Crippled by language barrier

Imagine visiting an exciting country and not being able to express yourself or interact with the residents simply because you cannot speak the language? The writer could not stop wishing he knew better than to stick to his mother tongue and English during his earlier years.

Many Ugandans, always fall prey to problems associated with knowing only their mother tongue and the “official” (English) language. Have you ever visited an area in Uganda or abroad and looked very stupid, unable to communicate or understand anything in the new land?

What first comes to your mind when two strangers speak in a language you cannot comprehend is that they are probably insulting or saying something bad about you. This is when you regret not having taken advantage of learning major foreign languages while still at school when the opportunity existed.

My first very trying encounter with language barrier came when I visited the French capital, Paris and the northern city of Amiens. In Amiens, a friend invited a colleague and I to spend two days at the home of her aged parents, Michel and Yolande Degrendel of Sains who could only communicate in French.

At the mercy of a dictionary
The host acted as a translator. All seemed well until she urgently had to go somewhere she was needed, leaving us behind. Real drama ensued. We could now only communicate through sign language. When we wanted anything we would point at it as if we were deaf or simply children learning to talk.
Our hosts could not bear it any longer and rushed to the nearest book store where they bought a French-English dictionary which helped Whatever service we needed, we would then open the dictionary for the hosts to check and find its French meaning.

A visit to Dakar, Senegal another French speaking country yet again proved how being unable to speak French can be a stumbling block to communicating with friendly looking people in city pubs or the hotel. Here even one’s shopping is somehow hampered by the language barrier since most shop attendants do not understand a single word of English.

But on the streets of Dakar and at the famous Goree Island the children selling necklaces did not mind “deaf” visitors who could not speak a single word of French so long as they showed them a big smile and offered a hug. Eager to sell their merchandise, the children would try to solve the communication dilemma by showing visitors the type of coins or notes required for the goods. Even in some downtown restaurants without English menus, it is quite uncomfortable to point at someone’s plate to make an order. Besides, it could be dogs meat or kaloli that is on menu.

Probably some of the very few places in non-English speaking countries where language posed no problem was in the Catholic churches. I once attended Sunday mass in central Brussels and felt at home with a Latin service and prayers like Mea Culpa, Credo, Sanctus and Pater Nostel. For the first time I realised the importance of Latin and how the language united Catholics of different races, culture and languages.

Just across the border in Tanzania, the communication puzzle is likely to occur to some visiting Ugandans. Once in Dar-es-saalam, one Tanzanian shop attendant could not believe an East African from Uganda could not speak or communicate in Swahili, the regional lingua franc. “What a stupid Muganda!” she exclaimed in English.

I came short of telling her to instead blame this on past Ugandan regimes, soldiers and even our very good bakombozi (1979 Tanzanian forces that helped fight and depose Idi Amin) for giving the language a bad name. They would use it to scare and rob Ugandans of their property.

How I wish some languages like Swahili, French, Spanish and German could be made compulsory in elementary education. This would really benefit Ugandans more than subjects like European history with strange tales about the likes of Bismack, Napoleon Bonaparte etc...or the Geography of Rhine Lands or the Pampas of South America.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com