The New Breed of 'Manglo-Indians'

Nov 2, 2010

I heard my wife screaming “Svetlana, read the paragraph!” I was just back from the office and slowly opened the door expecting the outburst of my wife turning the barrel on me to ease her frustration of teaching my daughter English - KG2.

She yelled at me “Arun, it's all because of you that she is not able to read English well. You keep talking in Konkani, and now she will fall way behind other students in English.”

"But dear," I explain to her, "we never spoke English at home, yet I scored very high in English and moreover my grammar marks were better than many of the Manglo-Indians who were studying with me in College in Bangalore."

"Now who are these Manglo-Indians?" she demanded. "Well dear," I said, "this was jointly coined by my Dad and me and we own the copyright."

Well, now lets get to the Manglo-Indians story.

Way back in the 80’s when I was in the Middle School, we in Bangalore had a multicultural set of students. There was a sizeable number of Manglorean kids as it was a Jesuit institution. The surname clearly suggested they were Konkani Catholics. This made me feel at home and when I tried to converse with a few of them they ignored my approach saying they can’t understand a bit of the language (Konkani) which I spoke. I was a bit surprised and a little amused as to how these kids with roots back in Mangalore can deny knowing even a bit of Konkani.

Confused and a little dazed I came back home and took up the issue at dinnertime. My dad, as witty as ever, asked me if I knew who Anglo-Indians were. I said, “Yes, descendants of the British.” "Not exactly," he said “but partly.” He explained at length how the Anglo-Indian community came to India and mingled with the natives.

Now to the main issue of Manglo-Indians. He said these are not descendants but actual Konkani Christians, who do not know Konkani as their parents had forgotten the language due to a peculiar case of  lingua-amnesia and spoke only in Engish.

This lingua-amnesia is a strange, phenomenal sickness which occurs in some parts of the world and was said to have originated in Mangalore, a person affected with this disease has a tendency to forget one's mother tongue. In another version of the disease, some suffer from locato-Amnesia (pertaining to forgetting a certain style, behaviour along with a change in the location or area). So it goes this way, a person travelling by airplane prior to the flight converses well in Konkani and the moment the flight lands in Bangalore airport, the locato-amnesia strikes and he forgets Konkani. This is not his fault, but the fault of his poor fate.

Now after this explanation I developed a sense of immense pity to this new breed of Manglo-Indians. Now I knew it's not their fault but this wretched sickness which is taking a toll on our language.

These thoughts kept lingering on my mind and as I entered college I felt that there was nothing like 'lingua-amnesia' and 'locato-amnesia.' It was more to do with self-esteem and inferiority complex. Speaking Konkani makes some people feel inferior. I remember last year in Dubai, I was invited to a house party and of course it was for only us Manglorean crowd. All of a sudden I heard a small girl screaming at her mother and pointing towards my daughter "Mom, she is speaking in Konkani!!!” I remembered Archimedes screaming Eureka, Eureka!!!

Anyway I wasn’t perturbed, but we got all the limelight, because my daughter was the only one speaking in Konkani! My wife Loveline was a bit worried and annoyed. I explained to her that it was not practical to question someone's choice of language. But we could make a small change. I also keep explaining to her that speaking Konkani at home will not affect our daughter's ability to speak English. I have shattered this myth. I did better in English grammar than all my classmates who spoke English at home. I write poems, articles in English and have won many certificates of appreciation in school and college. My daughter is studying in a good school and will soon excel in English. 

Thoughts creep on in my mind, we are a small community and one fine day may be after 100 years, none of the Mangloreans will know or speak Konkani and we might land up in a situation akin to Sanskrit today.

Not long ago we were poked as ones with a language with no script; one day we may be known as ones with no language - a parasite community speaking someone else’s language.

It's time we are known as Konkani speaking Manglorean Commnity and not Manglo-Indians.

