Flowerly Maua

My photo
I smile recklessly and I love excessively. I live today knowing I have no other day until tomorrow. Now is my moment. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is a mystery, but today, today is my gift (present).

Monday 10 March 2008

Studying in mother tongue

If we didn’t have to learn English (as a 2nd language), just studied everything (History, Geography, Biology, Physics, Chemistry …….) in our mother tongue, like the English, Greek or German people do,

• I’d have been an ‘A’ student, made a great lawyer, defending cases in Kiuk. (Photography, wedding planning, would I have studied them? No way.)

• My grandma would have made a very good medical doctor. (She never went to school, but knew the human body, diagnosis, prognosis, and nutrition like mad.

• We’d have so many graduates, (Kenya would be a developed country).

• We’d have so many Universities in Kenya, (one for Kiuks, Luos, Kaleos, Kaos etc).

• We’d have no problems expressing ourselves in foreign languages, (emigration would not exist).

And the list goes on and on ………

But then, there are people in UK who can not read or write, and so many who can not express themselves fully on pen and paper, leave alone going to Uni, yet it is their mother tongue.

They import doctors, nurses, teachers etc, while many of their own are semi illiterate and on welfare.

(That is my small mind wandering).

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats an interesting concept. I once heard it from someone who studied in England that "Don't think that just because someone speaks English well that he is literate its just that its his mothertongue"

KK said...

I couldn't write in kiuk to save my life.... but I can speak it. I can write a little english but I can barely speak it. Such is life

candybox said...

Still don't understand why even uni graduates here can't spell.

Mo said...

My aunt would have had an MBA and one of our househelps, who was super intelligent, would have made a great accountant.

At least where I am, they can be excused cos' its not their mothertongue. I wonder how superb they would be if it was. You see a local who can speak English at the level of perhaps a standard three kid in Kenya yet he scores extremely well in exams.

Anonymous said...

Its very interesting where your mind wanders off to when unleashed by constraints of language.

joyunspeakable2011 said...

aa ee ii oo uu...........

Englishically we are lost. Cos they made us think that somehow you need to speak good English to succeed.

i agree with you on some of the development we'd have......

bring this to parliament maybe......we need to re-learn.

Maua said...

Hi all. Often you hear things like 'we was in the pub last nite', 'pass me them cups', 'me friend and I' from uni grads. Even a std one child in Kenya knows better.

Kiuk, whether born here or the moon, my son has to speak it. He might save his life once.

I think we wasted a whole generation of grannies and aunties who were well educated but not school learned.

Anonymous said...

@candy...true dat. evryone i meet here does not know how to spell simple words like couch...yet they speak english.
and yes you are right, if we gave ourselves the chance to spek and study in our won language we would ahev great development. think along the lines of Germany, Russia. you know?

Proud Kikuyu Woman said...

Does it matter that some of us speak 'better English' than the natives? I think that's kinda sad.

xxxx said...

It was abit of a shock when i realised that they can hardly spell or write well gramatically and yet they look down on some of us who will soon take over their country.

I was quite insulted when one of my lecturers was suprised that i could write a comprehensive coursework and I thought to myself is it because I'm black?

About my mother tongue, am not brilliant but I can hold a conversation couldnt write though

Anonymous said...

In Kenya we are blessed with people who speak good English and teachers who strive to teach in details. When I came to South Africa, I used to laugh out loud when speaking to the natives. Their English is soo not English. How can black be blek and when u say black they refuse to understand you until you blek it? Now I don't laugh, I just speak to them in broken English, si the purpose of language is communication?

Mo said...

In relation to Bomseh's comment, it took a while for my flatmates to stop laughing when I referred to that household feline as 'cat' rather than 'ket'.

xxxx said...

Bomesh, I have the same problem with my sis and bro who moved to SA and now think that they speak proper English. Half of the time I dont understand what they are on about