Mr. Sami’s sons were busy enjoying a game of soccer with local boys from the farm who did not speak nor understand English but soccer has no language barrier so they were all having fun kicking and scoring goals. The local boys saw a big snake and started shouting, noha! noha! But the Sami boys did not understand at all. They kept playing and didn’t understand why their friends were shouting and running away until Mr. Sami turned up and luckily was just in time save his boys.

Many of us are raising our children with one language, English, and forgetting to teach them our local languages. While teaching them the English language, we are also neglecting to teach them our customs and manners as Africans. With most couples in Zambia having intermarried, one would think we would have rich families whereby most children are speaking three languages if not four by the time they are in High School. This would be the English, learnt in school, their mother tongue, their fathers tongue and the local language spoken in the area or town where they live and if their house help is of a different language, they would pick it up as well. But sadly, most parents especially those in the urban areas are mainly speaking and only teaching the English language to their children.

When a child is young and not yet attending any school, maintaining many languages in the home is of more benefit to the child. It is important to recognise the true value of passing on one’s local language. It can be said to be selfish of parents to not express and pass on a local language to a child as we are denying our children the opportunity to learn their mother tongue and this crop of children will grow up a lost generation, only knowing their tribe and language as it appears on the national registration cards without being able to understand or speak it.

Majority of people who grew up in rural areas, can testify that they did manage to catch up and learn English as they progressed in school. We have school leavers who go outside the country to places such as China or Russia and learn the language in a year or two. Why then, do we as parents hesitate to teach our children our local language and leave the English teaching to the schools?

Some parents have had to pay tuition for their children who have graduated university to learn local languages. This is because some programmes such as social work or demography require you to travel in different parts of the country and interact with people in society but some graduates could only speak English hence finding it hard to speak and interact in society.

By teaching children local languages, we are connecting them to their heritage and enhancing their cognitive skills. Language is emotion and plays a vital role in forming emotional bonds. For many parents, local languages hold important significance, connecting us to the past, present and future. Language becomes a link to our cultural identity and personal history. When parents share their local language with their children, it conveys more than words, it transmits feelings, traditions that we cannot express in words.

When children learn a local language, it fosters a deeper sense of identity and belonging. It connects them to not only their immediate family but to a larger community and allows them to participate in family and community traditions. It also helps them develop deeper relationships with older generations. If most homes taught native or local languages, teacher deployments would not be flooding the urban areas as new recruits would easily integrate in other provinces.

Parents do not have to be fluent in a language to make a difference. And it is not too late to start if we have not done well in the area of teaching the local language to our children. You could start by incorporating words into your everyday life such as using local words for water, food, or simple instructions that are spoken daily. Some parents worry that if children start by learning their local language, their English will suffer or that their children’s language development will be delayed. However, there are more advantages to learning a local language cognitively.

In teaching our children local languages, we can make it fun and not treat it as homework. Reward the child who says more words in the local language to encourage others to learn more. Tell the children it’s okay to make mistakes if they do and play language games of choosing specific times where only a local language is to be spoken. As you do this, remember that children cannot become fluent overnight. Correct their pronunciation and tell them meanings of words. As we are teaching our children our local languages, let’s incorporate local holidays especially in the provinces where we come from. Plan family language nights with their favourite pizza or popcorn and make it fun that whoever makes a correct sentence gets the opportunity to eat.

A way of teaching the local language would be to start by creating a family tree that spells out family terms such as mother, brother, grandfather, sister, in your local language. Choose some days in the week when the whole family seats to practice a local language and agree to greet each other by the local language as you wake up and later in the day as people are welcomed home. The Lozi’s answer shaa, Bembas say mukwai, let’s ensure we answer and respond accordingly in our homes so that our kids learn and emphasize that the shaa or mukwai response is not just appropriate response to an adult but anyone who calls your name even if they are younger than you.

I must state I didn’t do a good job on my first born when it came to language as you can laugh at her local language skills but I sure was glad to hear her rebuke her young sister in my native Makoma (Kalabo) and I proudly smiled instead of quenching the verbal fight. The incident reminded me of my late father, who when angry used English but I seem to have mixed it up as my mother tongue takes over.

It’s funny that most kids in Lusaka do not know our local folk stories but only know of the Moana stories and Frozen. We have a vast history of local tales which most of us learnt from our parents and we cannot pass on to our kids due to the language barrier which we ourselves as parents have created. It’s not too late to start to change the narrative. We can teach our children by starting now if we understand that learning our local language is worth it. The journey maybe difficult at the beginning but it will get easier with time.

Muyoyange, Happy Holidays!

About the author

Aka Monde, is a licensed Professional Counsellor who holds a Master of Science in Counselling from the University of Zambia. She believes in the adage “a problem shared, is a problem half solved.” Speak to your pastor, church elder, elderly family member or see a professional counsellor when in need.

Email: [email protected]