Help !!!! I suck at my mother tongue September 1, 2008
Posted by 6mile in Uncategorized.Tags: telugu, Tinglish
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Yes, I do. 
. I’ve decided to skip my more controversial post and put this mew one up.
Growing up as an army brat. I spent most years of my life all around. As a result I am reasonably good in English and Hindi. But ended, pretty bad at my mother tongue, Telugu. My mom and dad have tried they’re best to bestow a sense of cultural belongingness in me and have done a pretty good job. We spoke a lot of Tinglish at my place ( Telugu + English) and my language tends to slant the more respectful and puritan side. However, I cannot read and write, and I never picked up number’s, lol. On top of all this, my vocabulary is tiny compared to most native speakers. Add to that, my inability to grasp most slang. And I end up a bafoon, hehe.
Most people think ,I’m an alien who picked up they’re language. I run across so many people who try to keep correct my grammatic mistake’s. I’m like I cant help it dammit and they still keep at it uhhhh !, My worst fear is I’ll be married to an Andhra girl who will keep correcting me 
. Maybe , subconsciously It is the main reasons , I’m open to an Inter Cultural relationship. I will get to tread a new path of my own. 
Well, you are going to have to hit some other people up to get help because I have no clue LOL. If it makes you feel any better, I only know one word of my Native American tribe. I can say hello in Cherokee.. Osiyo.. sounds like oh-see-yo.. osiyo is the English written version. It kind of looks like a cross between Russian and Greek syllables LOL. Good luck with it 6mile!
I’d suggest you consider what your goal is in learning (more) Telugu. Do you want to be literate? Do you just want to be able to effectively communicate your ideas? Do you want to be able to speak without making grammatical errors?
I’ve found in learning languages that, while all of these goals are required for true fluency, it’s not necessary to achieve all of them. And trying to achieve them all is a challenge – especially since they require you to learn different things. If you focus on literacy (learning the alphabet, then reading & writing) your grammar will probably become better, but your ability to speak the language as it is spoken around town won’t improve much. If you want to just get your point across, you don’t have to worry about reading, writing, or perfect grammar, but you do need to focus on vocabulary. Etc, etc, etc.
Among my Indian relatives it really differs. Aditya didn’t learn how to fluently read Bengali until he translated a novel as part of a summer research program in college. I think he still can’t write it easily – but he can speak it just fine. Baba, Aditya’s father, doesn’t have perfect English grammar or spelling, but he can get his point across, which is all he desires. Maa, Aditya’s mother, often gets hung up on little bits of English grammar, and therefore doesn’t like to speak English too much, even though she has more fluency than Baba.
Cool 6mile!!! Now I want to see that controversial post…as if I would want anything less
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im sure not a lot of people around you speak Cherokee, hehe
GG, I tried my hand at learning Telugu a few years back. I was busy learning alphabets, which are very similar to the Hindi alphabet. I even purchased a composition book. I’m not good at picking languages up formally , I guess. Every one else in my family has a flair of picking up languages, I seem to miss. My mom and dad have never been pushy, they have accepted me and my bro as cultural mutt’s , lol. I feel that language is a way of getting our message across, I mange to do that most of the time
Baba, sounds just like my dad. My dad writes good English, but makes grammatic mistakes while talking. His first language was not English. My mom is pretty fluent, but tends use some Indianised constructs.
NK, I’ll think about it.
This was funny “My worst fear is I’ll be married to an Andhra girl who will keep correcting me
” Dont worry, my hubby is not that strong in English and he still married me. Of course, I cant re-assure you on that ‘correcting’ part 
I was thinking, try not to get defensive or annoyed when others correct you. Maybe you can use that as a way to improve. I think the only way to get better is to make a conscious effort and that one seems to take the least work hehe.
Its really hard to be perfect at a language when you arent using it constantly. I know some Indians who after living in US for some years begin to forget their mother tongue. Sad.
Just curious, what language do you speak with your parents?
I speak a reasonable amount of English, Hindi and Telugu. I find more and more people poking fun at my Telugu
. My roommates speak Telugu with tons of slang 
.
I used to speak a mix of English and Telugu ( Tinglish ) with my ma and pa. My bro and me usually talked in Hinglish ( Hindi English). Now me and my bro have been speaking Telugu mostly, substituting English words when we don’t know the Telugu words.
