The sudden burst of mother tongue related posts and videos doing round is not because of a campaign or a contest. February 21 is observed as International mother language day worldwide. If this is observed worldwide that shows the importance of mother tongue. This is observed to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity. This also familiarizes or brings awareness of a concept called multilingualism.
Going to the history of when and how this came to existence, it was Bangladesh who came up with the initiative and was approved at the UNESCO in 1999.This has been observed since the year 2000. The utmost powerful tools of conserving and evolving our physical and insubstantial heritage are the languages we speak.
Necessity of teaching your child mother tongue
Mother tongue has a major role to play in the child’s overall development. If the foundation of learning the mother tongue is strong, it is easier for the child to learn other languages. When your child is given exposure to learn to develop skills in more than one language, the easier it is for them to learn how to use them effectively. This will not be the case with a child who knows only one language. Children when exposed to learn more languages are capable of processing information in different language thereby making them more flexible.
Learning the mother tongue also helps in developing better literacy in turn increasing the vocabulary of the child; thereby making it easier when the kid goes to kindergarten.
Learning the mother tongue helps the child to feel more connected with the roots and culture. That will not be the case with children who are brought up in a place where they do not have much exposure to their mother tongue. As a result, they feel left out when they are back to where they belong.
How do you teach mother tongue?
- Start teaching mother tongue at home
- Communicate to them in mother tongue
- Grandparents are a great learning source to teach mother tongue
- Gatherings of like-minded people, in this case people who have same mother tongue
- Read books in mother tongue.
How did I incorporate mother tongue in my toddler’s vocabulary?
- I always teach my daughter the name of an object in tamil(my mother tongue) and English. In that way she is able to identify the object in both languages.
- I always insist she calls me Amma(mother in tamil) and not mummy or mom. Same goes with Appa(father). She is taught the various terms for relatives only in mother tongue tamil.
- Though she enjoys watching rhymes in English, there are equally good rhymes available in tamil as well. So she is exposed to both cultures.
- The people in the house converse with her in Tamil to which she responds back well and I can also see that since us the elders talk in mother tongue at home she has picked up words from conversations and is able to use them in situations as she needs.
So let us be strong in teaching our kids the mother tongue so that they do not forget their roots and also help in preserving the vast heritage.
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That Madras Mom 
Learning to speak in the mother tongue is very important for a child’s overall development. Being fluent in the mother tongue, which is also known as the native language, benefits the child in many ways. It connects him to his culture, ensures better cognitive development, and aids in the learning of other languages.
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Yes it has numerous benefits, I’ve just listed the primary ones.
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Yes it is mandatory thing to learn.
Our mother tounge is our presence
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Yes it is. Thanks for reading.
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Our mother tongue is indeed very important. I am a Tamilian and my wife is Telugu. So my daughter addresses interchangeably in both languages. We are trying to make her learn bth Tamil and Telugu on our own but since we live in Kerala the schools do not provide either of these languages which is a bit of a hindrance.
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Yes that is a problem. Hence the solution is to teach them at home.
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My father is an author and he taught me, knowing English (and other languages) and not knowing your own mother tongue is utter embarrassment. Certain things need to be grasped well and only parents can help in this stance.
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That statement is 100% true.
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These days the school wants the kids to speak in fluent English at nursery itself. I would really like to show them this post! It’s infuriating man! Mother tongue is v important.
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Yes it is , knowing English and not your mother tongue sounds really embarrassing.
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Truly agree Sindhu .We all are so inclined towards English language that we prefer other languages including mother languages less .That’s a very important thing highlighted here.Thank you for sharing
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Thank you so much for stopping by.
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So true!! one must know to read and write in their mother tongue
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Yes Vidhya that is a must.
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Living away from home town and motherland s never an excuse – to forget mother tongue. I totally agree with you Sindhu
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Happy to know you feel the same way
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Very important point discussed. It is absolutely necessary to inculcate the knowledge of mother language to gen next.
#superbloggerchallenge
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Yes it is very important to inculcate this at very young age
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I guess there was time when parents wanted their kids to learn english and ignore the mother tongue, but times have reversed once again and we now understand the significance of learning our mother tongue. I really liked how you are inculcating the mother language in your kid’s routine.
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Thank you Anupriya yes the old trends are coming back
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