Sepedi as a first language

 

I live in two different villages in South Africa.  In one village, Phoshiri, I have to speak Sepedi in order to effectively communicate.  English is not common there.  In the other village, Seleteng, I can effectively communicate my needs in English and generally have them understood.  My host brother in Seleteng, Mamagkeme, speaks English fluently though it is not his first language.  He speaks English to me and Sepedi to his South African family and friends.  Tonight as he was getting ready to retire to bed for the evening, I muttered a simple phrase to him in English; A phrase that has become so common to my Sepedi vernacular that it is routine.  “Ke tlo go bona gosasa.”  <K klo ho bone ahh ho sah sah>.  “I will see you tomorrow.”  I phrase that I have spoken in Sepedi nearly daily during my four months here.  As I said it to Mamakgeme tonight in English, I immediately realized that it seemed foreign to me.  Like a second language.  It struck me as more natural to say “Ke tlo go bona gosasa.”  So much that I had to re-think the English in my head once it was uttered aloud.  It struck me as unusual to be speaking this phrase in English yet have it seem more comfortable in Sepedi.  And the fact that it was unusual was a bit strange. 

But it was a strangeness I found comforting. 

~ by bernish on November 19, 2008.