Every Day

One of the GMB Fitness trainers, João, often trains in his jeans and slippers. This is because he likes wearing jeans and slippers, and his intention in training is to be able to move easily. So he wears what he wants to move in. 

Another technique he talks about is simple repetition, until the movement comes naturally. Which seems like stating the obvious, but sometimes we repeat till first success rather than till smooth and dependable rewiring has taken hold. We scratch the surface and move on before knowledge is embodied. 

Which is why failure and difficulty can be powerful learning techniques, because they force you to slow down. 

Spaced Repetition is an idea Gabriel Wyner (of Fluent Forever) pushes for language learning, and memory work more generally. You stretch out the periods of repetition till you are just about to forget. You gradually increase those periods. Until it becomes a part of what you deeply know. 

When we change behaviours, the key element is sustainability. Particularly for things like long term wealth creation and compounding. 

For upside, it is the behaviours that you do every day, rather than what you do on any given day, that matter. For downside, yes... you can do a lot of damage in a short time. Creation needs time. Sustainable is possible forever.

Kitchen Language

Only 12% of the World’s population could read and write in 1820. Today, French is an official language in 29 countries. Vulgar Latin was a range of local dialects with the common stock of Latin, but influenced by the conquered local languages. Being verbal, it differed by region and time. Although History tells of the conquerors, politics, borders and rulers, we know less about the lives of the normal people just doing their thing. Linguist Anthony Lodge says 90% of the Gaulish population remained indigenous during Roman settlement, and it was just the ruling classes whose children learnt Classical Latin in Roman Schools. French raised its head with the later Germanic invasions whose Military class took on the Gallo-Vulgar Latin. In the 17th century French replaced Latin as the main international language (Lingua Franca), and it kept this role until the US became the dominant World Power after the World Wars. Crowning English. Napoleon only began learning French aged 10 (his spelling was apparently atrocious) and in 1790, only an estimated 3 million people out of a population of 28 million spoke Standard French. Our ideas of “correct language” are very new. Language is born in the kitchen, borderless, with local flavour… unless you are trying to impose control.

Making Sense

Prejudice isn’t something you can just let go of, any more than you can suddenly decide to speak a foreign language. We only take in a small fraction of the information around us. The rest is incomprehensible, meaningless, noise if we are even aware of it. The reason we use categories is to gradually make sense of things. It is how we learn. Josh Waitzkin (author of “The Art of Learning”) describes this as “Numbers to leave Numbers, Form to leave Form”. In both chess and martial arts, he created a structure to add meaning, then embodied that knowledge to the point it wasn’t conscious anymore. Prejudice isn’t simply whether we like something or not. It is a way we soak in the chaos of the world till we feel we start to make sense of it. Free Will and Understanding is possible. It is just hard. It requires slowing everything right down and rewiring the way you see, hear, feel, and connect. We will always be prejudiced. The best we can do is build a feedback loop to unlearn and relearn.

Occupé

Complexity is hard to deal with. So we ask easier questions. We model reality with stories and characters. We come up with simplifying numbers to make choices. Everything we think and say is based on assumptions. Under each assumption is another assumption. Till you get to axioms. Statements we regard as accepted or self-evidently true. If we don’t agree on those, it gets progressively harder to agree on the simplified versions higher up the house of cards. I am attempting to burst my English bubble. It’s hard. I love writing, listening and talking. But it is almost all in English. Other languages offer slight twists of perspective. Take the word “Busy”. To me that’s the root. French is occupé. That feels more insidious. Like an occupied country during war time. It’s more like a thesaurus than another language. There is some common ground. But I am still just at the stage where I hear a string of unintelligible, but very sexy, sound when I hear French. I still need to do the deep work to be able to connect. To train my ear. Train my tongue. Train the way I see the world. That feels like rewiring who I am. Just like unwinding prejudice.

Occupied France

Arriving in France

“If you want to learn a language, you have to give it life”, explains Gabriel Wyner of Fluent Forever. When I was playing poker, my friends and I would have endless analogies of life situations and starting hands. We called Ace-King, Anna Kournikova (looks good, never wins). I am more convinced that both Wealth Creation and Prejudice are like languages. You can’t just dive into a conversation about Money or Race in the same way as you can’t just land in France and speak French. You have to build up a vocabulary. To do that, you have to train your mouth to say the words. To do that, you have to train your ear to hear the words. Everything we hear, see, say, and think is deeply connected. So deeply, we aren’t even conscious of why we think what we think. Even though we are good at adding defences or explanations to justify. Giving life is a slow process of paying attention, absorbing, and gradually reconstructing your reality in a richer way. That starts by relaxing your automatic responses. Noting them, but letting them pass. Creating space to explore rather than debate. Space to give life.

First trip to France (1999)

Longue Durée

I still consider myself monolingual even though I have a childlike grasp of a few other languages. I believe you learn languages through embodiment. For the last few months, I have been following the Fluent Forever method of training my ear, tongue, and facial muscles to do French. It is a physical process. Deep soaking. The reason History matters is that much of the way we respond to the world is deep soaked. We don’t just wake up and decide who to be. A new French word I have learnt is “longue durée”. Long Duration. Giving priority to long term historical structures over the short term time frame that is the domain of the chronicler or journalist. I can’t wake up and decide English isn’t my mother tongue. If you want to understand me, you need to get to know me. Personally. But I would be fooling no one if I said my history didn’t matter. If I want to change, that is where I am changing from.

