Do the Students/Youngsters Know Even One Language Properly?
By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
23 June 2026
Seeing the CBSE three-language formula and certain conditions, I'm reminded of a famous quote, " You can never understand one language until you understand at least two." Bang on. This weighty statement encapsulates the essence of language learning and the importance of embracing linguistic diversity. Geoffrey Willans and John Searle suggest that true comprehension of a language only comes through comparison and contrast with another. By exposing ourselves to multiple languages, we gain a broader perspective, enabling profound insights into the intricacies and nuances of each dialect. This notion speaks to the idea that language is not merely a set of vocabulary and grammar rules, but a complex web of cultural, historical, and social influences unique to each language. Through multilingualism, we cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation for the richness of human expression around the world, fostering empathy and unity among diverse linguistic communities.
That's really good. But the question remains: Do people, esp. the youngsters, know even one language properly? According to a recent linguistic survey, even the so-called bilingual speakers in India are linguistically challenged. Youngsters don't even know their mother tongue properly, let alone English which remains a peripheral language even to the highly educated Indians. It's interesting to observe that today's students, studying languages even at the PG level, are clueless when someone asks them which language they think in. In other words, which's their language of consciousness or in plain words, their thinking language. When students and educated ones are all at sea to decide the language they think in, teaching three languages is an enormously erroneous idea.
The general language sense among a majority of Indians is extremely poor. They don't have a feel for any language. Languages don't appeal to them. In fact, language learning, let alone mastering, has never been a priority in India. Youngsters are rushing to become doctors, engineers, CAs or IT professionals, but hardly anyone opts for languages out of genuine fondness for them. In India, students opting for languages are often those who fail to qualify for Science and Commerce streams. So, all substandard students go for Arts and languages which is a very sad trend. You can jolly well imagine the level of their linguistic competence. They're rank incompetent. Furthermore, these indifferent students 'evolve' into becoming tomorrow's language teachers!
Instead of introducing three languages, teach students only two languages: mother tongue and English. The emphasis should be on English. Encourage them to learn and master English as it's not only a wonderful language, it has already become the sole communication and commerce language globally.
One learns or at least becomes able to communicate in one's mother tongue. That's not a life and death issue. At the moment, focus should only be on learning English and no other language. " Ek hi aansoo ho magar ho jaan-e-hayaat / Uss se kya haasil agar laakh dariya bah chale " (Just one drop of tears carrying the crux of life is far greater than a flowing river of tears). Those who're genuinely interested and sincere about the languages, should be encouraged to learn as many languages as they can to become polyglots because every time you learn a new language, you get a new soul. But the unwilling students, having no knack for language learning, can be kept away from this ordeal of learning three languages. Teach them just one tongue: English. That's more than enough. Don't let too many cooks spoil the broth.
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/students-know-one-language-properly/d/140502
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