5. LANGUAGE
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How are you?
Muli bwanji?
Muli shyani?
Muli buti?
Well, that’s about how far I can go with the languages.
I think you can all agree with me that when talking about things that define a particular society, leaving out language would be a grave mistake. That’s why I’ve decided to include language on the fifty-things list.
However, it’s worth pointing out that the issue of language in Zambia isn’t as clear-cut as it is in other countries. If I were to ask, what’s the language used in the United States, or the UK? Most people would, without a doubt, answer English. But if I asked the same question about Zambia, the answer wouldn’t be as easy.
Zambia has many languages. To be precise, it has 72 languages in total. Different parts of the country speak different languages. The four major local languages in Zambia are Tonga, Bemba, Nyanja, and Lozi. In other words, if you spoke any of these four languages, you would be able to converse with many people in the country, but not all. It also depends on which part of the country you’re in. Tonga, for example, is commonly spoken in the southern part of the country, while Lozi is commonly spoken in the western part.
Of course, it wouldn’t be ideal for a single person to know all 72 languages. Fortunately, Zambians don’t have to worry about this because the nation adopted English as its official language. Thanks to our colonial past, the English language is used as a means of communication in education and businesses. Even Members of Parliament use English when debating political matters. In fact, in 2015 the World Linguistic Society put Zambia second in the list of the best English-speaking countries in Africa. So, if you speak English, you can converse with pretty much anyone in the country.
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In addition to speaking English, most people also speak their local language plus one other. It’s not uncommon for people to move fluidly from one language to another within the same conversation. For example, the people in the Copperbelt largely speak English and Bemba, while those in Lusaka (where I’m from) speak English and Nyanja.
It’s not unusual to notice minor differences in the same language depending on the location it’s being spoken from. The Nyanja spoken in Lusaka, for example, is different from that spoken in Eastern Province. This simply proves that languages are dynamic. They change with time, absorbing new words and getting rid of the obsolete ones. Zambians are masters at taking borrowed words and slipping them into their mother tongues.
The word motorbike is pretty much nonexistent in any of the Zambian languages. As such, any two-wheeled vehicles with an engine have become hondas. Toothpaste is colgate, most likely because of the ubiquity of the Colgate brand. And all types of floor polish are referred to as cobra, after the South African wax brand. Cooking oil is saladi, after the early Lever Brothers product, and any washing powder is surf, from the Unilever brand.
When two Zambians are having a conversation, it’s not uncommon for them to use vernacularized English words. Missing as in “missing someone,” for example, becomes ‘missinga,’ bell becomes ‘belo’ and book becomes ‘buku.’
Another interesting thing about language communication in Zambia is that two people can hold a conversation in two different languages. When you go to a big market like Soweto, you could be speaking to a vendor in Nyanja and he could be responding to you in Bemba. Some people might understand one language but be incapable of speaking that very language.
Although there are 72 languages in Zambia, not all of them are used in National programs. The local language news, for instance, only uses the four major languages in the country. You would wonder why some are left off. It’s not about segregation if that’s what you thought. It’s because most languages in Zambia are similar and so they’re clustered in groups. Bantu Botatwe is a group of similar-sounding languages consisting of Tonga, Ila, and Lenge. Lamba and Bemba make up another group of languages that sound the same.
There are certain attitudes attributed to people who speak particular languages in Zambia. The Bembas are said to be too talkative, while the Lozis are, on the whole, educated and reserved. As for the Tongas, popular opinion has it that they’re hoarders. It’s not uncommon for a Tonga man in Southern Province to own a minimum of a hundred cows.
Due to these differing attitudes, intermarriages between tribal languages were looked down upon. A Tonga man, for instance, wouldn’t be encouraged to ask for a hand in marriage to a Bemba woman. However, these prejudices have since faded away as people become more and more educated.
Local languages in Zambia aren’t as rich as they are in neighboring countries, say Zimbabwe. Zambian authors don’t write in local languages. If some do, then they’re very few. Unless in rural areas, most students stop learning local languages by eighth grade. So, while many kids can speak their local language, writing a sentence in that language is a challenge for most of them. That’s why many written records are done in English.
Zambia is a place where one hears more of the local languages being spoken but sees much of the writing in English. I guess the country is unusual in that regard.
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