What's your "Thinking Language"?

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We are encountered with the question “How many languages do you know?” in a form for employment, it is accompanied by a grid “Read – Write – Speak”. One is expected to tick-mark the grid to indicate one’s proficiency in the listed languages. However, there ought to be one more – “Think”. Just think about it! Which language do you think in? If you think in any one of those languages and speak in the other, chances are you’re producing some top-class humour for us to counter the burden of stress in our lives!

Most of the mistakes – allow me to call them mistakes for the moment – in language usage - because of thinking in one language and speaking in another! Although modern day language is tolerant in which the world brushes aside wrongful constructs in language with the broad stroke of the “trendy” wave sweeping our tongues! There is no such thing as “wrong English” today! Only the ‘new norm’ – an equivalent of the American “new normal” in financial economic trends! A euphemism to lowering standards, I suppose?!

The new normal or norm is the ratification of what was considered wrong some years ago. Now, now – I say some years “ago” – when the world has gratefully accepted “some years back”! Back in my childhood days, “some years back” would have seen my back against a wall as punishment or maybe I would be lumped back home, I don’t know… but not so today! It is the new norm! But I digress – my post is not about correct or wrong language – but about the language in which we think!

Ok, so we have a language in which we think and chances are we choose only one amongst the languages that we speak, read and write – only one! I learnt about this when I was in school – my English teacher, Leela Rebello (nee Yellur) – we called her Yellur-miss, told us:
“If you want to improve your English – Think in English!”

Now that was something! Didn’t we all think in English, I wondered? We spoke our mother-tongue at home – Konkani for me – Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and so on, for my classmates. We learnt English, Marathi, Hindi and French in school. So which language did we unconsciously choose to think in?

It invariably turned out to be the language we learnt in our early days – our mother tongue! So we had great fun in school where some one would exclaim: “See - the rain is falling!”, when all that was to be said was “Look, its raining!”. So the Marathi “Pavoos Padto” or closer to me, the Konkani “Paavsu Padtaa” became “Rain is falling” Our teacher was right! The language we spoke was just a translation of what we thought in our mother-tongue and dutifully translated in the language we were speaking in! And thereby produced some national humour for everyone to laugh at!

“Fun happened at her birthday party!”, “Problem became in class”, “They are removing photos of everyone for IDs” and many such gems were contributed to the national cause of reducing stress-related diseases in our country by these epic utterances! These are classic cases of thinking in our mother-tongue and speaking in English! Of course, we did not stop at this kind of mistakes and produced more gems – like some of my friends would advise the other “Don’t say ‘removing photos’ it’s wrong – say they are ‘photo-takeouting’, na baba!”

OK, so we were creative in our days back then, when it came to producing some hilarious (albeit, wrong) language. Back then a trend began where wrong usage like “Open the doors of the windows and let the atmosphere come in” kind of-coinage is so popular that it even today’s youngsters swear their professors said it! Like we did!

The Chinese today are grappling with the same problem as they embark on the task to conquer the English language for better global prospects – where the meaning of the message is altogether lost. Several posters are found where the reader is lost – “lost in translation” as they say. But we Indians lost nothing – only just found – “found in translation” – great gems of humour.

My friends on FB are quick to point out how news readers ask “What’s your sense on this?” when they actually mean “What is your opinion on this?” or “At this point in time” which used to be simply “now” in the good old days and many more such ‘trending’ habits that have influenced our language today. But then, one wonders if these are from some other Indian languages, I am not familiar with? If not, maybe it deserves another post – for there are many of this kind!

I hope by reading this post, you’d say, “Fun came, no”?! as in, Kyoon, Maja aaya na?

Blogger’s Post-Script: 1. If you know such classic cases of "Found-in-Translation", do post them in the comments column - lets have a compendium of these!
I will not remind you againg - or else you will say "You are behind me!" -eeks another!

2. I attribute the gems of advice given by my teachers, like Yellur-miss in school – St Lawrence High School, Santacruz (W) Mumbai - as those that made me what I am today. I just cannot thank them enough!

Edited to add: Ms. Jyoti Divgi has sent in these Puneri gems:
1. His cycle went to chori
2. Dont speak in front of my back!
Thanks, Jyoti - waiting for many more from all of you!