I was prompted to write this short, quick piece after reading the article ‘With third-generation British Bangladeshis losing their mother tongue, the community faces a tipping point’ (link below).
This is not a unique problem faced by Bangladeshis. I have seen the same issues faced by most other migrant communities in London. However, each community has its uniqueness and something they share with others about passing on the language to future generations.
In the UK, we live in mixed, diverse communities, so while growing up, we communicate in English with our friends, peers, and the wider community. Although parents in the first generation mostly speak in their mother tongue, second and third-generation parents usually use English more and more to speak to their children and others from their linguistic backgrounds.
As far as I can see, several reasons prevent the passing on of mother tongues to new generations. First, there isn’t enough scope and opportunity to use the mother tongue for economic or social benefits.
Second, certain uses of language – slang, style, concept, ideas, etc. – can make a group feel cool when using the language. However, in London, among young people of Bangladeshi origin, using the Bangla language does not make them feel cool. I am generalising, but I know there are exceptions where sub-groups or children of certain families feel cool about using the Bangla language.
Third, the Bangla language is associated with certain types of nationalism, which only appeal to certain sections of people originating from Bangladesh. Certain types of Bangla books, cultures, narratives, identities, and interpretations of history have been made part and parcel of the Bengali language phenomenon and imposed as inseparable from it, which also causes problems in how one feels about the Bangla language.
Fourth, there is an element of linguistic fascism associated with the Bangla language that goes back to when the development of the standard Bangla began at the end of the 18th Century. This resulted in linguistic cleansing to purify the Bangla language, and many people who adopted the developing standard Bangla developed snobbery towards regional Bangla varieties.
I believe in the near future, more and more new generations will learn and become more proficient in the Bangla language, and more people will also proudly practice their regional Bangla varieties. This is not wishful thinking but from seeing deep trends and how Bangladesh is developing and the new world the new generations of Bangladeshis are creating.