By Arun A D'Souza, Doha, Qatar
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Comment on this article

  • Aamir, Koppal

    Tue, Feb 10 2015

    lol nobody cares about Konkani in mangaluru, you speak as if it's a konkani majority place ! Friends of mine lived for years in mangaluru, and they don't even know that a language named konkani exists ! Only two languages actually exist in mangaluru - Kannada and tulu.

  • Dimple Pinto, Bangalore

    Tue, Dec 21 2010

    Hi Bro, very well written article.with good humour, enjoyed reading it.

  • Rashmi D'souza, Mangalore/Bangalore

    Mon, Nov 15 2010

    Hey Bro, Neat one. I can actually imagine Lovely with Svetlana.. I can also remember Jean aunty and Sylvia aunty talking :))
    God knows what is going to happen to me when I have my kids.. they will go mad with 2 languages :)

    As for the Comments from Mr.Ivan I.J.Saldanha-Shet, since we were never travelled to Madras(Now Chennai) hence we did not know about the fact of who had the Royalty, this article was to highlight the people who have 'lingua-amnesia' and 'locato-amnesia.

  • amrit, GCC/Far East

    Thu, Nov 11 2010

    The language you speak is influenced by the company you keep, as in mangalore where you interact more with native konkani and tulu folk , you would interact with more kannada , english, tamil telgu & malayalam folk in a cosmos such as bangalore, similarly in the gulf, a Manglorean in KSA speaks arabic more fluently and understand more arabic than an other manglorean in any other gulf country. Its only a matter of demographic conditioning and nothing else. World economics flows from the west, since innovation, manufacturing, creativity flows from there hence English, German and French gain importance. In south east asia, cantonese and madarin are sweep staking huge populations as we speak ...as China grows from strength to strength. Yes its a hard reality that india a country of a million tongues finds it difficult to converse in a common tongue hence, our inferiority makes us bow to english, but hey , isnt it that very english which has helped NRi mangaloreans to move abroad? Tactically advantages in a globalising world will not come from a narrow minded singular approach, infact Svetlana should start learning Madarin... forget worrying about konkani, english it self may become extinct in the next 20 years.. Welcome cantonese...

  • Antony Herbert Crasta, Mangalore/Sydney,Australia

    Mon, Nov 08 2010

    It`s a good idea that we teach our mother tongue, viz. konkani, but it is not always practicable to do so. While we should encourage our children to learn the language, we should never force them to do so, for, with due respect, konkani is not an universal language like English or Hindi or any other state lanuguage which one must learn and master as those languages only really matter in life, viz. in school, employment market or in public life. In my particular case, even though we both parents spoke konkani at home, when it came to the children, we really could not get them to speak konkani for a number of reasons - they attended nursery classes where lessons were taught only in english and also we had to speak english at home in order to prepare them for admission to some of the good schools where intensive interviews were conducted in english not only to the children but also their parents, so we had to brush up our english as well!. To get admission to such schools was really competitive and tough, and to that extent, I support the views expressed by Sarita of Valencia/Kuwait. Also, since my children`s friends both at school and in the neighbourhood spoke only english, hindi or marathi, they picked up those languages easily, and though they understood the konkani lanuague, but never spoke. By the way, I also endorse the view of AD Shenoy of Mangalore that any langauge can be picked up or learnt easily later in life if one desires to do so.

  • Charles D'Mello, Pangala

    Sun, Nov 07 2010

    M/S Saritha D'Souza, Valencia/ Kuwait..You are contradicting your own statement. If Children can pick 6 Languages up to the age of 8, what is wrong in parents speaking Konkani at home and English at play school. Your statement"many parents holding high position at office can not speak good English" is wrong(Their English speaking skills will be much more than sufficient, if they have time to teach their children). They send their children to play school at the age of 1 1/2 years, because by paying a little more money than the baby sitter they hire a qualified English teacher and a baby sitter too...!!???

