Why are we learning telugu in school?
I have been thinking on this issue from long time. Till now have not found any reasonable explanation till now.
Why do we need to learn our mother tongue?
I don’t mean we should start talking in English or Hindi. But my question is why we need to have a subject to teach the language which we already know? Why are we wasting our valuable time reading things which are of no use in this world?
One of the most striking response to this question is “How can u say that this is not use full?”
But for me the answer seems simple and obvious. The question looks like “How can you say that the dust in the dustbin is useless?”. Nothing is useless if u take it in that way. But the general meaning of useless is “Something not worth keeping or learning or buying etc”.
I have asked my mother who have got double M.A in Telugu (Of course she doesn’t know any thing u expect from her M.A’s) the following questions..
- Why we need to learn “Sandhulu & Samasalu”?
- How dose that learning will help any one? even a poet?
- If all the essence of the Telugu teaching is to learn new words and meanings isn’t there any alternative and best way to do so?
She was not able to answer that question. I will ask this question to some teacher who is teaching Telugu.
Do you have any answer to my questions? Can you proove that they are not useless?
If u know any teacher then ask the same question and let me know the reply.
Enti sir,
Telugu meeda ki vaccharu..
I don’t agree with your point..
There need be no use for everything in the world…
Some thing’s are to be cherished….
Telugu language is once such beautiful thing..
Why do we need sandhulu and samaasalu???
Gud question??
Because they help us understand why we spell a world so and why not in
any other way…
Niroshta Kavyam ani okati undhi…
Ante all the letters like Na, Va etc which need the use of nose to spell
properly are not used in an entire novel…
How long would it have taken for the author not to use the letters and
yet deliver the meaning he wants to….
Telugu teaching is a must…
It binds us together..
Just go out of AP…when u find speaking Telugu do u know how happy we
feel…
And for that matter why to learn English, why learn social why learn
anything at all..
Even illiterates are living….they are not dying..
Even animals communicate ….we can work silently in no languages and
develop a GUI that helps us recognize only pictures..would that be
enough…
NO…
Telugu is a very great and old language…
It has to be taught…people should be made to recognize how beautiful
it is ….and cherish its beauty…
Why are we learning English…because it feeds us..
Fine lets make ourselves so gud that people learn telugu to earn…
Anthe kani telugu vaddante kadu…
U got my point completely wrong.
My point here is not to leave Telugu. My point is “There is no need for any person to learn his/her mother tounge”.
I don’t want to DABBA here..But I consider myself as one having very good Telugu language among other people I have seen around me.
Before coming to my actual point….u said..
“There need be no use for everything in the world…”
“Some thing’s are to be cherished….”
Exactly why for this reason i have given an example also.
If u do agree with it..then I do agree with you.
Ok coming to my point..
Why do we need sandhulu and samaasalu??? u said
“Because they help us understand why we spell a world so and why not in any other way…”
This is a totally baseless arugemnt. Prove your point and tell me how that understanding will help any one in anyway. Dose it help a poet to write a good book or a beautifull book? As per my knowledge of what i have learned in my scool regarding them never gave any hint on its use.
If you dont agree..Give me an example about how it helped some one.. And how it would have been if all poets etc didn’t learned all those.
I do agree with the beauty of Telugu. So dont worry. I was surprised to see such a big reply…It seems some times such misunderstandings are needed to get big mails..
Regarding that book..I am 100% sure that no one needs to learn all those stupid sandulu and samasalu to aither write such a book to appriciate that book.
Let me make my point clear again…
Language is some thing that we used to communicate..Pass information from one person to other person. And in past people have used language to create entertainment.. Thats why we have so many padyalu and etc. There is no problem with that.
But problem came when such entertainment is misunderstood as knowledge. Ofcourse u need the knowledge to create entertainment. But that is different .. Its like learning a musical instrument or playing cards.
But you must seem them in that way only. Not as essential knowledge.
Mother tounge is the one which we get it automatically. No need to invest anything to learn it.
A Telugu person do not need to learn Telugu(except how to read and write). Same applies for any person of any language. No one needs to learn his/her mother tongue.
Thats what my argument is about.
If u never know Savarna deergha sandhi..
Would u ever know deva+aalayam is devaalayam
No..
U would simply think that devalayam is a word…thats all…
And look around there are many people in AP who don’t how to write and read simple Telugu…
One lady in our office didn’t know what is RamaKoti..
Born and brought up in Hyderabad…
Do u kow why our poems are so beautiful and rhythmic…
Its because of Chandassu and Alankaaralu…
Chusanu ane kanna Ganchithti anna word inka baguntundhi..
That is what lies there…in the beautiful books…
It needs a lot of vocabulary in Telugu to write such books or even
understand them..
To read the great literature we need a language…even for that matter Bhagavad gita…u need to know the language…dont tell me u can read it in English..
