How To Get Rid Of Mother Tongue Influence ?

Dear HR folks,

Nowadays, almost everyone is influenced by their mother tongue. How can one overcome this influence? Are there any solutions available?

Regards,
Genga

Dear Genga,

It will take time to get rid of the MTI factor during communication. Just listen to English news daily and note down the words that you are not able to pronounce correctly. Practice uttering these words/sentences loudly in front of the mirror. This will not only improve your pronunciation but also enhance your confidence in speaking without the MTI effect.

Cheers,
Mayuri

Hi Gengaraj,

1) Read an English newspaper every day for 1 hour.

2) Stand before a mirror and speak in English for 15-20 minutes.

3) Speak aloud English tongue twisters for 15-20 minutes.

4) Watch English news channels like NDTV, CNN, etc.

If you do these things regularly for a few months, I can assure you that there will be a change in your MTI.

Hi all,

Here, the thread started with avoiding MTI, and there was nothing asked about the English language. However, the answers are mainly focusing on the English language. I wonder why Indians alone have this affection towards English. What's harm in communicating in our own mother tongue? In France, people speak French; in Belgium, they speak Dutch; in Sri Lanka, they speak Sinhala; in Russia, they speak Russian, and so on.

These are my personal views, and I may be wrong. Others can comment.

Hi Ganga,

Follow the steps as mentioned above. I would not like to copy from other professionals, so follow them.

How I got rid of my mother tongue influence is that I read English newspapers aloud for almost a month, studied a few homonyms, and understood tongue twisters (that's the first one you should do). Listen to others who speak fluently and engage in regular conversations with them. Practice, practice, and practice - that's all I can say. However, the efficiency will depend on you and how much effort you put into avoiding your mother tongue influence.

Dear Friend,

To my knowledge, mother tongue is like a mother; we cannot easily escape from its influence, even though it is not a mistake at all. We must respect our mother tongue, while also learning different languages, especially English. As you know, English plays a major role in securing jobs and advancing one's career. Therefore, when speaking English or any other language, try to temporarily set aside your mother tongue and think in the language you are using. I am confident that you can overcome this challenge easily.

I wish you all the best.

Dear Shabana,

What is your mother tongue? The mother tongue influence is a problem when speaking in English in India. If my experience is anything to go by, it's not a major problem when speaking in Indian languages.

As far as your claim that people in France, etc., using their own mother tongue, they were not subjected to foreign rule for hundreds of years by the English. Has not the Persian language, which was alien to India before the Mughals, influenced the Hindi language? For a person whose forefathers migrated from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka, which is the mother tongue? Is it Tamil that is spoken at home (which he does not know how to read or write), Kannada (which he studies in until 11 years old), Hindi (the national language, studied as a compulsory language), or English in which he has studied all subjects from the age of 11?

The countries that you have mentioned developed scientifically and industrially without the help of the English; also, they do not have so many "mother tongues" in their countries.

Have a nice day.

Simhan
A retired academic in the UK

My earlier days were marked by a similar problem as my mother tongue is Telugu. One of my seniors suggested the following: "Think in English, then only you will be able to answer in English. Normally, people hear the conversation in English and want to reply in English, but they tend to think in Telugu and frame the words in English before speaking out. This process takes a few seconds. The gap for replying can lead to embarrassment and become a hurdle every time. To avoid this, always think in English so that you can respond immediately." It helped me a lot. I hope this is a practical solution. Best wishes

USSN Rao's solution is to improve speaking in English. However, it does not help neutralize the mother tongue influence (MTI). For example, Scottish people, whose mother tongue is English, have their own accent. Similarly, in the USA, the accents differ from state to state; even in England, it varies from county to county.

The way to neutralize MTI when speaking any other language is to listen to people whose mother tongue is that language and which is taken as a 'standard' and then try and imitate.

Have a nice day.

Simhan

Hi Genga,

This is Abi from Tirupur. What I do to eliminate mother tongue influence is to read one or two pages of a language article aloud every morning, consistently.

Regards,
Abirami

I agree 110% with Simhan. Besides, when someone seeks help, we need to lend a hand. How would you feel when someone speaks your mother tongue wrongly (pronounced)? Moreover, it's essential to get over MTI to make one's communication effective.

If I say "I am going to eat my lunch" or "She's going to Bangalore by boss," what would be your reaction?

Hello Nita,

I assume you are Bengali or from close by Bengal. That reminds me of two incidents to support your view.

We had a draughtsman from Bengal who came late one day. I asked him, "Mr. D, why are you late today?" His response was, "My 'boss' came late." So, I asked him why he should be late if his boss came late. Then someone said, "He meant that his bus came late."

The second instance was in an interview. An officer from Bengal asked an interviewee, "Could you please define a 'Bolt'?" The interviewee said that bolts come in many forms: hexagonal head, Philips head, slotted head, and also with different types of threads... Then another member of the panel intervened and told the interviewee that the other member wanted him to define a Volt as in voltage.

I have had students from China who could not pronounce the letter 'R'. They always used the sound of 'L': Red lorry became 'Led lorry'.

Similarly, some from the South pronounce words like College, Only, etc., differently to the standard BBC broadcast.

Hence, you are perfectly right; we need to neutralize the influence of our MT.

Have a nice weekend.

Simhan

PS: Reading aloud to oneself or speaking in front of a mirror or reading a lot will not help neutralize the MTI. It's listening to news where presenters use neutralized language, record it, and practice to pronounce the same way that will help.

I agree 110% with Simhan. Besides, when someone seeks help, we need to lend a hand. How would you feel when someone speaks your mother tongue wrongly (pronounced)? Moreover, it's essential to get over MTI to make one's communication effective.

If I say "I am going to eat my lunch" or "She's going to Bangalore by bus" what would be your reaction?

Weaning away the influence of mother tongue is always difficult. But practice by reading loudly and noting words which are affected by the mother tongue effect. Then make an effort to conquer this mountain. How we speak, behave, and live is always molded by our culture, background, company, and also genetic factors. So make an effort to correct and change where it is necessary. I will look at it one way; if there is a mother tongue effect and it really causes no hurdle, then there is really no point in getting worked up over it. The purpose of speaking is to communicate, and if our communication is understood clearly by others, then where is the problem? I do not see any reason to speak English like an Englishman. I will speak understandable English as an Indian.

Some links: [The Influence of Mother Tongue in Learning English](http://www.slideshare.net/UCsanatadharma/the-influence-of-mother-tongue-in-learning-english)

Two effective ways to remove Mother Tongue influence:

1. Listen to those who speak the language you want to master. Listen more and more intensively. For example, use audio and video content in that language. The audio-visual impact is much faster as it happens unconsciously.

2. For at least a month or two, think in that language (have all your internal dialogue in the desired language instead of your mother tongue) and give it the sound of a person whom you think speaks well in the other language. You have to do this with your eyes closed.

Hi Shabana Begum,

Being South Indian, we never need English to speak with people in the society or family, but English has become the corporate or professional language. That is why South Indians are fond of English, as we need a decent place in society by getting into the corporate world. You should also know outsourcing companies mainly trust South Indians (from Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad) to handle their business, apart from individuals in the Philippines, Singapore, etc.

Thanks, Shabana, your views are great but I felt there was some racism.