ENGLISH

English

We inherit our mother tongue from our parents. We derive highly influential and important language used and appreciated in our bigger world from our recent history. The English ruled many parts of the world. They introduced their language also in our regions for their convenience. Though they left their colonies, we did not stop using their language. Many dislike learning and using this language because it is not as easy as we think. It keeps changing. We need to keep changing along with it. The same word might mean differently in different contexts or regions. It is so flexible that we hate it after understanding and using it to some extent. It is like an unreliable friend but dependable neighbor. Since history imposed it upon us and because it is necessary for all of us to understand many things and persons in this world through this medium of communication and knowledge dissemination, it is good for us to learn it and use it effectively and confidently. It has primarily two formats: spoken English and written English. What to learn best depends on our priorities in life, profession or our helplessness in other domains of human interaction and knowledge acquisition.

Spoken English

1. Speak regularly in English. Let others correct you time to time if you go wrong in the process. Be patient to understand that success in something is not a one-day journey. See that most of those persons helping to improve your English are your close friends, affectionate relatives, ideal teachers or any other person who loves you more than you love him. Otherwise you may lose interest to learn spoken English soon.

2. Listen frequently when well-known speakers in English are delivering some lecture on an issue or conducting some other session where English is extensively spoken for their purposes. Be a silent listener in most of these occasions. We learn most of the things in our life unconsciously. This is how we learn our mother tongue or falling in love with others. So, you would turn out to be a great speaker one day when you listen to others speaking great English. It can be news on internationally famous television or radio channels like BBC. To know about highly reliable sources of learning in this respect, consult whom you consider great teachers or users of English in the domains you like.

3. There are a number of audio and video resources these days in the market which help you a great deal better your spoken English. Buy them, play them on your personal stereos or computers or televisions or other mediums familiar or accessible to you. Listen to them and practice on your own in isolation or with like-minded friends on how to pronounce them. Practice makes many perfect. Use this insight to enhance your language skills.

4. It is true that 80% English spoken by many ordinary and famous speakers or celebrities in India today is not of that standard which can be appreciated by a scholarly and authoritative speaker in the US or Britain. There are many varieties of spoken English in the world today just like many colonized races in the world for historical or other (globalization) reasons. So, never think or underestimate yourself that you are the only victim of this unhealthy scenario. There are distinct differences between American and British English. Since the United States of America remained highly influential economy and super power in the world till today, most are learning and using American English for various reasons. Devoted English lovers and users still choose to use British English not minding where they are and what they are doing on their choice. Hence, never mind to learn all varieties of English. It is impossible and rather avoidable. Neutral English is the choice of many today. By this they mean a type of English which does not get affected by the influence of your regional language. Others must not be able to identify to which state of India you belong listening to your English. Polished English achieved with practice.

Written English

1. Learning written English is easier than spoken English because you do the prior when you have time and others can't identify the standard of your English as early as they can do with your spoken English. Keep writing whatever you like in English every time you got mood to do it. Human birth is a result of a multitude of sins and crimes we committed in our previous births as per the Karma theory in Hinduism. So, don't feel humiliated or defeated when others consider your written English crap. Crap is valuable. Some are producing electricity from crap these days. Alert your enemies or insensitive people to this extent. Keep writing and asking your well-wishers to correct whatever you wrote. Grammar is a set of principles laid out by others for us to know how to understand and use a particular language. We must learn English grammar to a considerable extent to master this tricky language to some extent. Tenses, parts of speech, idioms, phrases...the list is sizable and any standard English grammar book can help you learn this art of language. Vocabulary is the number of words and their right usage in different contexts which we can handle easily at any given point of time. Once you are good at essential English grammar, it is time for you to improve your vocabulary to be identified and respected specially in many circles of human interaction you may come across. If you want fame, you should improve your vocabulary.

2. Many enthusiastic and innocent English learners have a misunderstanding that one can improve one's English attending spoken/written English classes or reading some books which promise to improve their English in a specified period of time to a given extent of mastery. Hundreds of spoken English institutes and concerning tutors or instructors are exploiting millions of helpless English learners in this nation today in this direction. Understand that improvement or development can't be injected into us like vitamins or proteins in some form of liquids or solid foods like Horlicks. We need to struggle hard to improve ourselves in our chosen field. Learning a language is not an exception to this set of basic rules. It is you that need to have a lot of commitment, love and patience to learn good written English. Coaching institutes are like perfumes. Others or you can feel its effect for a limited time only. Bathing daily twice with clean water using a good toilet soap is necessary to keep our cursed body odorless. Similarly, regularly practicing written English is essential to improve your skills in this respect. Tutors and institutes are temporary guides to you. In most of the cases, as you come out of your English class, you would forget half of what he or she taught you dramatically. Unfortunately our tricky brain does not catch hold of those things which we learn by force or helplessness or a short-term goal. We must love English first just like we love our good friends, close relatives and invisible God for some reason or no reason. So understand that you must work hard to improve writing skills in English. Keep writing. Keep being tested and taught by your loved ones. Keep enriching your potential of English grammar and vocabulary.

