KOCHI: This story begins from a chai break at Kadavanthra in Kochi. On the wooden frame of a tea shop, we spot a nondescript, A4-size ad that invites people to “learn Hindi and Hebrew easily”.
Hindi-Hebrew bhai bhai?
Curiosity piques, and we call the contact number on the ad. “Shalom,” greets Shirley John, who runs Prompt coaching centre, which recently launched Hebrew sessions. “I learnt Hebrew as I worked in Israel for 10 years,” she says. “When I returned to Kerala, I thought why not help others learn the language. There are a lot of opportunities in Israel, especially for nurses and caregivers. Moreover, Hebrew is one of the oldest languages. It is the only dead language that has been revived successfully.”
Shirley adds that earlier she used to teach Hebrew online from Kollam. She quickly clarifies that her sessions are limited to basic communication skills. “I hope no one joins to learn Hebrew for academic or research purposes, like studying the Bible extensively,” she quips.
Hebrew sounds like a niche language, but for anyone planning to migrate to Israel, learning it is a must. Learning foreign languages has always been trendy in Kerala. German, French, Dutch, Japanese, Korean… the list goes on. While some take up courses for professional or academic reasons, others master new languages at leisure via YouTube or mobile apps.
“We have students of all ages and backgrounds,” says Brinda Bala Sreenivasan, head of the English and Foreign Languages department at Cusat. “We used to offer French, Italian, German and Japanese here. Italian was dropped. Over the past decade, German has evolved into the most preferred foreign language among people.”
As a certificate in a foreign language would boost campus placement prospects, many engineering and science students of the university enrol in the department, she notes. “The courses are open to the public, too. Nurses and lawyers also attend classes here. As Germany offers free higher education in public institutions, the language has many takers among those planning to migrate,” adds Brinda. “French is the official language of the UN and is spoken in many countries. So, these languages always have a high number of students. Japanese is also quite popular, especially among those in the IT sector.”
Cusat offers pocket-friendly language classes, but the number of seats is limited to 25 per language. “However, we take around 40 students as many drop out in between,” says Brinda. Alliance française in Thiruvananthapuram, meanwhile, has over 200 students learning French in one batch alone. “We have both online and offline classes. French has always been popular here,” says coordinator Devika A S, adding that the centre has students from across Kerala. “The culture, literature, history… everything influences people who come here to learn. Some learn the language to migrate to Canada.”
According to the Western European Languages Institute, however, German is the top choice. “We have about 200 students learning German,” says the academy’s assistant manager, Febin Alexander. “French closely follows German. Dutch is attended by just a handful of people, who want to migrate to the Netherlands.”
Febin notes that most enrollers for German are nursing aspirants. “There is a three-year nursing diploma course that one can join after completing Plus Two. The hospital where one joins for the diploma would offer a stipend, too. It’s a hands-on, experience-based course. That explains the rise in interest.”
Febin adds he has been receiving many queries about Korean. “Everyday, someone would call – despite our name being Western European Languages Institute,” he laughs.
‘Genki desu ka?’
That’s ‘how are you?’ in Japanese.
Unlike Korean, which is mostly learnt as a hobby, Japanese has emerged popular among those looking to migrate or converse with clients in Japan.
At the Japanese Language Academy, headquartered in Kozhikode, the students’ strength is close to 200 per batch. “We train individuals and also offer courses to companies, especially in the IT field,” says the institute’s managing director, Subin Vazhayil. “Many Kerala-based tech companies want their employees to learn basic Japanese. That makes business with Japan-based companies easier. We also have students who want to study the language for the scholarships offered by various ministries of Japan. A paper in Japanese is part of the tests.”
The Nippon Kerala Centre at Kochi, too, offers Japanese courses. “In the late 1960s, Kerala wanted to invite foreign investments,” says the centre’s chairman, Hudson Peter, a retired government engineer. “As a result, the state tied up with the Japanese government. Our first Industries minister, T V Thomas, launched the programme. Many engineers and technicians, including myself, from our newly-formed companies, got the opportunity to visit Japan and study their latest technologies — be it agri-related machinery, or automotive innovations.”
Hudson, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram says he fell in love with the Japanese language during his seven-month stint in Japan. “There were 10 people from my company. The programme existed for about 15 years, I believe. It stopped in the 1980s. Some of us loved the language and the country,” he says.
“So we continued learning the language. In 1989, we decided to provide classes for others. Hence, ‘Nippon (Japan in Japanese) Kerala Centre’ was formed. We offer classes in N5, N4 and rarely N3 levels.”
Besides professionals and students, adds Hudson, many homemakers also have joined the centre. “Some students later join us as teachers, after requisite training,” he says.
‘Que tengas un buen dia!’
Relax, it just means ‘have a good day’!
Many youngsters now prefer learning languages online. Joan Marion from Thiruvananthapuram, an intern who contributed to this article, gushes on how she started learning Spanish after watching some American shows. “I was attracted to the Hispanic culture. Their music, art, food. So I decided to study the language to get to know more about them,” she says.
M Manoj, a techie at Kochi’s Infopark, quips his love for Spanish probably started with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “hasta la vista, baby” dialogue in Terminator 2. “On a serious note, I started learning Spanish online as I started to follow Spanish football stars,” he says.
Johanne Antoneitta Ajit, a 13-year-old student in Thiruvananthapuram, is similarly in awe of Japanese culture and the language. “I wanted to know what ‘miso’ meant after hearing about ‘miso soup’,” she says. “I’m into anime and the fashion subcultures of Japan — the Goth & Punk Lolita and Rockabilly.”
It was the love for philosophy that motivated journalist Sathish Suryan to start learning German eight years ago. “I love German or, more accurately, Deutsch. I wanted to read the original works of greats such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Franz Kafka,” he says. “So my interest in the language grew and, finally, I started learning it by myself. It is an on-and-off process.”
Sathish adds the German language has close connections to Sanskrit. “It has many inflexions like that of Sanskrit,” he notes. “The pronunciation is very different. The ‘r’, has to come from within you. That could be why people mistake Germans for strict people. Actually, they are gentle and well-mannered people.”
Well, it’s time to say Auf Wiedersehen!
With inputs from Joan Marion
‘Annyeong haseyo’
That’s a polite ‘hello’ in Korean, says Amritha George, who took to the language via K-drama and food culture. “I have been watching many series. I also love their music. However, mostly I want to read their comics and manhwas. I use YouTube tutorials and mobile apps to learn it. I cannot read or write in Korean yet. That’s my goal,” says the law student. Amritha adds she is interested in learning Japanese, too. “I want to better understand Japanese anime and manhwas too.”
Russia connect
Russian House in Thiruvananthapuram is the main institute that offers Russian language classes in Kerala. Along with those individuals who join classes to migrate to Russia or just out of interest, the centre also provides special classes to life guards, tourist guides and employees in the hospitality sector. “Since Covid cases are high in many countries, Russian tourists are visiting Kerala these days. To converse with them, or to give them life-saving instructions, life guards want to learn the basics of Russian language,” says Kavitha Nair, deputy director of Russian House. Every year, Russian House gets students who wish to migrate. “ We have eight levels of classes. Those who intend to migrate learn the basic three levels whereas others prefer going to higher levels. People from all over the state join us for online classes,” she says.
That’s some German, French and Hebrew for you. Kerala has always had a unique inclination toward languages and literature. With increasing exposure and travel to greener pastures, the choices have widened. Here is a look at how foreign languages are trending in the state