    Children can learn different languages at a later date too, only if they are compulsory( a very few may have liking towards learning various languages), like in our days in Kannada Medium, English starts at 5th Class and Hindi at 6th Class.

  • Wilfred Crasta, Jeddah/Bela

    Sat, Nov 06 2010

    Very Simple. Its intended for Manglo-Indians, Who cannot speak /read Konkani. That's why its on English.

  • Deepak Lobo, Bangalore/ Abu Dhabi

    Sat, Nov 06 2010

    Hey Arun, Good article boss. I can very well say that I was one of these Manglo-Indians. My parents meant well when they used to speak to me in English. Since both of them were brought up studying in Kannada medium institutions and had a struggle picking up an International language like English, back in the day.

    They ofcourse spoke to each other in Konkani which atleast gave me the ability to understand the language. It was not until I had to go back to India for college and stay with Mai that I would pick up a lil bit of Konkani since I had to converse with her. So I would say that its always good to teach ones kids their mother-tongue. I would like to suggest that everyone converse with their kids in Konkani.

    They will definitely pick up English from schools that are compulsorily teaching in English these days. A good example, our neighbors, the people of Kerela. Have you ever heard one Kerelite speak to his fellowman in English if he dint know the local language.

    Now theres a lesson for everone to learn and think about.

  • anita , mangalore

    Sat, Nov 06 2010

    teaching our mother tongue to our children is our duty.rest comes automatically.beautiful article.

  • K Mahesh kamath, Bangalore

    Fri, Nov 05 2010

    I spoke konkani to my son till he was about 4 years old. Once we started his schooling, we started speaking to him in English most of the time.Now he can speak both Konkani and English.

  • Sharline, Moodbidri/Dubai

    Thu, Nov 04 2010

    Whether people like it or not, this is the reality. We can understand speaking in English, if one of the parent does not understand Konkani. I feel that some people speak in English as speaking in Konkani will reduce their status.Well done Arun, waiting for articles in the future

  • sukanya naik, padubidri

    Thu, Nov 04 2010

    Good article. Why it's not in Konkani language?? People wants to give lecture, talk on Konkani language but they use English language for the same. Isn't it funny??!! or we dont like to read it in Konkani language?

  • Sarita D'Souza, Valencia / Kuwait

    Thu, Nov 04 2010

    With regards to the views of Mr. Antony T. D' Souza, Karkala / Qatar, agreed our neighboring Sates
    are flourishing idolizing only their mother tongue first and winning all battles in their
    daily sphere of life. Long ago the competition was less and there were no interviews for admitting children to school (as in my case) and if at all there was, they were probably interviewed in their local languages, but now in a competitive world and in cosmopolitan states & Countries, where many languages are spoken, the school interviews the child in English and failure to speak in English costs the parents and the child a seat in the prestigious school of their choice. Most of the parents are very educated and hold high positions in office, but are unable to speak good English and hence, Playschools and Nurseries flourish. I very well know this since I run a Playschool and Nursery where parents enroll their children to learn English when they are 1 1/2 year old till they are eligible to attend school. Every parent knows and wants what is best for their child and so we should not discriminate parents who speak in English to their toddlers. Children can learn many more languages in future, but we as parents should try to inculcate good values and teach them to respect our culture and Mother Tongue. As they grow up they will learn to love the language. Force of any sort will naturally make them or anyone hate what is being forced upon them. This is my experience with children.

  • Rohit Shetty, Dubai

    Thu, Nov 04 2010

    Cud't read full article ... kinda pakao ...

  • Alwyn D'sa & Fly, k.s.a

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    I agree with your article.should never forget your mother tongue.Your jokes are wonderful.Best of luck for your next article.

  • Aaron, Ajekar / Doha

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Dear RRR Bharath.

    Arun was emphasising on speaking in konkanni and not on using konkani word everytime we speak. I'm sure Arun and his kids know that, Mom/Dad in English is Baab/Mai in Konkanni.

