The English Supremacy!

The English Supremacy!

Back in October, I received a DM on LinkedIn from someone who said he was interested in English and wanted to know more about me. From his very first message, I sensed a subtle prejudice toward Malayalam and other native languages. Like many LinkedIn messages, it began formally: “Hi Pooja, it’s great connecting with you. I notice that we share a common interest in the English language. I like Western culture and its influence on the lifestyle of independence.”

For reasons I couldn’t immediately explain, that phrase—“Western culture and its influence on the lifestyle of independence”—triggered me. Differences in opinion are perfectly acceptable, but I strongly believe that English should be treated as a medium of communication, not a marker of superiority. Not knowing the language does not make anyone inferior.

I personally prefer English as a means of communication, but I am more inclined toward well-shaped Indian English, not the idea of English as a “gift” from the West. Ironically, around the same time, I read an article arguing that we are still under the influence of English colonialism—not directly, but subtly, in attitudes like these.

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It’s often the same people who judge you for misreading a sentence in English who applaud you when you admit you’re not proficient in your mother tongue. This contradiction says a lot about our social conditioning. We are multilingual people. Many of us comfortably handle three or more languages.

I was born and brought up in a Konkani household, speaking and understanding Konkani from a very young age. Over time, I learned Malayalam, English, and Hindi, and I can also understand and speak Tamil. Yet it’s ironic that people who barely know anything beyond their mother tongue often mock those who speak multiple languages.

Who decided that Shakespeare is the greatest poet in the world? That Kerala is “God’s Own Country”? Is English the most elite language? These ideas are often social constructs—marketing strategies created and sustained by systems and people who benefit from them.
So feel free to walk away from those who make you feel inferior because you can’t speak your fourth or fifth language with native-level fluency, or because they mock your accent. It is neither your mother tongue nor your first language—and that is perfectly okay.

And no, just because I took literature doesn’t mean I don’t value my culture, celebrate my land, nor sing and listen to Western songs all the time. Let’s just push the stereotypes away and embrace what is truly ours!