Be proud of local languages


Language is the expression of culture. It is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow (American author Oliver Wendell Holmes). It is also the dress of thought according to Samuel Johnson, an English author.

Language is the most critical, indispensable and universal feature that characterize human communication in all societies.

In Africa, there is a discrepancy in terms of the importance attached to national languages and foreign languages. Here in Zimbabwe, local languages remain very much in the background yet they are like a storage box for our cultures and we need to keep them alive to keep our culture alive.

If you speak English well, people respect you, but if you speak Shona, Ndebele and other minor local or indigenous languages, it does not matter how well you speak them, no one looks at you differently.

Also most people in Zimbabwe still believe that it is important to speak and understand English better, both to be accepted socially and to have better employment opportunities. There is still this shyness about speaking local languages in Zimbabwe and that comes from the colonial system, but we need to overcome this and be proud of our cultural roots.

There is this belief or understanding that local languages are for speaking at home, in private, not for use in public. This is very sad. While speaking local languages at home will keep them alive, more needs to be done to bring them out of the domestic settings into mainstream.

Through indigenous languages, we have a very rich cultural heritage. Local languages play an important role in learning, teaching and socialization since they help in improving learning and understanding.

They are critical too, as they help to define one’s cultural identity and promote social-cultural independence. Thus, it is important that we value our local languages because they allow us to appreciate our national culture.  

To ensure that local languages are not dead and they are not boring, learners should view them as conditions of social acceptance in social settings. If indigenous languages are not seen as languages that can bring riches to one’s life, no one will really care about whether they live or die.

A lack of more published works in local languages means it is hard for people to learn and keep up with their dialects.

Primary, secondary and tertiary students need to be encouraged to aim at being publishers and writers in their local languages. These students need to be told that they can become prominent professionals who speak English but are also fluent in their own local African languages.

Although English is a global language, indigenous languages need to be visible as well, so that they can grow and really become languages of instruction - official languages.

They need to be given a chance and that chance starts in our learning institutions.

Remember, as a developing nation, we need to localize and globalize at the same time. According to Aunty Rose Fernando (1998), language is our soul. Thus, we need to preserve this part of our identity to be able to develop.  

 Lazarus Sauti

 

 

 

 

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