The Beauty We Forget: Why Our Native Languages Deserve More Love.

Not long ago, in fact, a couple of nights back, I was seated with an uncle of mine visiting from the United Kingdom. When we drifted into a conversation about Uganda, our culture, and the journey still ahead of us. He started, seemingly appreciative of how formal percentages within our generation have gotten quite high, which he said was really impressive, and how engaged we as Africans and Ugandans in particular have become so involved on a global scale. Then, at some point, he said something that lodged itself deeply in my mind, and I just couldn't afford not to share it here with y'all:

He said,

“... You Ugandans do not truly know the beauty and happiness that one should feel about having a language of their own. A language is part of one’s cultural package, an inheritance richer than gold!...”

He went on to explain that a language is not just a collection of words. It is a vessel that carries our history, our values, our humor, our way of thinking, and the rhythm of our daily lives. It is a living archive of who we are. Yet, here in Uganda, he observed, there is a strange trend where people will celebrate your English fluency far more than your ability to speak your mother tongue. Worse still, we mock those whose English is “not perfect,” forgetting that for most of us, it is a second or even third language.

And he was right. Too often, I myself have observed folks, or to be honest with y'all, I've  as well treated English as a badge of intelligence and modernity, taking it as some indicator of one's understanding of intellectual matters, while our own languages are seen as informal, backward, or only for the village. We forget that English itself is “just a language”,  a useful tool, yes, but not a measure of one’s worth or knowledge. More hurting is that, I've witnessed a number of my mates struggling with understanding or comprehending their own languages, claiming they couldn't write a bit in them or even speak quite fluent than they can with English, and to them all, it seemed very okay. Despite them having been born and raised here, in the Pearl of Africa!. 

What we fail to see is that when a language dies in the heart of its people, something far greater is lost. A proverb that cannot be translated, a song that loses its soul in another tongue, a story that no longer lands with the same laughter, all these are cultural treasures slipping quietly into the shadows. And yes some people are concerned as they know how great a loss that can be, but the rest feel as though that is meant to happen and it's okay to stand by and see the culture and heritage that we all have disintegrated day in day out. Globally, there are about 7,000 recognized living languages according to Ethnologue and other linguistic databases, though the number fluctuates slightly as languages die or are newly documented.

The irony is that in many countries, for example, countries like Japan, France, and China. People fiercely protect their native tongues. English is taught, but never allowed to overshadow the mother language. In fact, it is the native language that forms the foundation upon which all other languages stand. Africa as a whole, roughly 2,000 languages, that’s about 28–30% of all the world’s languages. Africa is the most linguistically diverse continent.

Our own languages here in Uganda, that is to say, languages like Luganda, Runyankole, Ateso, Acholi, Langi, Lusoga, and so many others. Deserve that same love and reverence. They are the heartbeat of our heritage. Every time we speak to our children, every time we tell a story to them, every time we choose to write or sing in them, we are keeping a centuries-old flame alive. In Uganda, we have about 43 living languages, depending on classification, some sources count up to 56, including dialects. That’s roughly 0.6% of the world’s languages and about 2% of Africa’s languages.

So perhaps my uncle was not just making an observation, perhaps he was issuing a challenge. To see the worth in what we already have. To protect it. To take pride in it. Let's not just be imitators of other people's heritage and culture and carry that way higher than our own. Let's appreciate the help that their language has given to us in global communication, but never forget that it's only a second or third or whatever number language to us, so it comes after your mother tongue, my mother tongue as well. That is class 101 in taking pride in who we are. So, when you are with your own, talk to them in a language from home, be happy and proud to interact with them in your home language. If you are not back home here, and you're abroad, don't be shy to talk to your fellow countrymen and women in a language that's from home. This will keep our heritage and culture flame burning bright.

The day we begin to value our languages as much as, if not more than, English and all other languages is the day we will begin to walk confidently into the future not as imitators of another culture, but as custodians of our own. Let's all find the courage to appreciate the positive change this message calls for and always work to get it out there to our fellows to make the effort for a team action towards this.

- This piece I dedicate to my lovely sister,

 Shahidah N Mugalu.

 I love you very much ❤️.