Language - pleasure or pain

Today, on the television, I heard a Frenchman speak impeccable Telugu that would put the current Telugu-speaking generation to shame. He was participating in an event in Houston, US and spoke about including the teaching of Telugu in his institution in France. He was referring to Telugu as a very melodious language – hope I got the translation right – “madhuramaina bhaasha”. Why is it that the current generation of news-readers, movie-makers, actors, lyricists, et al have crucified the Telugu language and created a weird sounding language that is neither Telugu nor Hindi nor English? These days, it is a torture to listen to any telugu film song or even watch a movie with family. Happy and blissful are those who listen to the songs only for the beat and do not understand the language. In the olden days, songs used to be written and put to tune. I guess these days, the tune and the beat is first created and lyrics are then fit into them. Unfortunately, though Telugu is taught in schools, the standard of education has degraded in a sense that the students do not necessarily appreciate the language. They go through the motions of reading the lesson, mugging up the answers and the meanings. Gone are the days where essays used to be written by students. The focus was on the expression since the students were more aware of what was going on around them. They only needed to put it down on paper. Today, the scene is vastly different. The students are not aware of what is going on around them. So they actually read up existing essays and reproduce that content in the exam. So the focus shifts from expression to recollection!!

The story is the same for English language too. My previous generation actually studied in Telugu medium government schools and I have studied in an English medium public school. Inspite of that, their power of expression and their usage of grammar is exemplary. Any day, my father or father-in-law (who is 80+ years old) would write better than me. The other day, my FIL’s brother was reminiscing about his college-days, ie in the 60s. He was recollecting how he and his friends would go and sit in the back benches of the post-graduation classes to listen to an English Professor while they were doing undergraduation. That was the interest and dedication to learn the language. They widely read books and anything that they could lay their hands on. They would refer to dictionaries to know the meaning of a new word. Today, the opportunities are plenty, affordability has increased, you can read anything and everything at the click of a button, you can refer to the meaning of any word on the internet, using laptop, notebook, mobile and so many other gadgets. Yet, the standard of English in most students is way below what is expected of them. They do not read a newspaper, and even if they do, it is only Page 3 and the Sports page. They are unable to write a single email or comprehend a document properly. It is a torture to read some emails because most of them use the ‘SMS’ language in emails and other official communication. Why this malady and what is the cure?