A Native Tongue

Most people come from households where a language other than the predominantly used international languages such as French or English is considered native. This fact is easy to miss since the rise of the internet and the expansion of the global village which brought about the need to communicate with as many people as possible. Although French is considered the language of international law, English has quickly taken over as that of international business. English culture- mainly American through Hollywood and other entertainment influences- threaten other cultures to the point where certain countries such as France and some Arabic countries establish laws to limit its influence within their borders. While the need for universal understanding is a logical one, is one to satisfy it by giving up the native language? Are we to die murmuring words in a different language from the one we used to utter our first as babes? When does one find use for a native tongue fast on the trail of the dinosaurs?
My native language is Kinyarwanda. I learned to read kinyarwanda primarily from the bible and the newspaper, and, because of that, I grew up speaking a form of kinyarwanda that was deep, flowery, and ancient even at the time I was learning it. I was fascinated to be able to read and understand words few people in my house other than my grandparents could understand. My being beamed as I read scripture to audiences and they marveled at how I could read so well at a young age. I didn't know it then, but I had started on a path towards language appreciation...a path that would lead me to this exact point in time.
I, however, failed to see the turns and detours fate would dress my path with. My beloved language slowly eroded away by flight through different lands strewn with other languages one had to learn in order to survive. Along the way, English supplanted all other languages and established its supremacy hold on me. I loved the language, its writers, and its ease of use. I read voraciously, covering the classics and the contemporary. I read magazines and books about lands a thousand miles away and my mind was transported through time and space to experience what I was reading for myself. The more familiar I became with English, the more I unconsciously relinquished my Kinyarwanda until one day I picked a Kinyarwanda bible and I spent more time scratching my head for meaning than in actual reading. This was the beginning.
Time moved on, as time only can, and I attended high school and university where Kinyarwanda wasn't only impossible but also unhelpful. English dominated and soon even contact with people who speak Kinyarwanda was few and far between. By the time I finished school, I could speak kinyarwanda only as long as it littered my English like potholes on a Beverly Hills road. I considered it as one of my many languages I can understand but not speak. Then it all changed when I moved to Atlanta.
Contact was reestablished with Kinyarwanda speakers and soon it had blossomed. I have many people to thank for helping me revive my use of the native tongue, but prime among them is Job Muhumuza. Little by little, as I lived with his family during my first months in Atlanta, he coaxed kinyarwanda words out of me and I began to realize how beautiful a language it was. My first book or play I write in Kinyarwanda will be dedicated to this loving father and his family...to whom I owe much.
As of now, I'm still trying to relearn it enough to be able to write a quality work completely in it. I have begun to write my status messages on Facebook in Kinyarwanda and I'm happy to see others doing the same. In diaspora, it's easy to forget one's past, one's journeys, and one's beginnings, but I believe that without the past as a strong foundation, it's only a matter of time before our house of cards comes tumbling down. Besides, I have begun to see the beauty of my native tongue that I used to see when I was young.
Kinyarwanda is a thousand times as poetic as English. Everyday usage is garnished with proverbs and idioms that excite imagination and thrill the senses. As you listen to a skilled orator, you are left wondering how a mind can come up with such arrangement of words, and the only thing you can do is applaud and hope to remember a few things to help build up your own abilities. This is why I hope to one day be able to capture the beauty of Kinyarwanda in my own literary works for others to admire. Until then, however, I will continue to learn from others and online resources such as this website.  I hope you, too, can can focus on your native tongue and appreciate what makes it beautiful beautiful.