The following item from the UK paper, the Guardian, was seen on lgpolicy-list. It is one foreigner's experience learning Ateso in Uganda.
Opening doors and hearts in Katine http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/2008/jun/20/background.life In Richard M Kavuma's latest diary entry, he explains how learning the local language is helping him to understand the Katine people better * Richard M Kavuma * guardian.co.uk, * Friday June 20, 2008 At my first German language class 18 years ago, I remember the teacher marching straight in, placing his books on the table and writing a single line on the chalkboard: "Sprache sind die schlüssel zur welt". It means, languages are the key to the world. It is a line that came back to me when I arrived in Katine seven months ago, and came face to face with a smiling one-year-old I was unable to say anything to him that he could understand. Without working knowledge of the Ateso language, I couldn't open the door to his world. Although many people in this area speak English, there are many more who cannot sustain a conversation in it. In order to improve literacy, the Ugandan ministry of education has introduced a policy that for the first three years of primary education, children should be taught in their mother tongue. So I set about learning some Ateso, first by asking Amref staff for help with simple phrases: How do you greet? How do you say thank you? What is the word for friend? I later learnt that my Canadian friend, Chris, had found an Ateso/English phrasebook that answered many of the questions I had been asking. Three months later, I have been encouraged by the results. First, in addition to the book, I have been motivated hugely by the Ateso-speaking Amref staff. Each time I put together a sentence inspired by vocabulary from the phrasebook, they cheer and express surprise at how fast I am learning. Whenever I go out to the field, I try to introduce myself in the local language, and explain what I am doing in Katine. I have concluded that languages do not just open doors to physical areas, they can allow you to walk into people's hearts. The other day, I was covering a training session when the instructor asked me to introduce myself. Off I shot: "Ekakiror Richard Kavuma. Aswamai eong kede Guardian lo ejai London. Aiwadikai iyemuto lu project lo Amref o Katine." The applause that followed left me encouraged that, not only had my effort been acknowledged, I had somehow made myself understood. As I put my well-considered sentences together, I notice that people's moods change. The smiles grow wider and their interest in me seems to shoot up. It seems that the sight and sound of a foreigner making an effort to learn the local language impresses the people in Katine and Soroti. "Ah, you are now getting the language," a local councillor in Katine told me recently. "By the time the project ends you will already be an Ateso." Uganda has over 50 tribes and at any one point you might be surrounded by people who speak a variety of languages. The other day, as I drove in the Amref van to Katine, I noticed that only two of the six people in the car were Ateso. In Katine itself, there are two main tribes Ateso and Kumam who speak the respective languages. So last month a 75-year-old Kumam man urged me to, "pwonyi Kumam kede" (learn Kumam as well). Of course I will learn Kumam, I said, and told him that I started with one because two at a go might confuse me. The beauty of it is that because the two tribes live side by side and freely intermarry, many Ateso understand Kumam and vice versa. At my hotel in Soroti town, staff have volunteered to be both teachers and cheerleaders. Each time they see me, they make an effort to speak to me in slow Ateso and wait for my response to see if I have understood. Although I have considered charging them for the entertainment I provide, they seem to be really impressed. One morning, I asked a waitress: "Aibo ejaasi sausage?" (Where are the sausages?). She stopped, smiled and remarked: "You know you are becoming really good. When you leave, we are really going to miss you. You have become like one of us." Although this has nothing necessarily to do with racism as seen in South Africa or the stadia of Europe, many of Uganda's tribes use language terms that refer to people from other tribes. In my own Luganda, we call them, bannamawanga (people of other tribes), 0while the Ateso use word amoit (foreigner). When I have been introduced to groups of people, I have read the word amoit on people's lips. But with the new language skills I have learnt, I feel ever more at home. In my office in Kampala, I work with two colleagues who happen to be from the Teso region. Whenever other colleagues overhear an animated Ateso conversation, they joke that I cannot have learnt that first without the aid of a "live dictionary" a woman. Despite my protestations and the instant production of my dictionary and phrasebooks as evidence, it has become a ritual for people to insist that there must be another dictionary which in their judgment must be female. But in Katine, the door is starting to open. Last month I wandered into Katine market and had a chat with an elderly vendor, who did not speak a word of English. I left her and her colleagues clapping because I was able to introduce myself and find out a number of things: that she was selling potato vines at 200 Ugandan shillings per batch; where she lived; how old she was; how many children she had; and whether she could allow me to take her picture. Thanks to the small bit of Ateso I have learnt, language is opening more and more doors. **************************** Disclaimer ****************************** Copyright: In accordance with Title 17, United States Code Section 107, this material is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes. 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