Suky Cheema shares benefits of bilingual background

The Punjabi language has been apart of my life since the day I was born. My parents emphasized building me through my ethnic heritage. They took the entire family to India several times too, specifically to show me where they had come from. 

Being of Northern Indian descent, learning how to speak quickly is necessary when you are from Punjab. My parents taught me at a young age on what to say and what not to say. 

They started off easy with the greetings, but as I grew older, branching out to sentences and eventually full conversations. However, being born in a place where Punjabi is not the dominant language, it can be difficult articulating certain words.  

Remembering my first trip to India, when I was about nine, my parents had taught me enough Punjabi for me to speak to my aunts and uncles. They even made me revise to them what they had taught me about certain words and some grammar corrections.

According to onestopenglish.com, the key to adapting to a new country’s pronunciation is to have RP (Received Pronunciation). This means that once you go to a certain foreign country, you must modify your speech to fit their everyday language.

I am forever grateful that my ancestors passed down this language from generation to generation. Hopefully, when my kids are curious to learn what language me and their grandmother are speaking, I’ll be able to teach them what my parents taught me. — Suky Cheema

When speaking Punjabi, received pronunciation can be critical. The reason being is once I got there and starting speaking to the people in my family, they started laughing right away. It is never a good thing when that happens. You feel like you do not fit in and that made me feel pressured to learn the entire language over the coming years.

No one ever taught me the ins and outs of this complicated language, other than my mother and father. Mimicking what they said around the house assisted me in expanding my vocabulary in Punjabi.

The last time we traveled to India, which was about a year ago, felt like a trip where I had to show my family how much I had progressed in Punjabi. I wanted to show them that my folks taught me their mother language the right way with every single conjugation and pronunciation correctly.

I did so, and everyone was flabbergasted. Hearing a Punjabi boy who was born in a different country other than India speak Punjabi like he was born in their own village was insane to them.

However, I was never really taught to write in Punjabi. My mom didn’t find it necessary for me to learn that much.

Me, being the curious little boy that I was, asked her about it and she responded with, “I don’t need you to learn how to write it because it just wouldn’t make sense. I’m just proud that you’ve grown to speak our mother language so well.”

That was enough for me. Making my folks happy was tremendous to see because I did not even think learning the Punjabi language would be a priority.

I am forever grateful that my ancestors passed down this language from generation to generation. Hopefully, when my kids are curious to learn what language me and their grandmother are speaking, I’ll be able to teach them what my parents taught me. 

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This author can be reached via twitter @suky_cheema and via email: Suky Cheema.