Speaking is not knowing the language….to know its beauty u have to learn it more…read books that show how well the language can be used…in this process u can improve ur knowledge from what u read in that books kuda kada…
Think of Sathavadanam…imagine how they can do it…dont u call it knowledge…every one doesn’t need it but shouldn’t go blank when some one does it kada…
Check in ur office…how many can read and write Telugu easily…Try English medium people…
Even us…can u write down the word Vangmayam without thinkinf
Why we should learn Telugu? Ok why should we learn History,musc,dance, art , literature etc. They’re all useles by your definition. Are’nt they. Why should I learn Math if i ‘ve decided to go to medical college or learn basic biology if i have plans to go engineering degree? or why should there be National Anthem, and respect our parents and elders?
The answer is
Learning any language is enhancing your cognitive abilities and more languages you can learn better off you re.
man does’nt live by bread alone. Cultural literacy as crucial as learning math and science.
If you want more practical answer how about if you want professinal telugu writer or singer or classical dancer, you obviously need to learn the language of your medium of communication. If you want even more practical answer how about if you want to run language news paper or electronic media outlet or even a local/regional political leader dont you need to know the language to communicate to the masses etc?
I think your question was only a rhetorical and provocative just to bring up a discussion.
would like to know other peoples thought process relating to this both pro and con.
How do you define what is “Cultural Literacy”? For example if my grand grand parents used to praise god in sanscrit, will you call “praising god in sanscrit” is a culture?
First of all I dont believe in god. I dont need to believe which my society believes. And sanscrit is a died language. There is no use of learning sanscrit at least for me. More than that if you take proper Telugu translation of many of sanscrit poems ,most of them will fall uner (A) category, or for praising god. There are exceptions. I agree but people like ‘Amarthya sane’ have done hard work in reading those and translating them to english.
What ever you answer for this question most of the things that other people call culture will fall under this category. If every one in this earth followed their culture we may be still using stone tools.
I agree to your point in learning Telugu for affective communication. But I strongly say that it is not what we are learning in the name of “Telugu”. But that “Learning Telugu for effective communication” will not include sandulu, samasalu, chandassu, sanscrit poems and many more.
I am not able to prove my point here with arguments.
So one day i will take an interview with a well known Telugu writer and will ask him about the need of those things in the field of writing or communication.
We’re not talking here about whether or not you beleive in God and wht society beleives in or if Sanskrit is a “died language”(sic).
What is Cultural literacy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_literacy
Some basic and concrete Examples of culture and its role in life.
Why do we relish eating Dhum Biryani or Ravva Masala Dosa? We can easily survive by poping a Multi Vitamin pill and guzzling down a protein shake? But we spend lot of time, money and energy to prepare a supmtuous and elaborate meal for our family, friends. loved ones and guests. Why?
We can easily live in a concrete white washed block of a room or house. But why do we live in palatial homes with rooms with fancy furniture and painted with dazzling palette of splashs of color and walls decorated with gorgeous paintings and pictures? Why? Why do we need green manicured lawns, colorful flowerbeds etc infront of our homes?
we can wear color less/ white or grey clothes or no clothes at all everyday of our life. But we love wearing new deisgner labels and soft smooth textured latest Pattu Sarees and clothes etc and our daughters and wives cant wait to adorn lovely Diamond Necklaces and bracelets and studded bangels etc .Why?
All these make life more joyful and cheerful and actually we all are striving hard to accomlish and fulfill all our dreams and wishes drives the economic engine of the society. Do you know how much dough Hallmarks makes selling greating cards an d Hersheys purveying chocolet candy etc. It is BIG BUSINESS too. Look at the all the entertainment sourses of movies, music and TV shows and all that Jazz. It is a huge Industry. Music labels and Hollywood is USA ‘s No.# 1 Export. Heard of Ipod and all those gizmos and gadgets.
Culture is woven into fabric of life.
It is inevitable that after human being takes cares of basic needs of food,shelter and clothing will strive for and seek more elaborate, enriching, esoteric and abstract sourses of joy and pleasure.
” A thing of Beauty is Joy for ever.”
You may not accept this at this point in your life but you strike me as a sensible , smart and thoughtful young man
and i have no doubt there comes time in your life you will grasp these finer points of life.
