Shanglish

I recently discovered that during our COS (Close of Service) Conference my group would be tested on our language ability. I must admit, I felt a moment of sheer panic. My language ability in Northern Sotho and Shangaan is worse than bad, it is just plain horrendous! I can "hear" some Northern Sotho and Shangaan but answer and speak in English. I mix my African languages with English (using mostly English I must admit) until I have a conversation of what I affectionately call "Shanglish." however, I do not believe PC will be impressed with this ability at all. Now, you would think that after two years I should be more proficient in at least one of my sites two languages, but not so. Then again, I suppose I should not sell myself short. I AM proficient in introducing myself, greeting people, saying where I am going and where I am from, and "It's hot" or "It's cold" depending on the day's weather. Surprisingly, I've managed to get by on that and a handful of vocabulary words. I am afraid that my situation has made me lazy. My host family is fluent in English and my counterparts are as well. Most people in my village address me in English and speak it well. Things would be so much different if no one spoke English and I was forced to learn and not be able to fall back on English in sticky situations.

My situation is also very interesting. I live on the cusp of two culture groups: the Northern Sotho and the Shangaan and interact then with people using two different mother tongues. I normally get the proper greetings right. The tar road splits my site neatly in two, and also acts as the boundary between the two culture groups. I cater my greetings depending on which side of the road I am on. However, this does not always work, and if I use the wrong language the person I am speaking with will definitely let me know. There is a certain pride in the mother tongues here in South Africa. It is certainly understandable considering how the cultures and languages were suppressed under Apartheid. Of course, this pride has its extremes at times. My host mother is Northern Sotho, but one day we were called to my Shangaan school for a meeting. I automatically greeted all of my Shangaan teachers in Shangaan- it was second nature to me by this point in time. When I finished, Mma turned to me crossly and said "You speak Shangaan, but you do not speak Sotho!" I hastened to assure her that this was not the case- I could not speak EITHER language.

Northern Sotho and Shangaan are somewhat difficult to learn, mainly because they belong to an entirely different language group than any other language I have studied; so there are no similarities to be found with English. However, they are also fun languages because they are so literal. I will write some examples. To greet in Sotho, there is a certain order of phrases. It begins:
Dumelang
Answer: Agee
Then: Le Kae?
Answer: Re gona.
This exchange is equivalent to the English Hi, how are you? I'm fine yadda yadda yadda. Yet, literally this can be translated as:
Dumelang: I am greeting you.
Agee: Yes, you are.
Le Kae? Where are you?
Re gona: I am here.
This is one of the best parts about the greetings- I love this stating the obvious and never needing to lie about my state of mind or health! I could be having the absolute shittiest day ever, and yet, when asked "Le Kae?" I can basically answer "Well, I'm here at least." It's great!

I do regret though, that I did not learn more of my adopted languages as it would have made my Peace Corps experience different than what I experience now. Yet, despite this regret, I have gotten along with my Shanglish and my village has accepted this part of me. They also find it very amusing. My first instinct when hearing of our impending language test was to crack down, open my dust covered language books and study; but I decided against this course of action. I am going to enjoy my last three months and not worry about how correctly (or incorrectly as the case may be) my language ability is.