Sunday, July 29, 2012

Ten Xhosa Learning Tips # 3-4


3.      Don’t rush in till you know how to escape!
We ask students to not engage with Xhosa speakers until they have learnt how to enter the conversation, introduce themselves, but then also how to respectfully exit the conversation. This entails knowing the good‐byes, but more importantly, it is about knowing how to explain in the Xhosa that one is still learning to speak Xhosa, that one only speaks a little and one can’t say anymore.     Xhosa people love it when you can say these things properly but they also get that your Xhosa is limited, which helps avoid uncomfortable situations.

4.      Then rush in whenever you can!
This knowledge in turn gives you as a learner increased confidence to enter into conversations in the first place, something you need to do a lot of to improve in any language. So once you know the basics, and can ‘escape’ respectfully, you need to go for it. One of the great things about learning Xhosa is that it is appreciated by so many Xhosa speakers. One of my ‘mamas’ says that when someone trys to speak Xhosa to her, she wants to hug them cos it makes her feel like all is right in the world. This is an attitude shared by many Xhosa people, as told by her, as experienced by myself personally, shared by many students, and confessed to by Xhosa people I have asked. However, not everyone is like this and if Xhosa people feel or suspect, and have been subjected to people speaking their language in a way that is obviously just to manipulate or exploit, they do not react warmly at all. What people respond to is respect, effort, authenticity, humility!

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