Like most countries, most modern languages were standardised and formalised very recently. Yet nationality and language are such a big part of our identity. My fiancée is English. I am English. But I mean something different. In Britain, saying you are English speaking doesn't mean a lot. Almost everyone speaks English. In South Africa, your language is part of your identity. Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Sotho, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda, and Ndebele are all official languages. These distinctions (language and country) are often described as something permanent. Something we are. That is laughable when they were made up in the last two hundred years. Your country is not something you are. Your language is not something you are. They are both stories you learned. Learning never ends.
En tant que
Sud-Africain vivant en Angleterre, je trouve frustrant que le colonialisme soit
absent de la conversation nationale. Je comprends bien. Le fil conducteur est 'mettez le passé derrière vous et continuez'. Ne pas blâmer le passé
pour votre situation vous met au volant. Mais. Ne pas comprendre le passé
vous condamne à ne pas apprendre de vos erreurs. L'Afrique n'était pas
seulement colonisée par l'Angleterre. Un groupe de vieux hommes blancs l'a
divisé à la fin du 19ème siècle. Avant cela, il y avait une longue histoire
d'influence arabe. Je ne peux parler qu'anglais. J'ai l'impression de
comprendre le colonialisme, je dois d'abord retirer le grume de mon propre œil.
L'apprentissage de la langue de différents colonisateurs peut être la voie pour
comprendre les étapes à franchir pour surmonter les obstacles structurels à
aller de l'avant.
I was a good value tease at school. You knew you would get a reaction. I wasn't the only one. Aged 12, I can remember standing in a circle of boys chatting when one of them said, 'I am bored, I am going to go make X cry'. About 5 minutes later, X walked past heading for the toilets in tears.
Part of what made me easy to tease was I was 'a little bit brave', and I had a deep-seated belief in right and wrong. I was very serious. I was often holier-than-thou, and more than a tad judgemental. So someone looking for some fun wouldn't have to work hard to get me hot and bothered.
The face in the mirror
Add to that a tearful nature, and it was game on. Boys didn't cry in Apartheid South Africa. One of my friends has a saying, 'I would cry, but my tear ducts are welded shut by toughness.' A few drops and cries of evidence of your weakness would ring out. I spent a lot of time in the bathrooms, staring at the mirror and splashing water on my face to calm down. 'Stop crying!'.
I find it embarrassing to admit, but when later visiting England, New Zealand and Australia... I felt at home. As an English Speaking Apartheid South African, my world was more tied to the rest of the White Anglo-Sphere than back home. There was no Ntini, Philander, Rabada and Mtawarira to celebrate. Australia felt like a bigger version of the white bubble I grew up in, and culturally I felt like I understood it more than many of the other people who lived down the road at home.
Part of that culture was Banter. I got better at it as I got older. As I dropped the chip on my shoulder, and developed a sense of humour. Most of the time, Banter is good-natured. Teasing isn't meant to end in tears. When a guy has been spending more time drinking than exercising, a good mate is expected to ask him who ate all the pies.
But there is a difference between Banter and being a complete Dick. Banter is good-natured and friendly. It is about intent. You aren't trying to make anyone cry. You are trying to keep things light-hearted and fun.
I still have that 'little bit brave' nature when it comes to someone getting Banter wrong. I feel obliged to stand up to bullies. Even if that means breaking the rules. I also recognise it in the South African teams, politicians, and business people. They tend to rise or fall to the level of the opposition... but a little more extreme. Playing the Kiwis, our rugby players raise their game. Playing Samoa, we get a little harder. Playing the Aussies, I have no doubt 'lines' get crossed.
Banter is fun. I want friends to tell me I am fat when I am looking less likely to fall down a manhole. I want friends to poke fun at me about being excessively tied to arbitrary beliefs. Banter is a form of friendly feedback.
If you don't like the other person, it is probably best to keep your mouth shut.
I am embarrassed that I can only speak English fluently. I have made stabs of differing intensity, enthusiasm and success at Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, German, Italian, Sanskrit and French. I think it would be ridiculously awesome to be able to speak Mandarin, Hindi and Arabic. I often think about how biased the way I am experiencing the world is towards my Eurafrican world view. The first time I was in a situation where I looked around and no one looked or sounded like me was in Istanbul in 1999. It lasted about an hour and then I was back on a bus full of Kiwis and Aussies. I had left South Africa for the first time in 1998 (I hadn't even gone to Lesotho, Swaziland or Zim despite being a Durban boy). The world I knew was that of a white, English speaking boy. I can speak Afrikaans the best, but anyone from South Africa will tell you how much they laugh at the Natal Accent. White Natal voted strongly against (76%) becoming a republic in the 1960 referendum.
My family background is mixed though. I had family on both sides of the Anglo-boer war (Capulet Montague weddings where the in laws wore their battle gear), but with time and other nationalities joining the party, English won out. English is very convenient. A lot of people learn it as an additional language to their mother tongue. Even if you try learn other languages, the people you are speaking to tend to switch to English when they realise either that you are struggling, or that you present an opportunity for them to practice.
One of the noticeable features of visiting Stockholm and Helsinki has been the ease with which they speak English.86% of Swedish people and 70% of Finnish people are fluent. You don't even have to ask if they speak English, you assume it. And they speak to you with a smile. In France, I was told early not to speak English first. Start with broken French (however bad), or another language, and then tentatively with a raised eyebrow say 'English?' or 'Je ne parle pas Français, parlez vous Anglais?'. Hopefully they figure you are also speaking English as a second language and so will tolerate you.
Sweden wasn't always the amazingly awesome country it is. The European Potato famine was brutal. Pre-secular Europe, where the state told you what to believe and kept violently changing its mind, was brutal. Fortunately in those days we weren't obsessed with the idea of Patriotism (we were still prejudiced, but like ADHD in children, the Nation State condition hadn't been invented yet). Through its tough times, 1.2million left for America. 4.4 million Americans claim Swedish descent and 650,000 are 'Finnish' American. English Americans quite often just drop the English bit and call themselves American. Yup, that's how we English Global Citizens roll. Let's all be friends and forget the past.
The Vikings had a long habit of visiting England on 'playdates'. Although English is a 'West Germanic language', it was strongly influenced by Old Norse because of the 10th and 11th century visits. So Swedish and English are cousins. Which is why they probably get on better than English and French which are closer to siblings so irritate each other.
Can I come play?
Finland is a little different. It was part of Sweden from the late 12th century till 1809. Then the Russians moved in for a century until the revolution of 1917 and the Finnish declaration of Independence. The Finnish language is part of the Uralic family (Hungarian, Estonian etc. 38 languages, 25 million people). Interestingly, Helsinki wasn't even the main city till fairly recently. Russia moved the capital from Turku to reduce Swedish influence. Despite being 'one of the best cities in the world', Finland was a late comer to industrialisation and was still largely agrarian until the 1950s. Things can change quickly.
Learning about other countries feels like getting to know extended family. Whether a great-great grandmother, a great-great-great-grandfather or any other connection you find important, there tend to be common threads in our history. We can choose to create stories that connect and learn to speak each others' languages or we can build walls. Family is a choice. So is being a Global Citizen.
