English Becomes Mother Language

Having the ability to be fluent in English is now a necessity for everyone because English is an international language. This will make it easier for everyone to understand information from around the world.

Some parents certainly want a better life for their children so that it is prepared as early as possible, one of which is by teaching their children English. However, not a few parents make English the mother tongue for their children.

Siane Indriani in a forum at Pelita Harapan University said that 80% of early childhood brain growth is greater at birth until before the age of 8 years. The remainder, as much as 20%, is determined for the rest of their lives after childhood has passed. There is also the opinion that children at the age of golden age (0-5 years) absorb information such as water that is directly absorbed by the sponge.

This is considered positive for some people, especially coupled with the mentality that some Indonesians have, namely the colonial mentality or the inlander mentality in which the internalization of ethnic or cultural inferiority is felt by a group that was once colonized. This mentality believes that the colonial cultural values ​​are superior to their own values. So that parents who succeed in making English the mother tongue for their children are considered great parents, parents who are successful should be appreciated. However, is this a good thing anyway?

The impact that occurs when children make English their mother tongue is the difficulty of socializing. Why is that ? due to environmental factors. In Indonesia, the majority have a mother tongue, namely the regional language or Indonesian instead of English. So that in their interactions, they must use the regional language or Indonesian. Children at an early age certainly need a place or environment to socialize.

This happened to one of the children in Bandung, he was about 10 years old. Currently, her life has become exclusive and she limits her interactions with other people due to a different mother tongue. He does not understand the language around him so it is difficult for him to understand information. This exclusivity is certainly not good for children. In addition, at an early age, there are many small things that can be learned from the surroundings, but due to limitations in understanding language, this can become an obstacle.