I have every reason in the world to learn Swahili. It’s one of the mother tongues of my husband’s (though Kikuyu is his real mother tongue, as he will tell you). It’s one of the official languages of the country, I call home. And a few years ago, a new compelling reason came along: our first-born child. We’re raising both of our kids to be bilingual, following the OPOL (One Parent One Language) approach.
I speak to the kids in English, while my husband speaks to them in Swahili. Our youngest daughter is just starting to use her first words – a smattering from both languages. Our eldest daughter is now 4 years old, and while she favors English when speaking, she understands nearly everything that she hears in Swahili.
It was difficult at first for my husband to speak Swahili with our newborn daughter. It didn’t feel natural to him, since our shared language has always been English. He had to constantly remind himself, and would often stop mid-sentence to repeat what he had said in Swahili. He told me that he didn’t want to say things to the kids that I couldn’t understand. But having my husband speak to our children in Swahili was probably the best thing for my own budding ability.
I have found that by listening to my husband speak simple Swahili to the children, I have begun to learn the language the way native-speaking children learn it: starting with the basics, slowly building with grammar and vocabulary. I may not be able to contribute to a political discussion around the dinner table with the extended family, but learning the language with my children has certainly increased my understanding of what’s being said around me, on the whole.
Listening to my husband read Swahili bedtime stories aloud to the kids has also helped my own language skills.
I find that random lines from the stories will start to swirl around in my head, subconsciously. There is something useful in listening to the same strings of words over and over, committing them to memory, even if by accident.
While nearly everyone we meet in Nairobi speaks English, learning Swahili with my kids has definitely helped me to communicate better with the people in our community that we see every day. Simple words like where (wapi), how many (ngapi), up (juu), and down (chini) actually come in quite handy when speaking to the staff at the greengrocer or to the attendant in a crowded parking lot. Furthermore, people are delighted when they see that I’m making an effort, and even more delighted when they see the children speaking in the local language.
It is so important to us that our children grow up speaking and understanding both of our mother tongues. And if I’m able to improve my rusty Swahili skills along the way, all the better!
Are your kids growing up in a multilingual household? Have you ever learned a new language with your children?
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by Tara Wambugu, our new contributor from Kenya.
Tara, I salute you!
I feel really sorry now that I dropped the ball with my own children. My husband and I were both born in Italy, but we grew up in South Africa. I was 8 years old when my parents emigrated, and my husband was 5. Although we’re both fluent in Italian, our true “home” language is English (and we both speak Afrikaans as well, because it’s one of the other official languages of SA).
As my Italian is better than my husband’s (because I was older when I got here) I was the “designated” parent supposed to only speak Italian to the children. I did when they were babies and toddlers, but by the time they started Primary School (and I was working full-time) I stopped speaking Italian to them (unless my parents, in-laws or other Italian family members were around). The truth is that I just didn’t have the patience to keep repeating things over and over in 2 languages (like, “go brush your teeth”)!
Your children will thank you one day … just like mine blame me for the fact that they can’t speak Italian (even though they DO understand most of what is said)!
In a strange twist of fate, my son (who is now 22) is living in Germany (with his girlfriend and her family) and is fluent in German – a language that none of the rest of his biological family speaks!
I guess it’s never too late to learn a new language …. all you really need is to be a willing student!
Thanks so much, Simona! I am really glad our kids are growing up with both languages, and I do think they’ll be glad for it one day. But learning a language later in life is HARD! I always fancied myself a language person, because I speak fluent French, in addition to English. But I learned French as a teenager, when my mind was still open to learning such things. Learning a language now is so much more difficult! 🙂
Simona, thank you for sharing your experience. Now I feel like it is normal to feel impatient ?
Tara, keep working at it ? immersion is the best way, in my opinion, and you are there, in Kenya, immersed. Lol.
They say it is easier to learn language when we are young, but it definitely is possible when we’re older and it’s supposed to be a really good way to keep our memory sharp.
When we moved to Tanzania (my mother’s homeland) I only spoke Italian. Being in Tanzania and having to go to school forced me to learn as quickly as possible. And I had to learn English too.
My mom tried to teach me Swahili when I was a little younger, but I think I just wasn’t into it.
Now I have a 13 year old, with whom I got impatient (sorry, babe), and she only understands a few words of Italian & Swahii. I mostly spoke to my toddler in Italian since birth, although I felt strange like your husband did. Now as I speak to the baby in Swahili, I am using It with the toddler too. I try to not use English, but often I do. Patience, patience, patience. Lol ?
I TRY speaking swahili to our son and hope that one day he can speak swahili. My husband speaks Italian to him and when we are together we communicate in English. We HOPE he comes out trilingual.
I agree with Sophia – patience is key! Keep up your efforts, and it will eventually click! And I think our kids will thank us for it, one day! 🙂
My daughters and I are learning to speak kiswahili too! We are finding it so difficult. Can you recommend any good English -Swahili picture books to help? Great job!!!
We used to have a book called “Wanyama – Animals” that had pictures of animals with names in English and Swahili. We have misplaced it, and we don’t know how to find a new copy! 🙁 (We originally bought it randomly at a Nairobi restaurant that had it for sale at the till.) There are not many books that feature both languages. But For You Are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane has some lovely Swahili phrases peppered throughout the story! 🙂
Hi, Tara.
Thank you for sharing your experience. My wife (American) and I (Kenyan) live in the US and are thinking of teaching our kids Swahili and English. We already know it will be difficult because the “community language” will be English if we raise them in the US or Swahili if we move back to Kenya before they are born. I will keep following your blog to get more insights from you on how you are doing it. I am already thinking of purchasing books in Kenya when I visit. I wish we had TV cartoons in Swahili too. I appreciate your advice and thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi Alfred! My husband and I have always spoken English between us, so I would say we loosely follow the One Parent One Language approach, because sometimes my husband speaks English to me in front of the kids. Definitely pick up some books next time you’re in Kenya! We like the Visa na Vituko series. Also, check out my post on Mama Mgeni about reading Swahili books to our kids! Good luck! 🙂
i congratulate you on this. more than being a heritage it is also an asset especially where the majority are monolingual
Hey hey! In the same boat with a lot of you all, I’m American and married to kenyan. We have 3 kids, 6 and younger.
We found a swahili show for kids on YouTube that we like and thought I’d share – its called Ubongo Kids. One reason I like it is because they speak slowly and have songs too.
There is also a swahili kids song CD that we like that is available on Amazon (at least in the USA) called “Swahili4kids” I have both of the CDs and we love them both! Hubby says some are from songs and games he knew from when he was a kid.
What else have you all found to be helpful?