  • Alwyn D'sa & Fly, k.s.a

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    I agree with your article.should never forget your mother tongue.Your jokes are wonderful.Best of luck for your next article.

  • Lydia Janet, Mangalore

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    CGS, U too can contribute a little more to Arun's article. We miss your articles now. Arun, a good article indeed, u said it. Kudos.

  • Julie, Mundkur/Qatar

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Good article Arun. Keep it up. We should first teach our children mother tongue, other languages automatically they will learn. It is true that many Mangaloreans hesitate to speak in konkani.

  • Ivan J Saldanha., Mangalore

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Dear Mr.Arun,
    I am extremely sorry to disappoint and dispute your claims. The label 'Manglo-Indian' was probably first coined by my sister Sophia in the late 1950's when she was at Presentation convent Perambur Madras. She was in the primary classes then and one day when the teacher was asking each student to say which community they belonged to many said Indian or Anglo-Indian. But Sophia was confused and when it came to her turn blurted out 'Manglo-Indian', the teacher told my mother who often narrated this story. Therefore, I demand from you royalty for using the term and will sue you in the 'Supreme Court'
    Regards & All Good Wishes to you all! BYE!!!-I.J.Saldanha-Shet.

  • Walter , Bajpe/Boston,USA

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Manglo-Indians? This is pethetic! IT sounds like "Mangolians? For God's sake, we are NOT "Mangolians" or "Manglo-Indians" we are simply "Mangaloreans". Maintain that heritage.

  • Glenn Vaz, Dubai / Thottam

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Hi Arun ! Did'nt know that you have a flair for writing. Nice write up and Do keep writing......

  • Rajiie, Mangalore

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Dear Arun,

    Trend has changed.... before it was your child does not know English... and then there would be a paus...but now its changed... and it goes like this... O your child does not know Konkani.. Our child speak beautifuly. Parents feel proud to say that their child speak approximately 5 languages by the age she reaches 6, pretty much fluently. Thanks for this.. it was ok. Even My child although we are in the gulf for over 7 years and he is 8 he speaks fluent Konkani, Kannad, Tulu, English and learns Arabic and French.

  • Charles D'Mello, Pangala

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    M/S Roshini, Udipi/ Bahrain...I also wish the same and expressed also. 2 years is too little a brain to grasp 5 languages.

  • Jason, Kemmannu/Doha

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Congratulations , very interesting article,directely to the point...with nice humor, enjoyed reading,totatly agree with you.Well written article. Keep it up.

  • Roshni, Udupi/Bahrain

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Mr. Charles D'mello, my disagreement was with child not able to speak 'coz of different people talking to her in different languages. i dont think the child's brain will get confused to pick up words. If each individual keeps on talking to the child in a particular language then definetely she will respond in that same language to that person as was the case with my son. He speaks with my parents only in konkani n my in-laws only in kannada, even if they sometimes try to communicate in English. I pray to God Almighty to bless this (the 2 year old)child and believe that she will pick up all languages that are spoken around her.

  • Gregory D'Souza, Udupi / U.A.E.

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    Correction to my above second last sentence : I meant to say that not every language needs to have a script of its own.

  • Gregory D'Souza, Udupi / U.A.E.

    Wed, Nov 03 2010

    I agree and fully endorse Mahesh Kamath's comments and would go two steps further. We must strive for the unity of all Konkani speaking people irrespective of their dialects. Konkani people from Maharashtra, Goa, North Kanara (Karwar, Kumta, Honnavar, Bhatkal etc.), Udupi district, Dakshina Kannada district need to unite to defend the Konkani language and culture at all costs. Therein lies the survival and longevity of Konkani which I understand is already recongnised as an official state language in Goa.

  • Gregory D'Souza, Udupi / U.A.E.