Hey First timer here. Am Telugu Girl who grew up in North. I am married to a Telugu boy from deep Andhra….he speaks Telugu fluently but we converse in English. Mainly because of my poor Telugu and his poor Hindi….It shouldn’t be so bad but I sympathize with your fears…..I also had the same concern and keep away from the Total Telugu Types. Fortunately, my husband does not correct my Telugu cos i would be correcting him ALL THE TIME. Smart guy, eh ?
BTW added u to my blogoll
Welcome Meena:) , I dont see a link to your blog, what kinda stuff do you write about.
Hehe, your hubby is a smart man
. I totally understand when you say total Telugu types. Add to the mix a very traditional family, It does not look too appetasing to me,hehe. Thats just my way of looking at things though.
I am a novice blogger…all mundane stuff
http://meenav.wordpress.com
Me too, i barely got thru my exams!!!
-JF
hehe, i’m barely just managing lately
Speaking of managing… 6mile, where are you?? gee buddy I am worried about ya.
me too.. u haven’t answered my email either
I’m doing well wmwb, not to bad, just not sitting in front of the computer a lot. I just checked your email ara
. Sorry, I havent been posting a lot, I dunno what to write about. I’ve seen a lot of movies recently though, so I can do a few reviews probably. 
Hope you guys had a wonderful New Year.
Well, I didn’t get the Twilight review put up yet.. honestly, I am waiting to read the book becauseI want to compare which turned out better. I did get one posted on Gran Torino. I think you should go see that one 6mile. It is kind of sad, but I really liked it regardless, and I think you will too.
I forgot to ask if the dating thing was workin out for you or not? I sure hope so, you deserve the best.. even if you act like a guy sometimes.. so you claim anyway hehehe
I haven’t seen Gran Torino, will do now that you told me too.
Its not working to well for me, but that’s alright. I’m a guy, and have a guy brain, lol. I just talk about some things on here, hehe.
HEY there you are! I just posted some flop movies on the movie site. heh. I have been watching a lot of those lately.. not many in the theater. So 6mile, what have you been up to if not doing the women thing?
So, I am beginning to think that 6mile will never write another post again…. hehehe
Well thats ok if he doesn’t as long as he still comes around to chat with us so we know he is ok.
I’m right here WmWb and ara
, I’ve seen a lot of movies and did not like most of them, a few were ok.
I’m going to post again, I dont have anything to write about
. I’ve been looking for jobs, but right now that’s kind of drab.
I just posted an overview of 2009… a whole crud load of movies (it took me HOURS) to finish… ugh.
6mile,
I need a guy’s view point. I want to know something about guys that I do NOT understand. I have not changed in personality, but over the past 3 years.. have lost quite a bit of weight because I WANT to be healthy. Before, I was “just one of the guys” or “a little sister” to most guys I knew. I was seldom hit on or asked out on a date by anyone except black men, Hispanic men or lesbians.. which was for the most part, uncomfortable experiences. I am simply not really attracted to black men, although there are a few, nor Hispanic men, and definitely not women. Now that I have lost weight, all of a sudden, I am getting all sorts of comments, some quite rude! Although, for the most part, I am very flattered, I am very confused. To me, I don’t see myself any different when I look in the mirror, although, I now don’t really recognize myself in photos.. I don’t get it, does weight really make THAT big of a difference to guys or is it just American men? Anyway, I just wanted a guy’s outlook on this…
hmmmm Ara , I think most guys subscribe to the version of beauty that mass media feeds them. Anorexic models still seem to be very common in the print media. So the more one confirms to those standards the more they are liked. I know Americans put a lot of focus on grooming and looking good, being very presentable ( at least in college ). I think Indian men tend to be more lax about weight, that said they have been exposed to westernization and many of its ill effects. A lot of it has to do with Sigmund Freud , his teaching helped PR guys marketed things we don’t need by making us want it enough. Sadly , the same guys have specified a standard blueprint for beauty via they’re PR, that many people seldom seem to satisfy
Okay.. that makes very good sense to me.. I guess it explains the black men and Hispanic men as well. From what I see on tv and through friends, black men traditionally like what they refer to as “curvy women”.. a pattern most black females seem to have inherited as did quite a few Hispanics.
You are right in whenI have noticed that Indian men do not seem to care about weight, more about the person. LOL, maybe that is part of th reason I am attracted to foreign people.. they seem .. “different.” More like they look beyond just the physical being.. but I could be wrong.. I have been before LOL
Ok 6 mile if u arent gonna be blogging much at least you need 2 get in touch with Ara & I to keep us in the loop. Contact Ara or myself via e-mail & we can give u the lowdown on what I am talking about..