-: Ugaase mwana a Senge Ogooli.
This language issue cost one of my kids a University election. She has refused to forgive me.
The Luhya were ready to vote for her as a block, but poor girl only had an ID reading Vihiga, but could not speak a word.
I agreed to take the bullet because her Mum and I speak different dialects, so I ruled in 1990, that Kiswahili be the rearing and inhouse language.
Unfortunately it caught up with us.
-: 😆My nephew got a job that entailed online translating, and he got it because it was assumed that because he is a Luhya he could translate articles from English to 'luhya'. Unfortunately he only understands some lurogoli, although both parents are maragoli. He can't speak, write or read the language. I had to try and give him a crush course. We should be teaching our kids at least some of our language.
-: I could not agree more.
I still salute this US Professor whose son is half white, never been to Kenya and speaks impeccable Kimaragoli.
-: And funny, he said he understands lurogoli only when family members speak, not outsiders. Then I realised that the lurogoli we speak within the family ni zile za 'ndaakwinsista akolecti everything mudropere.'
-: Yeah. And I remember a friend asking me if I have authored any Kimaragoli books. Someone was asking for them for her kids, who were born in Canada but speak lurogoli as their first language.
-: 🤣
And it is a sophisticated version by the way.
Even vakele say,
"Leka mbe sole"
-: That is an accurate observation, deserving some research. The pidgin Lologooli we speak in our families and insist kunyi kuspika Kim aragoli piua should be acknowledged and discussed.
-: And that's one thing I really respect the Bukusus for. We may call them backward and primitive but they have retained and evolved their language to an extent that there's a word for everything. You can develop a dissertation or any complex document in the language exclusively. Without borrowing a single word from any other language.
-: We have a collective tendency to discard our own in favour of the foreign sounding for no good reason. Take guku and cucu, lovingly shenged into shosh. ..
George Gamugoyi: Kabisa prof,ltend to be using guga guku...such like,kotsa...
-: This mother tongue policy has come at a critical moment for Lologooli speakers, which we must not let slip thru our fingers.
-: Supported, there could not have been any other time. I envy the Luos and Kikuyus, as they chatt comfortably with their grandchildren in vernacular.
We should be proud of our own language
-: In 1996-8 when my father came from work he could tell us to speak to him in mother-toungue. But we had never been to the rural before. It was hard... We could stammer kikamba. That is what mama could teach us.
Fast forward, mama speaks fluent maragori, we also do. Had she been caught by feminism peddlers, anti-tribal integration, comfort of city life and etc, fate would have been different. Thank you mama!
-: Pray tell,what does Feminism have to do with mother tongue?
It's become every lazy wannabe intellectual's argument to drop anti-Feminism banter in their speech to validate their arguments.
-: It was just one among others. Pole. I withdraw feminism and remain with the rest. 😜.
-: 👆🏾Uhmm.. on that feminism thing, I think I saw somewhere, something trending about an aged feminist that is saying she regrets it all...much like those atheists who spend their lives preaching about how there's no God, then they get saved when they're old and dying.
-: Hey! How is atheism related to mother tongue? Don't be a Watanabewatana! 😆😆🤣🤣🤣😂😂🤗🥳🥳
-: Ororo arolanga uruloro lurala hano, shee, azie kuhetsa Libabu libada?
Aveyehai, amuhe?
Aviki ilibada mu ilibiba lya amaatsi. Na nivyo uvuyanzi vwe Ilibada.
Kuhenzane vulahi, kutasonasona videte dave na kutie avahindira.
Hail Saniaga Spirit!
-: My children happen to aviifwa Vaseve, so viigiraa L'logooli ku munyi, life is so hectic that kwiga naho kwiigiza mother tongue sometimes hard, vamanyi neither L'logooli nor Oloseeve, they can only attempt to be part of either. We can change this scenario by writing as many interesting stories ziu L'logooli as possible, bombard libraries and bookshops with such books to inerest them.
-: My children speak kimaragoli. Despite the busy hospital schedule I had, I visited the village every April or August for two weeks just for them to learn. They picked very little kikhayo and hardly any kiteso (mother in law's language) because I hardly understood it! They conversed in kimaragoli especially when in a multiracial gathering. It's not perfect but I am glad I insisted they understand my mother tongue. I just told them they needed their roots identity to be respected and to succeed in whatever they undertook. Sidika
-: Daktari Sidika. That is epic. I have a colleague that claimed I was embarrassing by speaking Maragoli to him in the presence of other staff.😳😳 Very good to note that your children speak Maragoli despite the multicultural exposure they have had. If you feel ashamed of speaking your mother tongue, how do you expect your kids to learn and speak a language that are ashamed to speak?
-: This has been a powerful conversation that calls for escalation in terms of what we can do to salvage the situation.
Teaching YouTube clips like they have for, *Learn Luganda* can go a long.
One important factor about language is that kids between 0-9 years have a neural device in the brain called, *Language Acquisition Device*(LAD)
It is easily demonstrated by the fact that a kid within this age range can pick and function in a totally new language within two weeks.
Those Urbanites who in the past made it a point to bring their kids upcountry (Mumadaala) from time to time were unconsciously immersing these kids in the Kimara pot for effect. It explains why that given generation is urban but can communicate effectively in Lologooli.
The mysterious Language Acquisition Device as advanced by Noam Chomsky in the 60's, disappears from the brain after age 9.
Nobody knows why.
You can still learn a new language after age 9, but can never attain the same fluency as if you would have learnt the language before age 9.
Early childhood immersion is therefore key.
_Udongo uwahi ungali maji_
-; Wow that's awesome, teaching your kids Lulogooli, I could only manage to teach mine Lulogooli choruses which they still remember very well, like 'kwumbakanga kase kase mumiyiinzi Kandi livaaya ,,,,,,,,'
-: Babange yanzigiza zingano tsya lulogooli ndayivilaku mba makandi achigiza visukuru. Niviimba Ndiegu yastya kusuma
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| Pic source; online |
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