[lg policy] Namibia: Mother tongue influence on English

[Harold Schiffman]

 Mother tongue influence on English
02 Oct 2012


By Julia Ndamanomhata

IN 1990 English was adopted as the official language in Namibia
according to the language policy and planning of the new Namibia. This
means English was incorporated into all structures of the government
such as schools, courts, universities, ministries – almost in all
places in both the public and private sectors.

English in this regard is used as a medium of instruction from the
upper primary phase to the secondary school phase. This approach stems
from the recognition that Namibia is a multicultural and multilingual
society, but is also predicated upon the desire to avoid the dominance
of one local language and culture over others. Also, the authors of
the new Constitution considered the fact that English is an
international language hence the decision to make it an official
language.

English as medium of instruction used and taught in most government
and private schools brought about many challenges for both learners
and teachers. English is taught with the objective to make learners
competent in the four important skills of reading, speaking, writing
and listening. Speaking and writing grammatical English are emphasized
everywhere, especially in the education system. To be fluent in these
skills, exposure and interaction with the speakers of the targeted
language is of paramount importance. This is not to say listening and
reading are not important. The argument put across by researchers and
scholars is that the more one interacts with native or fluent speakers
of English, the more one will have a good command of the language.
In some cases learners are exposed to English, but mother tongue
discourse often interferes with efforts to gain mastery and the best
command of the English language. This article focuses on mother tongue
interference and it will elaborate more on examples of how English is
rendered in various mother tongues in the Namibian context.

For instance, one day I was listening to two women talking about a
fraud case involving a principal. One of the women said in English:
“The school principal ate school fees.” The other woman said in
Oshikwanyama “Omukulunhufikola okwa lyapo iimaliwa yofikola”. It
dawned on me that the first woman had employed direct translation from
her mother tongue into English.
Just listen where people talk about fraud cases and hear the phrase
‘eat money’ in their English conversations. In English, ‘eating money’
does not exist. One of the ways to express this is to say ‘to embezzle
money/funds’, ‘misuse money/funds’ or ‘misappropriate money/funds’.
People do not eat money, as it were, in English.

The concept of thanking in English and in some local languages may not
be expressed in the same way. One day I went into a clothing shop in
the central business district of Windhoek. In the shop I overheard an
interesting conversation between a customer and a shop attendant.
After the transaction, the customer said ‘Thank you madam’ and the
shop attendant said ‘Tangi’ meaning ‘thank you’ in Oshiwambo. In
Oshiwambo if someone says, ‘thank you’ you normally reply, ‘I also
thank you’ (‘Naame ondapandula’). Instead of saying, “I also thank”,
English uses the expression ‘You are welcome’ or ‘It’s my pleasure’ or
‘Don’t mention’, when someone says, ‘Thank you’.

What about “I was find?” This is another common interference the
mother tongue has on English that I often come across. In my
neighbourhood, some plates went missing after a wedding party. My
friend searched everywhere and found the plates in my house. She said
to me:  “Julia if I went to your house, I was find them there”. This
is a literal translation of the Oshiwambo sentence “Ngeenge ondayi
kondunda yoye, oko ha nduuhange.”

Similarly, students who are not accustomed to the English spoken in
the transport industry would encounter problems if they do not infer
the message being communicated to them. For example, one day, a taxi
driver said to me “I shot one to town” instead of saying “I am short
of one customer to town.” So, next time you speak English, be
conscious of mother tongue interferences. The way you say things in
your mother tongue is not necessarily the way they are expressed in
English.

• Julia Ndamanomhata is a Master of Arts in English student in the
Department of Language and Literature Studies, Faculty of Humanities
and Social Sciences, University of Namibia (Unam).


http://www.newera.com.na/articles/48110/Mother-tongue-influence-on-English

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