It’s International Mother Language Day today…
Growing up in diaspora with a dual Nationality has been quite a struggle at times. Mastering the local language from elementary level, which became a native tongue and trying to grasp the flow of what would be the natural tongue of my heritage has been so difficult at times.
Clashes and miscommunications, mispronunciations of my name, misunderstandings and a lot of times a refusal from others to come to a place of understanding. Funnily enough though my dad was the teacher, he was more of the one who showed me about vision and how to utilise culture, whereas mum taught me about history, tradition and language. We are nurtured by mothers I guess and trained by fathers in a way. I believe it’s so important to preserve the dignity of our mother language, my dad would say “it’s the road map to culture.”
It’s the way I understand the mindset, ideologies and outlook of my people. I take pride in my identity and there is so much beauty in our language, so many nuances and technicalities. Fluency is the journey, eloquence is the goal. If you can laugh your way through the frustration and confusion you might end up learning a hell of a lot on the way!
Press to catch me having a Minnie Vanillie moment with mum.
Full Pod 📲 on Spotify