I could have conveyed the message in my previous post in a short and cryptic post and not use(misuse?) all those slick words and phrases. But that is the whole point. Get it ?;)
we think talk and write in our mother tongue more effectivelythan in any other language.probably the question arose because the whole world has become a small village.compare the understandindingof complicated concepts of students taught in english to those taught in mother tongue.it is a proven fact that the mother tongue is a more effective means of communication.coming to grammar ;why studying grammar of any language ?in mouther tongue it is caught though it is not taught .it is similarto tofollowing the law “traffic rules etc.they help us to make our life smooth .to understand and to be understood in a better way .grammer is not sandhulu samaasalu alone .it is also how a word is prounced how different other forms of the word are formed from it etc etc …there are different dialects some are easily understood some are not .inspite of the differences ‘if we follow certain rules we can communicate with each other in abetter way. studying literature is an indivual interest .but there is some thing called disinterested curiosity .it leads us to research .an aspect which wethink useless now might prove to be extremely useful later .why does thequestion of mother tongue arise only in our country/?probably because ours is amultilingual country and and we find much knowledge in other languages as well.telugu is not a poor language.it has alot of knowledge in its scripts .the understanding of which might not be easy without the knowledge of grammar .but most of us never tried to gain from it .let the people who are interested do their work .the knowledge might help us in some way .we never know .the knowledge which we think useless now might prove to be of immense help later .please bear with my punctuation ,i am not used to typing .this might help you to understand the importance of grammar in any language
i am a 33 year old telugu person living in the united states..came across this discussion in my search for what “sandhulu” are ? no doubt we learnt these in the school and i do not remember these now…but i am still curious to know what they are at this point in life to understand what they were really trying to convey….i am guessing most of the parents when teaching(if at all) their kids re-learn the whole thing with a different perspective in life..if we look at why we learn those difficult(basic) principles in school…u see it in everyday life. understanding them better gives a better sense to the life we are living…and enjoy better.
on the way to work I was thinking about this discussion again and realized that I did not answer “Why are we wasting our valuable time reading things which are of no use in this world?” – waste ? – after you have passed out of you school do u know what professions others have landed in ? for someone who might be a telugu lecturer or a profession related to telugu, this was very important subject. At school we are given opportunites to learn different subjets..giving us an opportunity to see what we are good at or interested in ..and we pursue our future..based upon our likes or dislikes.
Above all, what is wastage of time – you have ample amount of time to do whatever you want(provided your parents do not force you to stick to books all the time).
Hello Sir,
Thanks you for your comments.
Tell me one profession where ‘sandhulu’ is needed. You must exclude Teaching profession, Other wise it will be a self perpetuating reason. This post is the only post which have attracted lot of comments.
Some people said ‘Writers’. But I still don’t know how they will use ‘sandhulu’.
IF you know any profession let me know. If you can explain how exactly they will use that information(knowledge) that will be even better.
Hi Rajesh,
I just saw ur blog when i am searching for telugu realted stuff. I thought i can tell a few words related to ur questions. u have asked why learn sandhulu & samasalu. learning sandhulu is to get a better understanding of the language, not to get a job. when ever i see a new word, i will see whether that word can be split into smaller meaningfull words. This helps me in constructing new words, or understanding newly coined words, as i can understand the sub parts of it. we can’t combine words as we like it, it has some rules, and sandhulu is one of such rules. somebody gave an example of deva+aalayam – devaalayam. if we dont know the breakup, and if we remember the word devalayam as it is, as the meaning of temple. then tommorow we may not recognize the meaning of vidyalayam, or grandhalayam untill somebody tells us the meanings. we cant know abt these things just by talking in telugu at home. it has to be learnt like a subject.
The essense of telugu teaching is not to teach new words and meanings. how many words can they teach like that? The goal is to teach the basic nature and structure of the language, so that the person can understand, interpret and create new composite words. Thats where sandhulu will come into picture. every language has composite words, and even in english lots of words have latin and french suffixes and prefixes. i remember learning abt them as a part of english learning. coining of new composite words is a must for any language, as we will come across new things everyday. It will be easy to recognize the meaning of new words if we know those suffixes.
Learning our mother tounge better, may not be usefull for a profession, but it will empower us to communicate better, study our literature, culture and history.
I am 30, I learnt sandulu, Samasalu while I was at school. As a kid I did not like it as they were tough to understand for a child’s brain and later i also found the teaching system in India is also one of the reasons which couldnt make the grammar interesting for Kids.
Whoever this person posted this is more in to Argument rather search for truth. In one way I see selfishness as his comments make clear anything its not useful is considered useless like Language or God etc. The perspective of a person should be changed according to the context we are looking at. If you see Art through the glasses of Science you feel it is crap. If you are prepared not to accept and talking; then it is an argument.
The matter is not just Telugu language or God. The root cause seems to be a material life where there is no need of Art. Life is always inspired by Art but not science. If science shows us life. If we are inspired by science in life We make babies through Test tubes and Stemcells rather our inner love. Art is needed but only for Cultured and Artists. And World enjoys it. Try to see Art through Art not Science or something else.
I live in the Silicon Valley. I was googling for a webpage explaining Sandhulu and ended up here. I had similar thinking as you at one point, but now I know there is more to life than earning a livelihood.
Education is not about getting a job. It is not about making money. It is not even about gathering information. When you search earnestly about the purpose of life and the meaning of your own existence, even the most trivial things in India start making sense. And trust me, Telugu grammar is not so trivial.