Our mother language (Matru Bhasha) Kachchhi is a part of our identity and all of us would definitely like our kids to speak fluently in Kachchhi better than any other language they may know. How to ensure that our kids speak in Kachchhi fluently irrespective of the pressures to learn and speak other languages especially since lot of us currently reside in different parts of the world.
  No negative and discouraging comments please like what is the need to learn and be fluent, Gujarati or Hindi or … is better to learn for practicality,… etc . All positive comments would be helpful to our Global Kutchi Maadu irrespective of where they may reside and will be highly appreciated.
This post was originally submitted in Nov but got “stuck” in pending review queue. Just noticed it now and published.
Jagdishbhai, we try to speak to our daughter in kutchi at home. Here in the bay area things are a bit easier since there are whole lot of kutchis here and hence her friends also speak the same language at home. However maybe someone can take the initiative to start some kutchi coaching around here.
kids will speak what we speak at home and implement.
giving them initiatives like asking them to tell what happened in school each day in kutchi ,of couse the might mix and match. but that is a good start.
Tell them if they speak kutchi at home the can get something they want.
Charity begins at home so does speaking kutchi.
Preethi very good point indeed. If we as Parents speak Kacchchi at home the kids will naturally learn to speak and respect it. In additon to this i have been consistently following the below points to ensure that my kids speak fluent Kachchhi :
1. Have Kids speak in Kachchhi with their grandparents on phone calls and when in person. Explain any words they may not understand .
2. Have a cable connection which includes hindi and other Indian language channels. Since the tones and vocabulary is common to a certain extent they are able to speak Kachchhi easily. This has helped considerably.
3. Make them listen to Kachchhi songs and lokgeet . Dr Vishan Nagdas balgeet collection “Mein” is a good collection to start with.
4. When we meet with other Kachchhis i insist we should talk only in Kachchhi NO English,Gujarati,Hindi,…..
5. Make them aware of the Kutch history and Culture so they take pride in their heritage. Have them visit Kutch atleast once in four to five years to the least.
The result of all this effort is that Kids know Kachchhi better than we do and when our Non Kachchhi friends meet us some of them are quite shocked to see that Kids speak fluent kachchhi inspite of being in US with not a lot of kachchis to speak with.
Also heard about a Kutchi TV channel being started soon from Adipur Kutch. Streaming this channel on Internet would be a great thing to have.
we should produce some kutchi movies also :-). Am i right in thinking that there was one kutchi film a few years back?
I had heard about it some years back. Infact read that one movie is in production as well currently.
Definitely Kutchi Movies is a good idea and would be interesting to watch as well. However be it Kachchhi movies,Song Albums,Dramas,Serials,…. All of this needs to produced with a mass appeal so a Kachchhi working in High tech company in California or Bangalore can relate to it as much as a Kachchhi who lives in Kachchh.