r2i forum

Those who live abroad with children born and brought up overseas, how far they have acquired skill in your own Indian mother tongue (what ever that language as long as it is not English)

For those of us who live abroad, our children are not forein born!! They are local / native; its their parents (us) who are foreign born!!


My daughter is a first grader, for now she speaks fluent punjabi and is learning reading & writing as well. I have quite a few 2nd and 3rd generation born & brought-up American nephews, nieces and cousins. For all of them, first language is English. Majority (though not all) of them can understand and in some cases speak some level of Punjabi.

My US born grand-daughter can mostly understand and speak some Gujarati and Hindi. But not fluently.

Gujrati because her nanny is a gujarati and mostly speaks to her in Gujarati.

Both my US born and brought up kids can speak/read Tamil. Opportunity to write is less, but can easily read Tamil. Mainly because we speak Tamil at home. They watch Tamil movies occasionally and the major credit goes to the well structured California Tamil Academy (~4000 kids and 8 campuses) that has a huge presence in the San Francisco Bay Area complete with homework, monthly and final tests. Most Tamil kids in the local area go there for up to 8 years (every Sunday for 90 minutes), they develop skills to speak to their relatives in India along with basic reading skills. Thats what most parents want.

cando;680132Both my US born and brought up kids can speak/read Tamil. Opportunity to write is less, but can easily read Tamil. Mainly because we speak Tamil at home. They watch Tamil movies occasionally and the major credit goes to the well structured California Tamil Academy (~4000 kids and 8 campuses) that has a huge presence in the San Francisco Bay Area complete with homework, monthly and final tests. Most Tamil kids in the local area go there for up to 8 years (every Sunday for 90 minutes), they develop skills to speak to their relatives in India along with basic reading skills. Thats what most parents want.

That's no use in long term they eventually will be polluted and behave like an typical white American..

Just think since u r born in India so u had made sure your kids understand the indian language and custom you were raised. But then do you honestly think your kin born brought up in states will have the SAME PASSION for his kids ?

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I used to think that my kid needs to know the culture, language etc until I r2i'ed. Kid learnt to read, write and speak (but did not enjoy it). Language was used only in school during the language class - rest of the time English was the conversational language.

Pointlessly reading all the very old stuff in language was not of any use.

Personally, I don't think, it matters if our kids know indian language or not as long as their life is going to be settled somewhere else. Even then, with the rapid advancement in knowledge and tech, it is unnecessary to force them to learn a language. language is not going to be a barrier in survival.

Knowing more languages is good for the brain.

drb;680142I used to think that my kid needs to know the culture, language etc until I r2i'ed. Kid learnt to read, write and speak (but did not enjoy it). Language was used only in school during the language class - rest of the time English was the conversational language.

Pointlessly reading all the very old stuff in language was not of any use.

Personally, I don't think, it matters if our kids know indian language or not as long as their life is going to be settled somewhere else. Even then, with the rapid advancement in knowledge and tech, it is unnecessary to force them to learn a language. language is not going to be a barrier in survival.

I also think the same. It should be a choice, and there are many ABDs who do get interested in their heritage languages and learn it later on. I can speak my parents' language to some degree, and also am expanding my Hindi just for general interest. But never should it be forced. Plus there are devices created where you can speak any language in any country, therefore I guess the idea of 'language barrier' will diminish in the future, thanks to technology.

darwin29;680137That's no use in long term they eventually will be polluted and behave like an typical white American..

Just think since u r born in India so u had made sure your kids understand the indian language and custom you were raised. But then do you honestly think your kin born brought up in states will have the SAME PASSION for his kids ?

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True and same goes for the religion... american melting pot!

bhaiyaji;680253True and same goes for the religion... american melting pot!

Yes agreed even sustaining hindu culture and religious rituals on our foreign born kids is simply like an attempt to stop tsunami with a wine glass.

Today 's Tamil speaking US/UK kid will be tomorrow's Bobby Jindal or say Nikki Haley [emoji3]

While I was in UK one of my colleague is an punjabi born brought up in UK .. that was the very first time I got introduced to an indian origin raised entirely in foreign soil.

He said he was in India only once in his lifetime like he came to Goa and he said he can manage bit of Hindi and Punjabi since grandparents were living with him all th lo time. In goa he said auto drivers tried to cheat him assuming he does not know any indian language. But the rest like his english accent , personality resembles a typical britisher.


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