents and extended family as well it
is never too late at home I started to
incorporate more and more Hindi into my
life and who knows maybe soon enough
I’ll be able to decipher the mysterious
secrets that my parents are saying
behind my back at the dinner table
I’ve got a hobby hot pan Javad or in other words thank you very much