3. To improve your written English, the most essential contributing factor is reading highly regarded English periodicals, books and scriptures. Reading books of classic English literature serves your purpose better than others. George Bernard Shaw used Good English in his writings. You know many great writers from India and abroad. Read their books whenever you got time. When you keep reading a number of books of great standards and appreciation, in your region or elsewhere, your mind keeps learning great written English automatically. If you read about 50 classic English novels in a given year making it like a mission, you would observe that your written English was substantially better than what it used to be once. To be precise, your present written English is a result of the nature and richness of books you read knowingly or unknowingly so far. The characteristic of a classic book of English is that any good similar language user in the world derives the same meaning and insights from the text of the book. If he is talking or writing a lot after reading a book, it might be because he is adding his personal or scholarly inputs to what he got from reading that particular book or piece of writing. The result is a number of theses, talks, reviews and presentations by different people in different places based on the same work. Their interpretations or standpoints are different in understanding or commenting on a given piece of work. Such cumulative output gets enriched in the process because many understood the same truth or beauty of a given book reading it and could add their inputs to present their version of understanding of the book with their experiences or thoughts or insights in similar or different fields. Good book means one written by one who learnt good English and struggled to use it decently to facilitate others understand him or his thoughts or creativity in a way he intends to happen to some extent. Bad writing means using such language which is considered sub-standard or nonsense by noted English writers in a given region or nation. Mind that all famous English writers need not be good at using language. Becoming famous in a given field is easy but being appreciated by stalwarts and critics in that field is often difficult. It is a matter of complicated and lengthy debates among the educated and scholarly ones even to this day. I am not a member of this circle of scholars.

4. We can't become great writers only if we desire for that or even if we write substantially great pieces in a given period of time or movement of writings. Our fate mostly decides whether we should remain for long in the minds of our favorite stakeholders or not. I personally don't think that Shakespeare, Milton or Wordsworth were the only great writers those days. I believe that other unfortunate ones, who excelled these writers, remained little known to rest of the world for various reasons. Why are we hanging with Shakespeare only even to this day in most of our English literature classes? Because most of our English teachers choose to beat the same old drum for courtesy or formality sake. Since most commented on Shakespeare and his works over the decades, our good and loyal and traditional teachers are singing the same old song differently. For me, a great piece of work in any language is one that can be understood by many easily and can entertain or reform them like never before, a masterpiece and challenge from that perspective, tremendously making a positive and constructive impact on all those that read it, discussed it and commented on it for about five years after its publication. It happens when the writer or poet concerned is one that experienced a turbulent life or studied the human psychology from multiple standpoints for the sake of his profession or out of interest to prove his calibre in his chosen field. In other words, a book written by one with a statement, "If there are 999 extraordinary writers and poets in this world, I want to challenge their worth with my book now". He must announce so without reading many of the so-called great books. Extraordinary books are those written by ones blest by God with high energy levels of creativity, thought and vision, not by those trained in schools and colleges. So, improving your writing skills to become a great writer or poet in course of time is not a good move. If you have such divine and brilliant energy in you to shake the world one day with your masterpiece, one that was never witnessed by others, it is bound to happen provided you are learning and practicing good English. The soul of a good book is great use of language. For that, you need to use every source of help to improve your English, constantly.

Summarized Tips

1. Spoken English can be improved by constantly listening to good speakers and letting others correct you whenever you speak bad English in the process.

2. Spoken English institutes are like your temporary swimming coaches in the ocean of English language. As long as you don't know how to swim anywhere, you can't be considered a good swimmer. Remember that English is an ocean. You can never master it, but part of it depending on your chosen field and your desired level of fame in that field. Know your strength, improve it to the desired level, and then set your goals accordingly. If you aim high and try little to achieve it, others pity or laugh at you one day. What you learned is what you deliver.

3. Always keep a standard English dictionary with you and look up for the meaning of a given word and its usage, when you come across a new word or have doubts about a word you think you know a little. The best way to improve your English grammar or vocabulary is to frequently question yourself "Am I using this word correctly, is this spelling or usage correct or is there other ways of using this word or idiom or part of speech?". Daily going through a big English (pictorial if possible) dictionary improves your English to a great extent. Whom you think to be good at English might misguide you often because they might be poor learners like you one day to teach you bad English today but a standard English dictionary never cheats you. You can commendably improve your understanding of the world and given language using a dictionary regularly. Memorize the given or chosen word until it gets imprinted on your mind. Prepare your mind to use it at any time in your conscious life. This demands your commitment and love to improve your English. Remember "every man is responsible for his own destiny" and that external help or guidance does not last long or at all times. You are the challenger. Learn how to prove it and keep that stand always.

