The British left India in 1947 – but we the post-British generation are still battling the ‘English’!
50 questions of English vs. one you! How unfair! But life is never fair – not most of the times anyway. Oh, and after the exams there is the interview too!
IBPS PO results are out and I’m sure most of you had problems with the English section. Talking from the General category’s point of view – the cut-off was 8; which actually is pretty low and decent – and very much achievable.
Friends, you are all aiming to be Bank PO’s – your career graph would be – PO – Assistant Manager – Manager (Accts/Loans/Branch) – AGM – GM – DGM. (That’s all for now… never fly too high!)
Don’t you think getting at least 8 questions in an exam of English is pre-requisite?! You have to get 8 correct – how difficult is that?! Did you not get atleast 20-30 in school?!
English is a language – like any other language and can be learnt by anyone and everyone; it just requires nothing but a little bit of genuine interest.
Education in English medium schools/ Hindi medium schools don’t matter much – what matters is how willing are you to learn this language now, at this age and at this point of your life, where you have to build a career – desperately build a career, might I add!
Tell me friends, how many of you read English newspapers – (like actually ‘read’ and not just for the current affairs), read English Novels, English Magazines, watch English news channels, watch English movies in English?!
Time for a reality check dear friends!
I hope a real life example of a person I very closely know will motivate you - My father.
50 questions of English vs. one you! How unfair! But life is never fair – not most of the times anyway. Oh, and after the exams there is the interview too!
IBPS PO results are out and I’m sure most of you had problems with the English section. Talking from the General category’s point of view – the cut-off was 8; which actually is pretty low and decent – and very much achievable.
Friends, you are all aiming to be Bank PO’s – your career graph would be – PO – Assistant Manager – Manager (Accts/Loans/Branch) – AGM – GM – DGM. (That’s all for now… never fly too high!)
Don’t you think getting at least 8 questions in an exam of English is pre-requisite?! You have to get 8 correct – how difficult is that?! Did you not get atleast 20-30 in school?!
English is a language – like any other language and can be learnt by anyone and everyone; it just requires nothing but a little bit of genuine interest.
Education in English medium schools/ Hindi medium schools don’t matter much – what matters is how willing are you to learn this language now, at this age and at this point of your life, where you have to build a career – desperately build a career, might I add!
Tell me friends, how many of you read English newspapers – (like actually ‘read’ and not just for the current affairs), read English Novels, English Magazines, watch English news channels, watch English movies in English?!
Time for a reality check dear friends!
I hope a real life example of a person I very closely know will motivate you - My father.
My father, coming from a BPL family background, earned his way to school education – basic education – and he was educated in Bengali medium school all his life – went on to do graduation in Bengali too, still earning his own fees.
When it came to Bank Exams (He is retired SBI officer – 32 years of service!) – He had to deal with English.
He went and bought second hand grammar books from College Street in Calcutta and mastered it all by himself (no coaching/no guidance, in those days there were no coaching classes either…he used Bengali to English translations and taught himself).
Then he would read the ‘piece’ of English papers that he would get when he would buy roasted ‘moong phali’s’ from road side stalls!
And at nights he would listen to BBC News broadcasted on radio to learn pronunciation! Not only did he land every job he appeared for – in the first chance – his maximum marks were in English – other than Maths!
In Banks – he was most learned in English than the people who had excellent English education background! And he is the reason I can communicate with you in English like my mother tongue is English and not Bengali!
What I want you to understand from my father’s story is that – education is secondary – interest is primary and compulsory.
If inspiration is what we need – then where and who better to look at than our own parents.
If they could do it – so can we. Isn’t that right?
With interest to learn something you can never go wrong – no one can ever stop you.
Look at Virendra Sehwag – when he started his international career, the interviewers had to be changed to likes of Ravi Shashtri, Harsha Bhogle or Rameez Raja– only for him to be interviewed in Hindi!
But he challenged himself and went ahead to learn English so that he could be interviewed in English! That was his interest – his will. He did not have to learn English – he was already a very popular batsman, regular on Indian Team and his career definitely did not depend on English! But he still learnt it!
If he can do it – why can’t we? Why can’t you? When specially your career depends on this funny language?
Learning any language will never be useless – it will help you always. And English is such a language which is required everywhere for everything in every part of the world!
Learn English not for exam purpose or simply to land a job– learn it to make it a part of your thought process – learn it to make it your daily life – learn it so that your next generation will think it is their mother tongue!
So my friends, don’t say, “What do I do for my English?” – go and actually do something instead of thinking and worrying.
Pick up the magazine – listen to news – watch a movie – in ENGLISH!
Next IBPS PO, make sure English is your ally – and it will win you the battle! Trust me I know.
‘Cause here’s a secret – my closest friend (as close as my shadow!), attempted only 103 in IBPS PO IV. Quantitative -13, Reasoning -18. But English – 40! – and ensured an interview call!
Pick yourselves up! No more moping! Get up and get going! Everything is achievable – all it requires is interest and a genuine one at that!
Best of luck guys for future endeavors…may the power be with you!
When it came to Bank Exams (He is retired SBI officer – 32 years of service!) – He had to deal with English.
He went and bought second hand grammar books from College Street in Calcutta and mastered it all by himself (no coaching/no guidance, in those days there were no coaching classes either…he used Bengali to English translations and taught himself).
Then he would read the ‘piece’ of English papers that he would get when he would buy roasted ‘moong phali’s’ from road side stalls!
And at nights he would listen to BBC News broadcasted on radio to learn pronunciation! Not only did he land every job he appeared for – in the first chance – his maximum marks were in English – other than Maths!
In Banks – he was most learned in English than the people who had excellent English education background! And he is the reason I can communicate with you in English like my mother tongue is English and not Bengali!
What I want you to understand from my father’s story is that – education is secondary – interest is primary and compulsory.
If inspiration is what we need – then where and who better to look at than our own parents.
If they could do it – so can we. Isn’t that right?
With interest to learn something you can never go wrong – no one can ever stop you.
Look at Virendra Sehwag – when he started his international career, the interviewers had to be changed to likes of Ravi Shashtri, Harsha Bhogle or Rameez Raja– only for him to be interviewed in Hindi!
But he challenged himself and went ahead to learn English so that he could be interviewed in English! That was his interest – his will. He did not have to learn English – he was already a very popular batsman, regular on Indian Team and his career definitely did not depend on English! But he still learnt it!
If he can do it – why can’t we? Why can’t you? When specially your career depends on this funny language?
Learning any language will never be useless – it will help you always. And English is such a language which is required everywhere for everything in every part of the world!
Learn English not for exam purpose or simply to land a job– learn it to make it a part of your thought process – learn it to make it your daily life – learn it so that your next generation will think it is their mother tongue!
So my friends, don’t say, “What do I do for my English?” – go and actually do something instead of thinking and worrying.
Pick up the magazine – listen to news – watch a movie – in ENGLISH!
Next IBPS PO, make sure English is your ally – and it will win you the battle! Trust me I know.
‘Cause here’s a secret – my closest friend (as close as my shadow!), attempted only 103 in IBPS PO IV. Quantitative -13, Reasoning -18. But English – 40! – and ensured an interview call!
Pick yourselves up! No more moping! Get up and get going! Everything is achievable – all it requires is interest and a genuine one at that!
Best of luck guys for future endeavors…may the power be with you!
This article was written by Mrs. Upadhyay
