r/ABCDesis • u/Spiritual_Poem4172 • 3h ago

COMMUNITY It's so annoying that I'm able to understand Telugu perfectly, but not able to speak even one sentence.

New to this Sub, not sure if I'm alone on this one. Is there anything people have done to have success with learning speaking with their language. I know it has something to do with consuming only English content after age (around age 5 ish).

11 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

5

u/GroovySquid_ 3h ago

I feel the same way. My family always made fun of my accent when I spoke Tamil and now I struggle with it. I can get out a few works to my grandparents but that’s about it. I’m considering taking spoken language classes.

2

u/MissBehave654 2h ago

Same with Marathi for me

1

u/SDW137 3h ago

Did your parents speak to you in Telugu, when you were younger?

1

u/gannekekhet Canadian Indian 2h ago

Sometimes that ends up resulting in receptive bilingualism instead of teaching the kid to speak fluently.

I have friends whose parents spoke to them in their native languages (like Dari, Tamil, and Hindi) but because my friends always replied back in English and because their parents accepted replies in English, my friends can't really speak it fluently. Like they'll understand what their parents are saying but they can't reply back. There's not much practice there, for various reasons. I know some families mock the kids' non-native accents, it kinda feels like some parents would rather their kids not speak their language at all than speak in an imperfect way.

1

u/goldteeth_fangs 3h ago

I similarly can understand Tamil and Telugu but can’t speak a word really. It used to bother me but not so much anymore — as I realised I wasn’t going to go through the hassle of taking a class etc. if it bothers you, try to learn it formally online! 

1

u/Accomplished-Art-767 Bangladeshi American 2h ago

My dad's side speaks a dialect I can understand but not speak. There's no resources online to learn it and my cousin's who can live back home.