Oh, the pain of language is almost a rite of passage for anyone who's tried to learn a new tongue. I don't want to remember how I feel every time I try to speak a language I thought I had learnt very well and then make a mess of the whole thing.
When I went to serve at the southwest side of my country, I confidently walked into a Yoruba restaurant one day. After my Yoruba friend had taught me a few Yoruba phrases, I was eager to try my newly acquired Yoruba skills. I proudly said,Kí ni o n jẹ? "thinking it meant 'What do you have here?,'" not knowing that it meant 'What are you eating?' But really, I was just asking the waiter what he was eating, and everybody turned and looked at me in a weird way.
I didn't know when I asked her if she understood Yoruba; meanwhile, I was the one embarrassing myself with my statement. Everybody burst out laughing, and that's when the waiter, very kind, asked me if what I'm trying to say is 'what do they have here?' I said yes. She smiled and said it pronounced "ki ló wà níbí?. She explained it to me, and I was very shy now to sit and eat there.
That's how I ordered the food take away and went home to gist with my Yoruba friends. Another round of laughter echoed in the air, but this time I was not embarrassed, but laughing as well. I speak other native dialects like Igbo fluently, Yoruba bit by bit, but you see my very own dialect, ahh!
It will take grace for me to learn.
I remember a cultural day in school. I didn't want to join them in the dance competition not because I can't dance my cultural dance, but I will sing the song in our dialect first before dancing. Being someone with a nice voice among my group. I know that I will be asked to sing, but I can't do it.
My people, I started feeling stomach pain but this woman went to get some medicine and suggested we move to the our time to be the last dancer's. She said if it continues, I will sit down and sing while others dance. I thought about it and quickly decided to join in the dancing while singing; that way, I will cover up my flaws, with the keyboardist doing wonders.
Unfortunately, the keyboardist was helping me, but suddenly the cord was pulled by someone passing. God, I suddenly started sweating because the keyboard has been my helper; that's why most people didn't notice I was singing rubbish. As I continued without the keyboardist, I was shaking. God bless you, who went and played the song with their phone and connected it to a speaker.
Image is mine
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