Do I have to? We don’t always need to speak in our native languages.

If you see me listening to music on my iPhone, 70 percent of the time I’m listening to an Indian song. Even while writing this, I was listening to an Indian song. I went from occasionally listening to Indian music in middle school to obsessing over it in high school. I also love watching Indian movies, eating Indian food and wearing Indian clothes. Over the past several years, my understanding of the Indian culture has grown, and I’ve learned to simultaneously live with both Indian and American cultures.

Still, within South Indian culture, my brother, Shiva, and I disagree on one main part of it: Should we speak our mother tongue, Telugu, regularly or just out of necessity? According to Multilingual Living, a person has to have a need to speak a language, otherwise they can get everything they need from using English. I speak Telugu on the phone with my relatives in India, only because they can’t fully understand English. However, when my parents speak to me in Telugu, I automatically respond with English. Why do I need to use another language when my parents know English perfectly? They are used to talking in Telugu with my brother and me, and the majority of the time we reply in English.

While I just feel it as a necessity when speaking with relatives across the pond, Shiva speaks Telugu whenever he’s able to. This has created somewhat of a problem for me as my parents and Shiva say that I don’t know Telugu because I don’t speak it. I just choose not to speak it only because there is no need for me to. If I wanted to, I could, but I don’t find it useful spending the time to say something in another language when I can just say it in English. Just because I don’t have the need to speak the language doesn’t mean that I don’t like the language or that I don’t know the language.

I’m into many other parts of the South Indian culture. I love the food, and I also like wearing the clothes, watching countless Bollywood or Tollywood (the Telugu film industry) movies and listening to Indian music every day. I don’t find these unnecessary as these are aspects that are, in my opinion, completely different than American culture. Indian music and movies many times have certain meanings and a kind of fantasy that has been lost in the American entertainment industry, which is why I fully accept some aspects of the Indian culture. My brother and I are interested in different parts of the culture. To see it in another way, he tries to speak Telugu regularly to talk to our parents or relatives while I mainly use the language to watch a Telugu movie or sing a Telugu song.

My life is a mix of two cultures. One is the American culture filled with English songs, books, movies and clothing, and the other is the Indian culture. They are both a part of who I am; both cultures show different aspects of my personality. I choose to speak English whenever I can because that is the language I am more used to because I live in a place where I speak English the majority of the time. Also, English is considered the lingua franca, so more people in other countries are learning English in schools. Even though I don’t speak my mother tongue frequently, I still believe that it’s good to show and accept parts of the Indian culture. So while my brother is speaking away, I’ll just enjoy this Telugu song I’m listening to.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Sitha Vallabhaneni at [email protected]

Culminating Culture. Knowing how to communicate in a native language is essential.

Ever since middle school, my sister and I would be waiting on that Friday night to watch an Indian movie. Unlike other things, that is what we most looked forward to. It’s part of my culture, so I enjoy it, but most of all it is unique. Like many others who are children of immigrants, I get to experience two different worlds. I have my ethnic side and my “American” side.

According to a Pew Research study from 2013, 61 percent of people in the second generation consider themselves to be “typical American” while slightly sticking to their roots. That is a great step up from the first generation that had around 30 to 33 percent identifying as “American.” As a part of the second generation, I feel an importance to know my native language and to know my culture, but this also is like a double life. We live with the half that is with our American influences, but behind the curtain, we are living with our cultural influences. On the flipside, it is also important to learn about the new cultures, but we cannot stray from our roots.

As a kid, I never had the appreciation of being able to get the best of both worlds (I know Hannah Montana said it. I’m sorry). However, the most important thing that defines your culture is language. It connects me to others like me, and it connects me to my relatives. From experience, the first question that people ask me sometimes is, “Tell me something in your language,” but that comes after the usual, “Do you speak Indian?” Now, at home I try to use my native tongue as much as I can because that is a core part of me, and I want to pass that on to future generations. According to that same Pew Research study, four out of 10 second generation Americans say that they can proficiently speak their mother tongue. That is outrageous. As a part of our culture, we need to take everything in because it is a whole half of our lives. Shout out to everyone out there who is a part of the second generation: we cannot let our culture disappear.

That is all good and dandy, but addressing our other side, we are the lost generation. Not as in, “Oh no, they disappeared,” but more along the lines of, “Who are they really?” This is because as well as our native side, it is also about finding the line on the American side. For me, I don’t think I have found that yet, but being born here makes an interesting combination. It’s funny because of all the stereotypes people make because they have no idea about what our culture is actually like. For example, whenever I listen to Bollywood music people turn heads, but then again when I listen to songs by Journey that are not “Don’t Stop Believin,’” I get the same reaction.

There are two whole aspects to take from this. For one thing, appreciating and accepting your culture is what makes you connect to others like you. That cultural connection is deeper than you think. Whenever I’ve experienced that, I get a greater appreciation about being apart of a larger community. Additionally, though it is important to accept your culture, you have to open up to learn and be a part of that other side of you. Those other foods, arts and traditions are important as well. The more you embrace cultures, the more you will be stronger for it. There is so much to learn from being a part of these two universes, and I just wish everyone could experience that with me, whether that is through food, music or friends.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Shiva Vallabhaneni at [email protected]