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    My understanding of the reasons for the problem are that many Konkani catholics from the erstwhile South Kanara from my parents generation (born in the 1920s etc ) were from economically poor backgrounds. Many of them migrated to cities like Bombay and many also migrated to Gulf countries. In their experiences they realized that not knowing to read, write or speak English was a major hindrance in their progressing forward economically. Hence they were eager to make up for this deficiency in their children by getting them to learn English on arriving into this world even at the cost of teaching them their original native language Konkani. Subsequent generations of South Kanarites did not learn Konkani simply because one or both of their parents could not or did not speak the language. However if there is a strong sense of Konkani pride even these children can still learn their mai-bhass later in life as I have done. No language needs a script of its own. Even English is written in the Roman script !!

  • William, Bantwal

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    We have to speak all languages if possible.In Mumbai, at chakala parish, Mr.Alosius took initiative to teach Konkani every tuesday free of cost.Many attended and learnt, my son reads konkani bible and readings in church.At home we speak both English and Konkani.

  • Vijay, Bangalore

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    I was attracted to the title itself. Nice written article. Thanks Arun.

  • Joyleen Mathias, Manglore/Mumbai

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Arun....this article is really awesome and so true. I hope this article reaches to all those who really needs them. I have come across many Manglo-Indians in Mumbai. Great writing. Good luck

  • Simon Rodrigues , Shirva,Udipi

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Hats off to you Arun!for the beautiful article.May your tribe flourish on this earth.May GOD enlighten the minds of these so called "Manglo-Indians" to put aside their inferiority complex about our precious and dear KONKANI language.God bless you Arun,keep it up.

  • rrr, bharath

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    I do admire Konkany.

    Arun, Please tell me how do you address your biological father today? Do you address him as "pai" or "Aan" or perhaps "baab'?

    How your children get your attention? Daddy, Dad, Pappa, Pop, Oldman? or perhaops "Hi Arun".

  • Norbert Mendonca, Madanthyar - Switzerland

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Dear Arun,
    Great article on the current situation of Konkani. Hope your article opens the eyes of many Mangalo Indians

  • Arvin, Moodbidri / Abu Dhabi

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Hi Arun, nice article. Keep it up the spirit !

  • Adrian Rego, Mumbai/Dubai

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Nice article Arun.......its a lesson for all to learn rather than to start a countdown to extinction of our mother tongue!!!!

  • MAHESH KAMATH, MANGALORE

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Great article.I also suggest that we go beyond the concept of Catholic konkani & Saraswath Konkani.Konkani is Konkani and whenever we meet a Konkani we should speak in Konkani.

    By the by if any body is interested to form a group of Konkanis for the sake of Konkani in Bangalore,please let me know.

  • Premeena Menezes, shirva/sharjah

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Arun, east or west our mother tongue is the best . i salute for the message u have given in this article. very well written..

  • Charles D'Mello, Pangala

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    M/s Roshini,Udipi/ Bahrain...I like that you disagree with me !!! But could you please clarify on what point you to disagree ?????

  • carina janice baptist, Bangalore/ Abu Dhabi

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Hi Arun,mum called and she told me that Arun has some nice message for you. While i was reading, i realized that born and brought up in M'loren family, we hardly know konkani, but now after reading this artical of your's I will surely speak to my Mum and my Dad in Konkani, and i am also proud to have a brother like you.=)

  • adshenoy, mangloor

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Speaking Konkani is important but many do not pay attention to it in this modern chaotic world. Mangies in particular. But a language can be picked later in life( eg: Sonia Gandhi) but it is easy if it is picked up between 1 to 4 years old. It also depends on the linguistic enviornment and surroundings one lives.

  • maggie, mangalore/dubai

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    well done very nice article , All Mangaloreans /Goans parents teach children konkani language, why is that hesitation to treach our children Konkani language???????

