For
preparation of civil services exam, I decided to take up a literature subject.
With talks to some of my friends, who gave suggestions that its success ratio
was good and short syllabus, easy subject, I decided to study Maithili
literature and having some knowledge of its talking style. Later, when I
started studying the subject, I realized, I had only superficial knowledge of
the subject. Further, I realized the real picture was not as presented by some
of my friends who had advised to take up the subject. This language has as many
as 21 verbs. In English, the verbs do not depend too much on noun. For example:
I
eat. You eat. They eat. He eats. She eats.
All of them eat, etc, etc.
In
Maithili, the verb changes with all these nouns! There are as many as 21 of
this kind! No wonder, the language was invented by some of the most intellect
of their times. Its inventors added too much
emphasis on the prestige element of the sentence.
For
example: (Hindi)-(English)-(Maithili)
(Tum
kha rahe ho)- (you are eating)-(tao khait chathi)
(aap
kha rahe hain)-(you are eating)-(taon khait chathin)
(aap
log kha rahe hain)- (You are eating) – (taonsabh khait (verb changes))
(wo
log kha rahe hain) - (They are eating) – (oosabh khait (verb changes))
(ye
log kha rahe hain) – (These people are eating) – (eesabh khait (verb changes))
As
we note, verb changes in Maithili, each time a noun changes its form either in
gender, singular, plural or respect. There is too much emphasis on the respect
element in the language of Maithili.
One
of the examples given by my teacher in class for the “respect”element, where he
wanted to show if not used properly, it’s a joke.
Example:
A new daughter-in-law starts to learn Maithili and spelled this in Maithili as
:“the crow came and took away the bread” -> “kaua alkhin aa roti leke ur
gelkhin”.
“alkhin”
and “gelkhin” is to be used as a respect element and not for low strata animal.
One
student started laughing too loudly in the class after hearing the sentence, as
if he heard the divine joke!
In
exams, we don’t have to speak, rather, we have to write. We have to write
correct! As I realized soon after attending a few classes, the subject was not
interesting me, or may be the reason, the teacher’s teaching style did not
interest me!
But,
one thing is certain, learning a new language is not a cake walk. At this age
and learning style, I am not able to learn the grammar of a new language. But, I learnt “hindi”
when I was a kid. I had sufficient good enough knowledge (writing, reading and
speaking) of the subject at the age of 10 years. Of course people from different states have good knowledge of their native language at the same young age. People from
Mithilanchal have good knowledge of Maithili at this age. I learnt English good
enough by the age I reached class 8 (12 years of age). Most of the learnings of
English took place while I was in class 8~9 with reading lots of English story
books from the school library. I learnt English good enough in plain two years
with normal routine and not with great emphasis only on the English subject.
This
certainly implies the learning ability of a kid is unmatched! When I realized,
learning even the grammar of a new subject is not easy at this elder age of
now, It made me think, when a kid is learning a new language in the starting
phase of his/her life, he/she is not making an ordinary progress. It’s
the extra-ordinary achievement of a kid at that level, which makes me to
believe, “If a kid can learn a new language at so young age, he can certainly
learn any other activity and has the potential to achieve excellence in his/her
life”.
.
Note:
The views expressed above are my own...
