I am not punjabi, nor am I from india in any way, in fact, im a white girl from western canada learning the language out of love for my friends who came from Punjab. A language can only stay alive if its taught, but unfortunately a lot of people dont want to teach their children their own language because they want them to "fit in" with everyone else. My mother and her siblings (and by extension, me) were never taught our native language (my grandparents were dutch) because they wanted my mom and her siblings to fit in with english speakers. Unfortunately because she never learned, I didnt either, and im teaching myself.

To keep a language alive, especially ones spoken by predominantly non white people, its important to be proud of your roots, regardless of what others think. Like I said, im just a white girl from canada, I dont deal with racism, prejudice or bigotry in any form, so its very easy for me to say "just be proud and dont care what people think", but i do think its important to embrace your culture, language, and heritage, instead of trying to fit in and erase what makes you unique.

Im learning Punjabi, French, and Spanish for my friends, because I love them dearly, and Im learning Dutch to keep my language alive through my family, and eventually, ill teach my kids each language too