  • remous dsouza, padubelle

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    nice article. we should gift our kids one more language konkani by speaking in konkani at our home. the more languages we know to speak atleast we can conversate more people will benifit our kids in future.how we people dare to ignore our own mother tongue. only god will save us from this tragedy

  • Antony T. D' Souza, Karkala / Qatar

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Thanks Arun! Unfortunately we have some breed of parents suffering perhaps from syndrome
    of low esteem consciously or unconsciously following a myth thinking that if their
    children speak/learn Konkani first, in future their overall performance will hinder in
    in competition with other fellow men. But on the contrary, our neighboring Sates
    are flourishing idolizing only their mother tongue first and winning all battles in their
    daily sphere of life. Therefore , our low esteem is parasite spreading fast and wind
    to extinguish our own identity, mother tongue knowing how great hypocrites we are !
    Therefore, this is a disease having no rapid cure other than treating with a self strong
    dose of medicine called “ LOVE YOUR MOTHER TONGUE KONKANI WITH ALL YOUR HEART,
    MIND and SOUL lest starting to dig a grave to mourn our own culture, tradition and dialect.

  • Benal, Mangalore/Canada

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    An excellent article and an eye opener. It is the same story here in Canada too! We at home speak only Konkani language but it is unfortunate that our kids dont make an attempt to speak the language though they fully understand it.

    We have a wonderful Association called "Mangalorean Association of Canada" based in Mississauga and serving the interest of Mangaloreans throughout Greater Toronto Area, promoting cultural events and even Konkani classes for Mangalorean kids but getting the kids interested in it is a tough task faced by even those parents who are keen to promote konkani language at home.

    Let us hope our Konkani lives for ever!

  • CGS Taccode, Mangalore

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Thanks Arun, for your interesting
    article on Manglo(Anglem)Indians!!
    Most of these so called Manglo-
    Indian parents teach or speak to thier children only in their Father
    Tongue(English)instead of teaching them thir sweet Mother Tongue Konkani.And because of this attitude we have neither our own culture nor agriculture,but have
    only Konglish culture!This sort of Konglish love and culture will lead us nowhere. Despite this
    attitude I wonder why those Manglo
    Indians love our Mangalorean fish
    curry,Kalliz-Ankiti,Pollov,Indad,
    Bafat,Laitanv,Bolcheanv,Sorpatel,
    Sannam,Muttlim,Apam,Bhakreo,Ape,
    Panpolle etc instead of Pizza and
    Burger.I am sure most of them love
    to taste Kankanady Fried Chicken
    (KFC)instead of Kentucky Fried
    Chicken!We love our xit-kodi(fish
    curry-rice)whether we are in Gulf,Europe,US,Canada or Canara!
    Then why can't we love and speak
    Konkani?


  • John Peter Fernandes, Moodubelle/Nottingham U.K

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Nice article Arun!!! totaly agree your points!!! All Mangaloreans should read!!!!

  • Asha Nazareth., Mumbai

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Well said Arun. I fully agreed with You... If we don't speak konkani at home how can you expect this poor kid to speak.. Pls ensure that atleat at home use your mother tongue...Keep it up Arun God bless you All the best Keep wrriting

  • ophelia Dsouza, miyar/karkala/melbourne

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Beautiful article I fully agree with Arun.being mangloreans if we don't teach konkani to our kids how they will communicate with our family members when we visit them
    .my kids were born and lived out of India but I wanted them to learn konkani I am really proud of them.they dont feel shy to speak in konkani in a Aussi party.when they speak konkani they try not to mix english words.one should feel proud of their mother toungue if we feel speaking in konkani is infirior then how we will teach our kids.In gulf or western countries we have manglorean catholic groups but when you attend you can only hear english. then they will say maka soma konkni yena.though they learnt english from their high school .when it comes to konkani they really have amnesia.

  • Sandra Baptist, Mumbai/Abu Dhabi

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Well said Arun, I think all the Mangalorean should read this article and try to improve their KONKANI rather than ENGLISH. Our Mangalorean People pretend that they cannot speak Konkani. I always try to speak to my children in konkani and they are improving a lot. I will not allow my children to become MANGLO- INDIANS.
    Give my love and kisses to my sweet little Svetlana.