4. If you want to understand the society, current affairs, comment constructively on the contemporary events or issues, it is essential for you to read good dailies, monthlies, year books and every other source of good writing emerging today extensively in book stores and news-stands. No reading about today, no better life tomorrow. What you thought right yesterday might be considered outdated or wrong tomorrow. The only way to keep up-to-date is to read the present books if you want to remain a great Indian. Many devoted readers think and act better than many writers and poets in this world because a knowledgeable reader is more powerful and intelligent than a given writer. Every writer has certain limitations in expressing his thoughts or creativity due to his childhood, upbringing, social and political and religious milieu, and so many other decisive factors developing his life into a writer in a given period of time. A reader is luckier than a writer in this respect. He can read any number of books and any sort of book thus improving himself as a great thinker or critic in the process. Reading is a pleasant and beneficial facet of life than writing and influencing others. To be a great reader also, you must have enough strength to understand everything a writer wrote and comment on it. So, whether you want to be a reader or writer, constantly reading and writing is important.

5. Good writing emerges in many ways these days. User manual you get with your cellular phone piece from a store, on packs of so many consumables, outdoor ads, an old English paper thrown into a dustbin, English sub titles at the foot of a feature film in a foreign language, an informal chat between your colleagues or friends in English on a familiar topic to you, a self-imposed writing exercise, a desire to craft a piece of poetry to please somebody....There is no scarcity of resources to improve your English today. There is abundance of information today around us in written and spoken form. In fact we are being chased by such huge amounts of information today from many quarters in our lives and professions and environments. How much to use from it is left to your desire of how much to improve your English language skills.

6. Remember that you need not feel inferior to others just because you are not considerably good at spoken or written English. You need not learn even a bit of it if you dislike it for some reasons. God created us to live as we like remembering that we should allow others also to live like us or even better. To learn English or not is up to you. Nothing disastrous occurs in this world if you do not learn English. Learn it if you need to learn it for some reasons that influence your life or profession. Some feel that English is one of the biggest villains of the world plaguing the peace and comfort levels of their lives until they die. They hate English and anybody speaking or discussing it. Everybody has a right to like or dislike something. Let's be good even toward such people. I observed that some can never improve their English as they desired despite their best efforts. Nothing to worry about them. About 20% of uneducated and illiterate masses in some remote parts of India might die never understanding what democracy is and who are actually ruling them. They are also honorable citizens of India. We love them as we love those that know about democracy and politics also because they are also human beings like us. Similarly, learning or using English is just a little part of our lives. Those that can't/don't learn or use it also belong to us. Let us love them and teach them how to live happily never touching English in their lives. One needs air, water, shelter, food and a few people to love one to live and die happily one day. Knowing English is never an essential quality of any human being on this earth planet. Some love and use their regional languages only by choice or helplessness. They are also our beloved Indians. English must not be considered the jewel of our life but one of our little needs only.

7. Learn English to interact with others and understand the world better but not to learn something very modern avoiding something unique to your tradition and culture. If there is something in our tradition and culture that teaches us to love others and do something to keep them happy and comfortable always, understand it, practice it and die with it. There is no harm to India or Indians as long as every Indian knows fundamentally how to be a good human being. The problem is with those that learn and use English and foreign culture where there is no need of it at all. Check how many abusive words you are using a day addressing somebody you like or dislike to showcase your greatness as a user of English language. English is to reform ourselves and be better humans, not to degrade ourselves with false prestige and heavy amounts of egos. Remember that your character is more powerful and useful to you than the language you want to learn or excel at. A good character means understanding things and persons in a way that tries to establish peace and harmony for all of us, not segregating ourselves from others. If English helps us distance ourselves from many, there is no use in learning it. Unity and fraternity must be our goals in life. English must help us understand these concepts better and practice them toward everybody in the world using this language and the insights we gained in the way.

8. English is like a good and lovable chameleon. It keeps changing its colors in tune to the given environment to survive and excel in the process in comparison to other languages. So, being good at English means always reading and using English as it keeps evolving every day around us. It might eat your regional languages in the process. Avoid it. Never forget your roots. We can never run away from our chasing history. If you can become great in your chosen field, not touching English even a little, you had better do it silently. Nobody is bothered about your adherence and loyalty to your mother tongue or other chosen regional language. To understand 90% of Indians perfectly, we need to understand their regional languages or their dialects, not English. We must remember our former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao at this point. He learnt all the regional languages of India, apart from being masterly user of English language as well. Our approach toward English or other languages of India must be like his. Our mother tongue or regional language is our soul and English is a beautiful body set by us on it. We must never forget our soul, running madly after our beautiful body.

Datla Chiranjeevi Raju