Embrace mother tongue, heritage
As the country is celebrating Heritage Day on Sunday, I decided to share my story, my heritage and my ancestral names with our readers.
The purpose is to encourage young people to read more and invoke the hunger to know who they are and where they come from.
The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study found that 81% of grade 4 pupils in SA can’t read for meaning.
The only way to encourage young people to read is to make it part of their culture, make it fashionable and encourage storytelling.
It is important that we encourage young people to read in their own languages to help grow and preserve our African languages.
It has become a norm that we want our children to be fluent in English and struggle to speak their own mother tongues.
We need to be proud of who we are and encourage our children to speak their own languages.
Some people can’t even write their own mother tongue, which contributes to some words not being used anymore and the language losing its value.
It is painful to listen on radio or TV to Xhosaspeaking people mixing their IsiXhosa with English and sometimes making the sentence lose its meaning.
We need to be proud of our languages and celebrate Heritage Day speaking our mother tongues with pride. It doesn’t matter if you speak Sesotho, Afrikaans or IsiZulu, be proud of who you are.
Ndingumzukulwana ka Sgqolana, kaKhanase uMqwathi no Matso uMdlomo.
Impawo zona zobuQwathi zitywiniwe kum, ukanti nezabaThembu ndiyazidla ngazo.
Mna ke ndingu Mtshutshumbe, uMndwane, uNcobe, uNkovane, uNomatyala, uMqwathi, uDikela, uMthetho kaMthetho, kaNoni, kaNtswayibane, ubafazi yidlani imifino ndizayidla kuni, uNogqazindlel’ebhek eBunguni, amabandla kaMndwane umzukulwana ka Xesibe, inkomo zikaNcobe,amabandla kaNkovane, uMadlinkowane angayihlanzi, uMntshaba uluTshabe, uNogcagca neziziba,inkonjane emnyama edlalemafini, intsas’emnyama evele lichefane, uFubu, umatheni mpofu ingathenwa mntu, uNozangqingqi,ugqusha angqishe arhwaqele, uMbikelwa, uDalakusile, uNongqokozumbhashe egqili kuyalinganwa.
Dizalwa ngu George into ka Khanase esiDwadweni esiBalvatala (Swartwater village).
Ndizalwa ngu Noncedile Nomgenge umaDlomo, Madiba, Yem-Yem, Vela bambhentsele, Sophitsho, Ngqolomsila, Ndaba, oZondwa ziintshaba zingasoze zimenzento, umThembu obhuzubhuzu. Intombi yase Xonxa village.
Naye ozalwa ngu Siliwe intombi kaDofi uMnkabane, uMajeke, uMthwembotyi, uNoqazo, uMayeye, uNdluntsha, iNkomo zika Marhama, zika Ngxalenye, zika Khamanzana, unyawo zipinki noba zinentsente, uMthondwana, uMbuswana, uNywabelemntwini. Intombi yase Matyhantya village.
Utata ezalwa ngu Mgcina, uTyhopho, uNokwindla, uXhamela, into ezaba iigusha zathi ziziduli zethafa, kwaKibido ebhaptizi eSwartwater.
Ndim ke lowo, masonwabeleni elithuba sizibonga sizidla ngobuthina unyaka nonyaka imihla yonke yokuphila kwethu. Camagu.