Travelling to some places that are far away from home is quite fun because you have a number of things you see and learn that you never thought about. When I watched the movie’ Gods must be crazy’ where the whites laboured to communicate with the bushmen, I was so amused. Apparently I have to go through some good lessons and it takes only a sharp ear to get to understand what people say. I am tongue tied - I can not speak for some time now I have done a lot of listening because I don’t understand what my fellow comrades are saying simply because of language barrier. Situations where people talk and you are not in position to get any meaning of what is being said but you keep turning your head from one speaker to another as if looking for answers from their faces; you want to laugh when they laugh but you sound stale and confused when you do. I hate the fact that I can’t speak the language my fellow kinsmen speak but I keep telling my self I will learn but again I fear saying a single word; I am afraid my beloved sisters will laugh at my accent. At several occasions I have tried to understand but I later confess I don’t grasp everything that is being said.‘You don’t understand Kinya-rwanda?’ I have been asked many a time. To me it feels like a young child, hungry to learn every word that is being said. When people are gone and am alone, I rehearse them; one at a time and I end up talking to myself like am running insane. It kills me inside that I can’t speak to my fellows in a language we both understand and I am only supposed to speak ENGLISH and not my vernacular. Timothy Muwonge my university lecturer in Uganda told me he only speaks English to people that do not understand the language he speaks. He says he does not respect people that speak foreign languages even with their fellow kinsmen; it simply doesn’t make sense to him. We work so much to perfect foreign languages and we do not give ours much attention. When you speak a wrong word in English you will raise people’s eyebrows. I recently had a fight with my neighbour at home she does not understand English and I cannot speak Kinya-rwanda. We have resorted to using signs; but this time she had to tell me something wrong I had done but we couldn’t communicate. She had to wait for my friend to come so she could pass on the message to me. Hopefully, I will soon pick up the language so I don’t have to wait for a translator in order to speak to my neighbour. laura2jos@yahoo.com
