Mother tongue simply refers to the language of a person’s own area or group. Thus, every person must know their native language. It is important for a person to know and learn about their language as it reflects their culture.
To know about the benefits of teaching mother tongue to your child, we first need to know the importance of it. In a world where globalization is taking place a rapid rate, everybody is opting to learn English better. But what they are forgetting is the fact that people must remember and cherish their culture. The foundation of a culture is its own language. People must not forget to learn it to remember their culture.
English is a universal language and people thrive to learn it as soon as possible. It is because of its universal nature. In the mean process, other languages are loosing their significance. People are preferring English over other languages. This reflects in parents behavior as well. Most parents now-a-days prefer to teach their children English. They communicate with them in English right from their birth to inculcate the language. Thus, it makes children confined to only one language and culture which is not even their own culture.
Since we have discussed importance of mother tongue, lets quickly jump to the exciting part of the blog! In the coming sections, you will learn about the amazing benefits of teaching mother tongue to your child.
Brain Development
Learning mother tongue is directly proportional to development of brain in children. According to research, children who learn their native language and build strong foundation before going to school, ace in literacy abilities in other languages as well. When children explore different languages, their brain functions more actively and sharply.
Linda Halgunseth, a parenting expert has pointed out how learning multiple languages is beneficial for children. She said that such children have greater neural activity and denser tissue in the areas of the brain related to memory, attention and language as compared to monolingual learners.
However, it is important to keep in mind that a child should not be exposed to more than one language at a time. This will have adverse effect. Research says that learning more than one language for a child will slow down the process of learning. In simple terms, since the brain is exposed to two different languages at once, it is divided between two and thus, finds it difficult to process. So, the children learning two languages at once receive less input than the ones who completely focus on one language at a time. To know more about what Florida Atlantic University says about it, click here.
Thus, it is important to remember that learning multiple languages is good but learning all languages at once is not!
Mother Tongue – Identified!
If you talk to man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Nelson Mandela
A person would be much more coherent, comfortable and confident in his own language than others. Speaking a foreign language might allow them to convey their ideas but a person’s own language would maximize the effect and impact. When a person speaks in their own language and someone responds in the same language, it boosts up their levels of comfort. For example – if a non- native speaks in English, he might feel nervous with all the native people looking at him/her whereas if the same person finds one who is of the same language among them, he/she feels relieved as they would understand what they try to explain and might even translate to others to explain it better.
Thus, if a person finds someone who speaks same language, they would easily bond together. So, this is what happens with your child too when they learn their language. If they discover one or two persons of their own language, they would easily bond and be pillars to each other!
Improves Relationships
Relationships are an essential part of life which one cannot deny. Mother tongue is just like a relationship. Relationships have nostalgia and language is one of the mediums that convey the nostalgia. Every relationship is at some point bound by the memories of their native language. Even psychologist tend believe that language plays a significant role in strengthening the bonds with parents, teachers or caretakers.
For example – In your childhood, you were told many stories in your mother language. You were pampered with the unique words of your own language. Your parents expressed their love to you through their mother tongue. All this nostalgia carries a major part – mother language, that conveys all your memories.
Thus, teaching your child your native tongue would help you in connecting better with your child!
Mother Tongue Preserves Culture
In this world where new inventions take place everyday, people are forgetting their cultural on a rapid rate. People are even embarrassed at times to talk and perform the rituals of their culture. Thus, language acquires a good part in one’s culture. It is important for a person to learn their mother tongue to continue and preserve their culture.
A lot of people these days do not prefer to learn their language as they feel ashamed of speaking it among people. But people should learn and proudly speak in it to express the pride of their culture.
Hence, today’s youth is going to be tomorrow’s future and we should teach our children mother tongue so that they can proudly cherish and preserve their culture in future.
Diversity and Inclusion More Clear
With emerging times, the concept of diversity and inclusion is getting more support day by day. Parents should also inculcate this concept. It can be inculcated in children when they can discover different fields of same category in society. Thus, language is one such thing which is a huge umbrella covering many scripts of languages under it, that carry the culture along with them.
So, when a child learns his/her own language and the importance of it, he/she will also respect others language as much as he respects his/hers. They will appreciate the uniqueness of languages and cultures of the world once they learn their own native tongue. The key motive is to encourage your child to accept and respect differences and realize that unity is in diversity and this way it is more easier to encourage it.
To sum up, Language is essentially a medium to have conversations but having conversations in one’s own mother tongue conveys a lot of emotions, familiarity and comfort. Thus, making your kid learn your native language is very important! Podium School offers wide range of courses and worksheets for your children to learn and explore things easily and interestingly! To know more about it, check it here on podium school website.
Stay tuned with us for our next series! We will be right back!