  • Jess Miranda, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Hey Arun,

    Nice article. I enjoyed reading about different kinds of amnesia..Kudos to you..

  • Supriya Sequeira, Puttur/Bantwal/Dubai

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Well done Arun...Its a good and very timely article revealing the fact

  • eddie Sequeira, Mangalore/Doha

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Arun, a very good and timely article. Truth with a dose of fun always works well. Hope to see more articles from you.

  • M.Bhat, Mumbai

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Nice thoughts Mr.Arun. I enjoyed the your article. This is a common problem with konkani speaking hindus too.

  • Alex, Mangalore/ Abu Dhabi

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Dear all,
    I have many similarities with Sarita D' Souza including that of age of daughters, ability to speak multiple languages et.al. Though my wife speaks Konkanni usually and is with them all the time, I had spoken to them in Englih for the sake of teaching them and now, between me and my daughters, it has become a habit. Therefore, Konkanni suffered. They speak so many languages and I am also blessed with many, but none of these are (very very) good we tend to mix. As most south Indian languages have commonality, we do learn many languages easily and because of our career and location choice, we learn languages like Marathi, Gujrathi, Arabic & Punjabi besides Tamil and Malayalam.
    I now feel I would have done better to focus more on my mother tongue (conciously) and the children would have done even better in other languages.
    All in all, I suggest (as I can not go back all these years) that we should focus more on our mother tongue. God Bless.

  • Navin Rego, Bejai / Doha

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Well said Arun. Though we may not be  konkani pandits, but still we have also made it a point that we only speak konkani with our daughter. Rightly said, if we don't talk konkani then how the next generation will learn it? About English they will learn and master the language the same way as we did through our schools. I think the disease of lingua-amnesia and locato-amnesia is more prevalent in Manglo-Gulfians and that too for all wrong reasons.

  • Jennet Prescilla, Mangalore / Muscat

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Dear Mr. Arun. I fully concur with your view regarding our mother tongue Konkani. The higher the status a person attains the degree of his forgetfulness of his mother tongue increases. People even pretend that they cannot speak Konkani at all. Well Konkani may not have its own script but it is written either in Devanagri or in English like in Karnataka / Goa /Maharashtra as the case may be. Well speaking in English at home while the child goes to school helps a lot in interaction with the friendsin english , whereas where academics is concerned, it is immaterial whether you speak Konkani or Kannada for that matter at home. It is purely learning the language and mastering it. Nice article keep it up.

  • Roshni, Udupi/Bahrain

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    First of all, nice article and i do agree that we should teach our children, our mother tongue. Secondly, I totally disagree with the comments of Mr. Charles D'Mello, 'coz my son who is 11yrs old now speaks fluently in English, Konkani, Kannada, Hindi and very well understands Tulu, few words of malayalam n arabic. From the time he was born, we as parents spoke to him in English, my parents spoke in Konkani, in-laws in Kannada, domestic help in Hindi. Except my parents, we all lived in a joint family till he turned 6yrs old. People hearing us conversing in English always ask whether he can understand our mother tongue and we tell them to speak to him and see for themselves. Now that we have a daughter who is not even a year old, we do the same with her and she does respond to English, Konkani and Kannada.

  • Westor Dsilva, Kallianpur

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Arun, take pride in the fact that your daughter speaks Konkani. Well written article. Keep it up.

  • Arthur Pais, Balehonnur/Doha

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Good write-up Arun every individual should know the importance of the mother tongue.

  • Charles D'mello, Pangala

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    M/s Saritha D'Souza, I have never said children never learn other languages. Surely In Mumbai children pick up Marathi, Hindi and in mangalore Kannada. Tulu etc. But rare chances of picking Konkani as there are very less children who speak Konkani in schools or churches. I wish the 2 year ( I mentioned) old child picks up all languages by the time she is 8 years .

