Dear Reader,
Think!
Is there any law on earth which may punish you for your language errors
whatsoever and wheresoever? I am sure that there is no law in any part of the
world to take legal action against you if you are found to be linguistically
wrong. It means you are at the fullest of your liberty to communicate to the
world irrespective of grammatical skills.
Friends!
Language skills are a comparative term, not an absolute term that we find in
mathematics like two plus two is equal to four. I know a bit more of English
than you do. However, somebody else knows the language more than that I have
acquired. Hence, language skill is always a comparative term.
Many
of the language learners often hesitate either to speak or write something
thinking that they may be grammatically wrong. That they may be laughed at!
This is very prevalent and common psychology everywhere. This is not a good thing.
Fear
of speaking is a kind of inhibition, not a prohibition. You cannot be
prosecuted for any faux pas in the language. You cannot be impeached either for
language mistakes. There is no prohibition on part of the Government or society
to communicate something grammatically incorrectly. No prohibitory order at
all!
Hence,
take it from me that you should take a step ahead. Lo! There is a proverb- A
journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Your communication is
bound to be as good as you want to, provided that you start a linguistic
journey now. There is no denying that error making is the process of learning a
language.
Mind
you. When a toddler begins to walk, it often falls. It is not possible that the
toddler will master the art of walking at once and then walk smoothly without
falling. Though the saying ‘practice makes perfect’ is age-old yet it is all
time relevant.
Once
you make up your mind of communicating something in English, just begin it.
After a certain amount of time, you will find that you stand as error-free you
would be expected. So what is an error-free language? There is a standard that
I should say "I am working" not "I is working" where the
use of "is" is wrong, so non-standard. To begin with, you will form
wrong sentences, possibly grammatically incorrect. However, with practice, you
will develop a language sense which will pave the way for the grammatically
correct expressions. Thus, you will reach the standard of laguage that is
acceptable worldwide.
Mark
it. Language
learning has four aspects: 1. Listening 2. Reading 3. Speaking and 4. Writing.
The first two, Listening and Reading are inputs for the output of Speaking and
Writing. Hence it is advisable for you to do a lot of listening and reading in
English if you are interested in this language. Having said that, you need to
surround yourself with English environment like British Lingua, an institute of
international repute for English communication skills has developed over a long
span of 26 years. As lacs of students have benefited by associating themselves
with the Lingua family, you too can be a proud member for your English language
skills which the entire world prefers to communicate in.
In
an Indian context, almost we all are multilingual. Multilingualism has its
advantage which this author has already explained in another article titled
as Need for
multilingualism in India.
So,
if you already know a language and now you have started learning English, you
are perfectly alright from all angles. This is an excellent step on your part.
Many of the students complain of mental block as they say they do not get the
right words at the time of speaking or writing something. They begin to refer
themselves to a psychological block which is absurd. Such a thought process
must be nipped in the bud.
Moreover,
psycholinguistics says that it is natural for one to fumble for words while
learning the second language for that matter English in the beginning. Once you
have acquired the skills, you are fairly good at recalling words as and when
you need. So, in a normal case, fumbling is not at all a case of any mental
disorder.
Law
does not prevent you from learning English or speaking even incorrectly. It
poses no questions if you are grammatically incorrect or erroneous. There is no
law to punish you for any language errors.
Dr Birbal Jha is a noted author and the Managing Director
of Lingua Multiservices Pvt Ltd having a popular trademark brand ‘British
Lingua’. He is credited as creating a revolution in English training with
slogan ‘English for all’ in India.
Aradhna Thakur
