Should you teach your child mother tongue?

By Jeckonia Otieno

They are called the dot.com kids — they neither speak nor understand their language, thanks to their parents. But how important is knowledge of a vernacular important to a child.

In December, I was upcountry and I spotted a bunch of excited ten-year-olds at the shopping centre. From their dressing and mannerisms, it was obvious they were city born.

I also noticed that they were interestingly speaking clean crisp English with short interludes of Kiswahili.

Just to test their level of mother tongue, I greeted them in my local language. They all looked at me like I was speaking in Greek. The elders who were near us, wondered aloud, whose kids these were who could not even speak their mother tongue?

Welcome to the new crop of younglings we are raising; they neither speak nor understand their mother tongue.

This brings an issue to the fore; how important is knowledge of mother tongue important to a child?

Language remains a thorny issue in society. What language children should learn is an issue that has brought about conflicts even in the education sector. Most schools, in the country, are strict when it comes to the language prescribed for learners.

Schools have, over the years, used the dreaded ‘disk’ to discourage children from speaking other languages other than English. Apart from vernacular, and the two national languages, Kiswahili and English, there is also sheng, which has a great influence on kids.

This has made many young people grow up thinking that their ethnic community languages are inferior or useless.

Take the case of David Opwapo. He is 22, yet he says he cannot speak his vernacular despite both parents being from the same community. This is not because he does not like it, but because his parents deliberately refused to teach him from a young age.

“I would be spanked if I tried to speak in my native dialect because my parents said I had to be civilised and English was the language of the civilised,” says David.

Like David, many young people find themselves unable to identify with any vernacular.

But what is the importance of knowing one’s mother tongue?

In a recent 50th anniversary celebration at Makerere University, Ngugi wa Thiongo, a strong proponent of African languages, stressed on the need for children to be taught their mother tongue so that they don’t lose their African identity.

 “If you know all the languages of the world and you don’t know your mother tongue or the language of the culture of the community into which you are born, that is enslavement,” the literary giant said.

“But if you know your language and add to it all the languages of the world, that is empowerment. The choice for us is between intellectual enslavement and intellectual empowerment.”

Sarah Waithera Ouma, a mother of two girls says children must be taught their parents’ language to have an identity.

 Sarah who is from a community different from her husband’s, insists it is necessary for the children to learn both languages.

“It is necessary that children learn these languages for easy communication with both sides of the family,” asserts Sarah.

Lucy Nyamodi, a mother of two, argues that children have to be taught vernacular regardless of whether the parents are from the same community or not.

The teacher says this can be achieved if the parents agree and regularly take children to the countryside to interact with their kin.

Given this importance, why do parents block their children from learning their mother tongue?

‘Uncivilised’ Language

Communication lecturer, Jemimah Mashini, points out scenarios, which might, most likely, discourage children from identifying with any vernacular.

One is the poor relationship between the parents who may be from different ethnic tribes. This, she states, might see the children take sides and hate the other side and all its associates including language.

It is also difficult to know what vernacular or mother tongue exactly is, bearing in mind that most communities in Kenya are patriarchal to their very core. 

Alice Nzangi, a psychology lecturer at Tangaza University College questions what the definition of vernacular is, first, before people can even start talking about whether children should speak it or not.

Alice recalls, “I taught a class sometime back and one day when I asked how many have culture, one girl’s hand stayed down; when I asked why, yet she had a typical Kenyan name, she said both her parents were black Americans who had just resettled in Kenya.”

The parents, Alice notes, just chose a name from the area where they had settled to avoid stigmatisation by the local people.

Pointing out that there are several intercultural marriages today, she says if children were to learn the languages from these cultures, it would be a tall order.

Alice cites a marriage between a Meru and a Maasai; the child that comes forth may opt to marry from the Pokomo or another community. She poses therefore, which vernacular the grandchild of the Meru and Maasai couple would speak since it is difficult to determine which community their child is in the first place, due to the cross-cultural marriage.

To some, vernacular is the language they are born into because that is what is immediate to them.

Grace Wambui, a parent, says if a child grows with people who speak English around them, it automatically becomes the first language, hence the child’s vernacular, ethnicity not withstanding.

Dr Rose Opondo, a language lecturer at Marist International University College says if both parents are from the same ethnic community then children ought to be taught vernacular, but if the parents are from different ethnic backgrounds, then a compromise is needed.

But given the effects of the 2007/8 post-poll violence, is it wise for children to identify with their vernacular?

Rev Harold Mwang’ombe, an Anglican cleric, argues that in the present day situation, people should be careful when addressing this issue because it may promote negative ethnicity.

Rev Mwang’ombe says: “My children knew Swahili before they even knew my native language, Taita; thus they identify first as Kenyans, before being Taita.”

He recalls a time when his daughter had gone to pick her identity card from a DO’s office in Nairobi only to be told to collect it in Taita-Taveta.

She told the chief that she grew up in Limuru and learnt Kikuyu long before she even knew her parents’ language; therefore, she was a Kenyan who could apply for and get the card anywhere.

He stresses that children should be taught to be Kenyans first before any tribal affiliations.

Another bottleneck arises in case the parents choose to teach children both languages. Whose language should be taught first?

A child spends more time with the mother, so chances are high they will learn her language before the father’s.

There are many vernacular radio stations, which have sought to restore indigenous languages . These languages were once viewed as subordinate to the nationally accepted languages, even many years after colonial rule, which fronted English as the superior language and culture.

The current Constitution is clear on languages; Article 7 sub-article 3B notes that the State shall promote the development and use of indigenous languages, Kenyan sign language, Braille and other communication formats and technologies accessible to persons with disabilities.

There is still, however, a big conflict in opinion as to whether or not children should learn vernacular.