  • Sarita D'Souza, Valencia / Kuwait

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Well the article is very good I agree. But I slightly disagree with Mr. Charles D'Mello's views. According to Child Psychologists and Speech Therapists, a child can learn and master upto 6 languages till the time he or she is 8 years old. We did speak in English to our two daughters ( 19 & 14 years old now) from the time they were born till 4 years old to enable us to enroll them in school and then they picked up Konkani, Hindi and Marathi as they grew. They are now very fluent in English, Konkani and Hindi. Many of my friends too have had the same approach and their children speak good Konkani. It is necessary to teach the children English, since the medium of education is English and then with a slight effort from the parents, the child can master other languages as well. If the parents want to adopt an English attitude and are ashamed of speaking Konkani, then God bless them. To each one his own.

  • Jayalatha, Mangalore / Mumbai

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    A very nice article. one should never forget their mother tongue. i love speaking konkani but being in mumbai hardly find people speaking konkani and as u said people feel uncomfortable with the language.

  • Andrina Pais, Mudarangady/Singapore

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    A great article.Well said Arun.The manglorean christian community who not only live abroad but also those who come and settle in Back in India feel that without them conversing in english,people would not accept them.And they end communicating in such a broaken english which would be a disgrace to the language.Konkani is so pure and beautiful,we should nurture these ethics in our future generations.Thanks for sharing.

  • John Pinto, Chickmagalur/ Doha

    Tue, Nov 02 2010

    Dear Mr Arun,
    Congratulations , very interesting article . In my opinion it is always best for the parents to teach their mother tongue first, We can translate the meaning of particular sentence or word of any other language. Therefore always remember for Konkans, our Konkani first and next other languages

  • Renny Lobo (Rodrigues), Gurpura Kaikamba/ Abu Dhabi

    Mon, Nov 01 2010

    Welcome on board Arun, was expecting this article from you from long time back. You are one of those few writers, practice what you preach. Now that you have moved from Ahu Dhabi to Doha, I really miss your vast knowledge and discussion on Veda's, Upanishads and many other issues related to national and international. Awaiting to see on stage the sweet little Svetlana singing or giving Bhashan in pure Konkani one day. All the best, keep writing.

  • Usha Rego, Kulshekar / Dubai

    Mon, Nov 01 2010

    I agree with you Arun.

  • Ahmed, MAngalore / Doha

    Mon, Nov 01 2010

    Nice. Its the same with Urdu & Beary Speaking kids of Mangalore living outside India. During summer vacations when we see few kids who struggle to communicate with their grandparents, we feel pity for them. Mother tongue HAS to be taught for the kids when they start to talk. English and other languages will be thought in school! Why dont the parents understand. They are killing their own mother tongue!!! Wake up Mangaloreans!!!

  • Anand Dsilva, Dubai

    Mon, Nov 01 2010

    Arun, nice funny article. It cannot get better than this. Konkani may disappear in another 50 years not 100. Your daughter speaks in Konkani in Gulf means she is from another planet for the rest here.

  • Charles D'Mello, Pangala

    Mon, Nov 01 2010

    I really enjoyed this article and fully agree with Mr. Arun A d'Souza. If we dont speak Konkani when our kids are small(upto 4 years), then we have lost the Golden chance of teaching them Konkani. It is sad that many Mangalorens hesitate to speak in Konkani particularly when they are outside Mangalore, then how can we blame the little kids for not speaking Konkani !!???? Last weak I observed a 2 years old girl who doesnt speak at all when in a party ( when other kids of her age speak scream and run around). Then I asked her dad why she doesnt speak at all, then he said she speaks Telugu !!!!! Dad at homes speaks in Konkani, mother in English, mother and father speak in Hindi and the baby sitter speaks only Telugu !!!! Then how can you expect this poor kid to speak !!!??? Her little brain is so confused to pick up the words !!!?? Believe me this is a true story.


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Title: The New Breed of 'Manglo-Indians'



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