Speak my language, win my respect

Here's another article in support of learning the language of our ancestors. The writer is right: lose the language and lose the culture and tradition completely. Is it any wonder then that a small group in China is trying to keep alive the Manchu language?

The writer describes his trip with his Hainanese friend to Hainan Island, China, to visit the latter's relatives. His friend could well have spoken to his relatives in Mandarin, the unifying language in China today. Yet, because his friend spoke Hainanese (their local dialect), he was accorded the greatest respect. The writer went on to say: "The intimate bonding came about because he was able to speak a dialect that is close to their hearts."

Bingo! That is the "heart of the matter" in a nutshell. It is not the language per se that touched the hearts of the relatives but the fact that someone so far removed because of migration and time, could still communicate in their "home/heart" language that made all the difference in the world. To them, this meant that this young distant relative had not lost his heritage that they hold so dear. Besides blood ties, this was the real key: language, and therefore shared heritage and culture.

Technology today is making us increasingly more alike, regardless of language or culture. We all use the same brands of computers, cell phones and tablets. Even our household appliances are the same brands. In our race to modernise, let's not lose sight of our language and culture. This is what makes us distinct, not "same as everybody else". Let's start learning our own language well, to keep the links with our past and to pass them down to our descendants.

Happy discovering and learning language and culture!

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