What is the status of the language you call your mother tongue (first/native/arterial language)? How cool is it?
One of the unfortunate realities of some international languages is that success or failure is often determined by language status. Yes, languages have so-called “status”. Some languages are high status, some are low status, some are in the middle. English, French, German, Japanese etc. are viewed as high status language. Low status languages are Bangla, Urdu, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Portuguese, Polish etc. There are some languages that are not even considered for any status. Many tribal languages may be the examples of that.
Here in USA, the high status language is obviously English but it is hard to ‘feel’ as it is an immigrant country. Perhaps in many European countries, the language status-anxiety can be felt more than here. It may even felt more in developing countries (considering the middle class). There are many reasons why and how people feel, permit and practice this language status phenomenon. The circumstance is certainly much less scientific and more of an art. You may agree or disagree.
Anyway, so, how do you feel about your mother tongue? Are you proud of your native language? Do you feel good?
- Do you ‘think’ in your native language?
- Is there anything that you can only express in your mother tongue if you are a fluent bi/multi language user?
- Do you consider your mother tongue is a good vehicle for your economic future?
- Do you find your mother tongue can give you an edge to your technological exploration?
- Is your mother tongue considered as a valuable/necessary/important language in your own community?
- Do you think your mother tongue determines who you are? Should it be considered as a basis for your sociolinguistic identity?
- Do you think your mother tongue is better for more for emotional expressions or more for rational thinking or both equally?
- How connected are you with ‘your’ mother longue? Do you speak it just to get along with your family and kin or it is also ‘your’ own language?