అమెరికా వాళ్ళ తెలుగు చదువు 

Very Interesting. I am sorry I am not able to type in Telugu. Recently, I have been wondering whether we should take classes for Telugu in Andhra Pradesh.

Narayana Swamy garu
…thought provoking and well written as always.

I wrote a series of articles analyzing diaspora stories in Telugu. One of the topics I researched was the history of the key languages like English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and Irish as they came to Americas along with the immigrants. A key conclusion from that research ties to your point on incentives.

Countries tie most of the incentives to the national language or rajyabhasha. These incentives can be tangible like money or intangible like fame. So over a period citizens irrespective of their mother tongues gravitate towards these incentives laden national languages. It is true in the case of English adopted by US and Canada, Spanish adopted by South American countries and Portuguese by Brazil. Best of the literary works also evolve in these languages in their respective countries.

History tells –
First generation immigrants will continue to practice and pine for their native tongue. The kids of this first generation in couple of generations will become a part of the melting pot and adopt the the national language. Even the literary works of second and third generation immigrants come out in the adopted national language rather than the native language of the roots.

Having said that – sizeable section of people speaking a particular language even as first generation immigrants are pockets of opportunities for business. There is considerable demand for Spanish speaking folks in the south like Miami.

మాతృభాష అనేది ఒక యాక్సిడెంట్. ఫలానా కుటుంబంలోనో లేక ప్రాంతంలోనో పుట్టటం వల్ల అబ్బేది. అమెరికాలో రెండోవ జెనరేషన్ తెలుగు భాష నేర్చుకోవటం, మాట్లాడుకొనే సౌలభ్యం కోసమే గానీ తెలుగు సాహితీ పరిచయం కోసమో, లేక వికాసం కోసమో కానే కాదు.

అమెరికాకి వలస తెలుగు ప్రాంతాల నుంచి వస్తూనే ఉంటారు. వారు తెలుగు సాహితీ కార్యక్రమాలు నిర్వహించుకుంటూనే ఉంటారు. ఇంతకు మించి నాకు ఏమీ అనిపించటంలేదు.

If I understood correctly,  your question is what incentives can we provide to the kids born and brought up abroad, to learn and bond with Telugu language.
The little that I had the chance to observe,  incentives were family atmosphere encouraging binding with elders and relatives, and of them not having the practice of talking in English at home, parents who enjoyed watching Telugu movies and didn’t fuss about their quality seem to have passed on more Telugu to kids, than literary enthusiasts. That’s because to them, Telugu was a means of bonding with parents and extended family and simply having fun.
What acted against passing on Telugu bonding experience for me was the lack of the above. So, I engaged them in creative activities of my own and that had some effect on one of my kids.

For a more enriched experience of Telugu, classical arts are a great channel. There are many parents who get their children to learn classical dance and music. That has to have them absorb Telugu  just because of that exposure.

Now, to build an active interest and prepare the ground for them to take it further, I always felt the lack of the most important incentives, original children’s literature and entertainment programs in Telugu. New parents now seem to be able to find books and rhymes in more abundance than me.  So, that’s a step forward already.  And then there are the various initiatives by SiliconAndhra.

We have to keep in mind that not all kids bond with language the same way, even in case of English. Some children have a special fondness for language(s).  Now, do we have the resources to make the kind of books and materials available to them, that can satisfy their hunger and further their interest in the language?

I am still struggling to find materials,  perhaps because of my own limited awareness, to provide to my son who re-learned Telugu on his own after a gap of many years.  A nephew of mine also learned to read and write Telugu outside the school system, within India but living in non-Telugu states.

Love of language is inculcated and absorbed primarily when it is one of the means to bond with family and community. So, what are the programs available for kids in the events organized by various Telugu organizations? All that being said and doing our best to lay a foundations, some kids go an extra mile because of their own fondness for language (not for Telugu, but Telugu being a language and they being lovers of language). So, having cultural and literary programs, more spread out, intimate rather than elaborate,  alongside the the network building grand events are much needed. Parents and children alike need exposure to and awareness of what is available,  so that those interested, even if they are few, will go further and perhaps their numbers will increase too. Events at local Public libraries, perhaps? Young Parents and children come there anyway.