Last week I got lost for the first time. I figured after being here a month, I was capable of venturing to the market on my own. And I was right, getting there was not a problem. Snagged a couple of headscarves for dirt cheap (My new preferred mode of fashion, it's just easiest when it is always hot and humid, and when you can't wash your hair because there's no water) So I was pretty proud of my excursion. The problem came when I wanted to leave and realized I had no idea where to catch the return daladala. I wandered quite a ways, and it was pretty apparent I was lost, but partly because of pride I was not willing to admit that. Also, it was at this moment I realized how much Swahili I don't actually know. In Nairobi this would not have been a problem. But here English is not so widespread. Most of the time, if you go off campus, English communication will not get you very far. This can be interesting when you're at a store and can't find something. For instance, my roommate and I were looking for a lighter or matches, which we had no idea how to say in Swahili. We instead had to ask for "something to make fire" which at first got interpreted as soda-- clearly something got lost in translation-- but eventually got sorted out and we got what we wanted. Even on campus, communication with vendors can be challenging, although I sometimes suspect this is their way of trying to cheat me out of money and that they know more English than they let on. I find they don't like to give me change-- just the other day, I got in an argument with a fruit vendor because I paid six hundred for something that cost five hundred, and he wouldn't give me my money back. Keep in mind the money in dispute was worth about 6 cents, and I really couldn't have cared less about it. It was more the principle-- they do this all the time and assume that because I'm foreign, I won't notice that they overcharged me. So an argument ensued which basically consisted of me saying in Swahili "I gave you 600" and him replying "you only gave me five," and both of us repeating those same phrases in increasingly agitated voices until he gave me my money.
It's just frustrating not being able to communicate to the extent I want, but I also don't feel like I have a right to get upset about it because I'm the visitor to their country and I should be the one speaking their language. And I am trying, it's just an extremely slow work in progress.
The real language topic I take issue with, though, is the use of English as the language of instruction at the university. I'm not complaining because it allowed me to come here, but I definitely disagree with the policy. I understand the desire for people to learn English, but I think they would obtain a much better education if classes were taught in Kiswahili and English instruction was simply included as a required course. To be blunt, the majority of people do not speak English at near the level appropriate for a university-level education. Because of this, subject matter is soooo simplified, and even then many students do not understand the material. Lectures are filled with students leaning over each other to copy notes that they didn't understand (me included, on account of the accent), and I'm getting more of an education here in subject matters outside of my own field of study simply because I spend so much time trying to explain concepts from lectures and readings to friends who come to me because they didn't quite grasp the English. I spent a good hour trying to explain to a linguistics/Kiswahili student the differences between language acquisition and language learning, and even then I had to insert some broken Kiswahili here and there to get my point across-- He's getting a degree in his own language, and he has to do it using a different language. That just seems unfortunate to me. It doesn't seem fair that a person be denied an education because he is not proficient enough in a language that is not even his own. There are other factors, though, such as the lack of teaching/ research material available in Kiswahili, so that if it were to be the language of instruction, people would have to find a way to have the materials translated. And I know there are other forces at play that I don't see as an outsider, but I just feel like there has to be a better way than the current system.
In case anyone is wondering, I did get un-lost. Hopped on a daladala I thought was going the direction I wanted, turns out it took me straight back to where I came from, wandered around a bit more so that it appeared it was my intention to arrive at the market and nobody would be able tell I made such a silly mistake, and came back to get on going the proper direction. Now I know.
Love
