I
only learnt to speak Newari when I was about 12 years old or so; I’m not proud
to admit that. Before that, I would only understand a word or two a few phrases
here and there, the classic : my name is ……. But I could never carry a
conversation with fluency in Newari. All that changed when my mother sternly
said in my pre teenage phase that I need to learn our language. It took a few
years, it did not happen overnight. But I can speak with fluency now. Looking
back, I’m really grateful that my mother made me do it. However, I’m not here
to boast about my speaking, right?
The
point is learning a new language can be a drag. Be it Newari, Tamang, Limbu, or
the many others in our country. And we do not really need to learn all of
those, do we? Besides our native language, let us also give priority to
speaking and conversing in our cultural language. Why? Why am I emphasizing on
this when all Nepalese people can speak Nepali since birth. I take it to that. But
here is the deal breaker: a large amount of Nepalese people are settling abroad
as we speak, the children of whom grow up in the respective regions. Do you
think they would give priority to speaking their native language or try at all?
It
is us who will carry our cultural language forward. We will pass it on to the
next generation. And if we do not intend to learn, the language, the gestures,
it will eventually die with time. We do not want that, do we?
So
let us help people who try to learn, speak with them in the concerned language
to encourage them, not in front of people who do not understand, though. The
environment is the most affecting factor when it comes to learning the language
or improvising it. It’s like that cliché saying: practice makes man perfect. So
let us speak with pride and carry this pride to the coming generation!
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