Language Please!

Put your hands up and do a jiggle if your children know how to speak your indigenous language. To the others go to the naughty corner, raise your hands up and pray for God to have mercy on your soul. OK, maybe that is a bit too severe. Let’s get real with ourselves though, by the third generation from our children, our languages would have disappeared from our family lineage. Do you know what beautiful stories, adages, folklore and culture can be passed down through languages?

What is so alarming is that even back in our home countries some parents don’t talk to their children in the native language, what???? Is this a status thing now, that your children should be blowing only  English grammar like a trumpet? It is disgraceful, (I am talking to myself too as I m guilty of this traditional deprivation towards my babies but I am rectifying it and my children are making good progress.) Take pride in your heritage, our language is what makes us disparate and unique, we should unashamedly take pride in the one thing nobody can take away from us...

Have you seen the Chinese, Spanish, Indians, how they rap with their children with pride in their respective languages. Do you know it has been proven that if a child is taught in their indigenous language, they activate the part of the brain that makes them clever (without getting too technical)  and they do well in other languages as well. Wake up people! Nobody is selling this ignorance to us; we are the ones buying this crap ourselves. Do you know the pleasure I take in being able to trade secrets with my daughter in public when I want no one to understand what we are saying, one of the many perks.

Forgive me for being so harsh, it is out of love and the wish to preserve the beautiful things we have in our culture. Some of us are so readily open to take on other trends ( I call it trend because they are so transient that I can’t call it culture) we imitate the way the white man speak, we like to dress the way they do and in our taking we have taken some disgusting stuff as well and forgotten where we came from. I am not saying we should be parochial and not open ourselves to new things but let’s embrace what is ours first, It’s not too late, speak it to them, teach them, sing to them in your language. Eventually when they go back home, they will not use their left hand to give directions to their home and no one will be able to sell them BS. Keep the cord strong, the flag flying; teach your children your indigenous language, you will be amazed on how quickly they will pick it up and how interested they are in learning it. Don’t leave it till it’s too late

This is my thought provoking rant for today, I leave to rant another day

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