As a student of communications, I have been exposed to the concept of multi and intercultural communications. When the concept was presented, I always thought what is the big deal? I recently attended a training session in Bandung, Indonesia on Climate change. The session was organised by LEAD international. About 150 participants attended the session. It was a high profile session, with participants from fields such as journalism, law, ICT, environment etc. I was amazed by the inability of these high profile delegates to interact and converse with fellow participants. I was looking forward to network and learn from the different fellows. To my surprise I learned that fellows preferred to stay in their country groups (me included). I thought to myself, the decision was strategic, as it eliminated the pressure from fellows to speak in the Queen’s language.
The inability to communicate was not due to English being my second language (truly speaking English is my 10th language and Afrikaans becomes my 11th). It was due to the fact that as nations we have our way of sending and receiving messages. The ways in which messages are encoded depends on various codes that are available in a specific community. These codes can be verbal or nonverbal. Language is often a common code that brings people together. In nations such as Indonesia, the local language is the medium of expression. The language is recognised as official, big corporates are not obliged to use english for sending and receiving messages. This was demonstrated by a visit to the Indonesia Power Station. One of the presenters prepared his presentation in the local language. Majority of Fellows from LEAD did not understand the local language. The presenter had to interpret his presentation in english, which saw him seeking support from his colleagues.
I was impressed and I thought, they value their local language to such an extent that they don’t have room for english, unless circumstances forces them. I was thinking to myself that, for me, mother tongue has been replaced by a foreign language. I have adopted the Queen’s language, it is so embedded in me to such an extent that when I think, dream, pray I do it in english.
During the session, I found myself struggling to grasp different presentations. My struggle was due to the fact that as nations we have our own accents. I then started to appreciate my African ( Khe Lobedu )accent. I listened to fellows from Russia, China, Nigeria, and I realised that it is ok, for me to speak English the way I do. I listened to the way the english language was being broken and I thought, my fellow South Africans will be amazed to hear the kind of english which is spoken at this level. I started thinking about the inferiority complex of South Africans towards their mother tongues. They always think that they have to speak the english language like they are from England. Some parents are very proud that their kids cannot speak their mother tongue. They actually encourage them not to speak their languages.
During the session, I appreciated being a South African. The appreciation was a realisation that being a multicultural country has greater benefits. Though english is my 10th language, the Bandung session made me to appreciate my ability to converse with it. Imagine writing this article in my mother tongue and being unable to share my thoughts with other people, just because I cannot translate my thought in English. I witnessed a journalist who wrote a good article in French and wanted to share it with the world. This meant that the article should be translated to English. The problem was that the guy could not translate to English. He resorted to Google translation. I promise you, you don’t even want to think about the product after the translation. I found myself trying to edit the Google translation and it did not work. Again, not because of my english, this time because of the Google english. The guy never got the opportunity to share his views with the world. Don’t you think it is a disadvantage? If he was South African, he was going to be in a position to write in his mother tongue and also in English, which to me is more empowering.
