English and it's relevance to our society

Since I've decided to stay at home for the next few days in order to get into the study mood, I won't have much to update in terms of what I've been up to. So instead I shall talk about my opinions on certain issues. Thanks Ming Sen for suggesting that I do so. :)

I know the title of this post sounds like I am going to write a GP essay but fret not. I was watching this Bollywood movie last night called English Vinglish. It's new and I was upset 'cause I missed catching it in the theaters. One of my favourite actresses made a comeback in this film after not acting for about a decade. Also, the majority of the film was filmed in New York, which is one of my favorite places in the whole world(despite the fact that I haven't been there before). 

The protagonist, Shashi, is a housewife probably in her late 30s. Her whole family is fluent in conversing in the English language except for her and they often put her down because of it. Her daughter would make snide remarks about her pronunciation and was even embarrassed to bring her mother to her school for the Parent-Teacher meeting because the teachers usually speak in English and her mom can't. 

And then Shashi gets a phone call from New York. Her sister's daughter was going to get married. Shashi went to NY and enrolled herself in English classes. Soon, she made new friends there and also picked up English very quickly. Every sarcastic comment from her kids or her husband about her poor English would only motivate her to work harder. By the end of the four weeks, she was even able to give a long speech in fluent English at her niece's wedding. 

She said something in her speech that struck a chord with me and thus, I remember it.     " Family should make you feel good about yourself. Not put you down. They should respect you..."

Her daughter started to cry out of guilt when Sashi said that because she had often hurt her mom with her inconsiderate comments. 

This brings me to the point that I wanted to discuss. The importance of English in our society today. English is an international language. 

914,398,325

That's the number of people in the world that can speak English. I did some research. Haha. In order to survive in America and UK, it is most necessary to be able to speak and understand English. Let me give you an illustration by telling you what happened to Sashi when she went to New York before she learned English. Check out this short clip. Don't worry, it's in English :D

So if you have seen the clip, you can see how much it really sucks - the feeling of helplessness when you can't express your thoughts to another person. From young till now, I have always tried to keep my English up to standard so that I never have to face similar situations, especially because I want to live in US/UK next time. 

I am sad to say however, that my mom is not really good at English. She knows the necessary stuff and can carry out a conversation but if she was in Shashi's place in the video, she wouldn't know what to say either. :/ I made her watch this movie with me, hoping to positively influence her. 

The other day my mom and I went to a tailor's shop and asked if she sews curtains. She said yes so we asked her another question. The lady stuttered and stumbled and couldn't even form a proper sentence to tell us what she wanted to say. So my mom apologized to her and we walked away. The lady lost a customer because she couldn't communicate. I am not blaming her. I am just trying to make my point that even for those people who are already out of school, it's never too late to go back to school like Shashi and equip yourself with something that's going to help you in the long run! :)

This also brings me to something that I have in my bucket list. A few years after graduating from University, I plan to go to Bangladesh and teach the kids there English for free. You know, the ones in villages, who can't afford to go to school. I really hope that I will be able to carry this out. Helping people can be so rewarding :)

I also think that us students, who are still studying, should not neglect the English language. Yes, we can get by fine with broken English or Singlish in Singapore but what if you're sent overseas to conferences next time? Written English and spoken English are equally important! :)

I shall end my long blog post here. Till next time.