"American Progress" by John Gast

Durban Boy Afrikaans

The CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) outlines your ability within a language. I am attempting to break free of my monotongue world view. My mother tongue is English. I also speak Durban Boy Afrikaans (i.e. not great, but better with booze). My English wife finds it strange when people in South Africa say they are English. South Africa has 11 official languages, and that is part of our identity. In CEFR, level B2 is “the capacity to achieve most goals and express oneself on a range of topics” (2500 active vocabulary) and C1 (5000) involves “nuance, in terms of appropriacy, sensitivity, and the capacity to deal with the unfamiliar”. It feels like financially speaking, we live in a world stuck on level B2. Within a hand-to-mouth, pass-the-parcel economy, we are fine if (1) there are enough jobs, and (2) we don’t go off-script. We can handle the very familiar. We can do Durban Boy Afrikaans with prepared “going to the shops” dialogues. If we want a deeper connection, we need to build Buffers (Emergency Funds) to handle unexpected expenses, and vanishing income. If we want deeper comprehension, we need Engines (Capital that earns on our behalf) that can sustain our exploration. Beyond our income-dependence lies a world of creativity.

1991 Trev in the Durban Boys' Choir

in front of the Durban City Hall

Erinnerung

The French word for worried is inquiet. The German word for memory is erinnerung. More thesaurus than foreign if you look at the substance. Jonathan Haidt talks about the Elephant and the Rider. Daniel Kahneman talks about thinking fast and slow. What is it that we take from the conscious level and soak into our inners? Is there a quiet focus or a noisy angst? Haidt points out that the Elephant is in control, and the Rider just gives suggestions. Our conscious slow thoughts are the things we sit with. The things we dwell on. The things we chew. The training we follow. The Rider can train the Elephant by being conscious of the things we do every day. The habits. The scripts. The rhythms. The beat. The Elephant will listen to words that are whispered consistently and over a long period of time. Through a process of bringing in. Erinnerung.

Soaking

Emma

She loved red wine. She also loved the sound, and action, of her name. There was a link. The people closest to he called her Em, but the tail of her name also carried satisfaction. The sip as two lips press together, followed by the exhalation as they released… satisfied.

Emma sipped her red wine. She sat thinking about the people she loved. She was home alone. Lived alone. But she was not alone. The taste of each and every one of those people who had said her name lingered. A warm glow.

Those moments when she sat with a glass, and someone she loved, were her favourite. When she was alone, like tonight, she would close her eyes and visit people. Kuier. Her favourite word. An Afrikaans word. Kitchen Dutch. A language that was born in heartache, and yet still symbolised so much beauty for her.

Emma’s mother was Afrikaans. She had died when Emma was young. Emma couldn’t really remember her, but she had written a large pile of journals. In Afrikaans. Em would visit her mother by reading the pages in which she had poured out her heart.

Her mother had been a lover of life, and people. She had grown up in a very confusing time. A time when the love of her parents had been forbidden. Emma’s grandfather had grown up in Swaziland on a farm. Her grandmother lived nearby, but it could have been another planet.

God and Money

Words are chunky. The more time we spend together, the more layers of agreed meaning a work can have. Each word in a sentence can mean a sentence. Each sentence a paragraph. Each paragraph a book. If our worlds overlap enough. Like the difference between knowing how to get somewhere you go often, going somewhere often but still needing GPS, or going somewhere for the first time using GPS.

Growing up, I knew exactly what the questions, "Do you believe in God?" meant. God was a very old white dude who used to get rather angry sometimes till he had a son. God knew everything, was everywhere, and could do anything. If a friend and I both believed in God, we both believed in the same God. There were questions, but the questions had answers and we just had to continually do the work. If we both did the work, we would head in the same general direction as we ironed out our misunderstandings.

Increasingly, as Local has become more Global, and Global has become more Local... words have stretched. I don't believe in the God I grew up believing in, but that doesn't mean I am not heading in the same general direction as someone who does. A simple Yes or No doesn't carry as much information. You have to spend time together and dig deeper.

This is the same with other words. Like Capitalism. Like Neo-Liberalism. Like "The Establishment". I believe in all three of those things, but many of my closest friends and family use those words as swear words. I don't think we mean the same thing when we say them.

When I say Capitalism, I am talking about building Capital. The Capital in the "ism". I am talking about reinvestment rather than consumption, in order to build something of lasting and sustainable value. I am talking about being custodians who compound our wealth for future generations. I believe Capital is better placed to work for money than Labour is. Some things can be counted and monetised, some things can't. I believe in a world where we Labour for love.

When I say Neo-Liberalism, I am talking about compromise, best practice, and learning as we go. The new and liberal in the "ism". Where we change enough to Bruce Lee the world. "Accept what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own". Liberal enough to allow change. Conservative enough to reward those who drive the change and protect the things we love. Constrained enough to restrict change to "win-win" sustainable wealth creation, rather than short-term extraction.

When I say "The Establishment". I am talking about our improving institutions, cooperation, and ability to communicate. I am talking about improving democracy, decreasing Global Poverty, infrastructure, and checks and balances on power. I am talking about the gradual empowerment of individuals and communities rather than being controlled by powers from above.

All of these things have holes. I don't believe in extracting profits while not caring about anybody. I don't believe in short-term selling off public assets to shift wealth to a few corrupt individuals. I don't believe in a political class that controls everybody else.

As Global and Local irreversibly become enfuzzed, we need to be careful with our words and our ears. Like religion and money, the primary function is to build the kind of world we want. Not to divide ourselves into teams and throw rocks.

Open Houseparty

The following conversation is fictional

Melusi:

I read one of your conversations. I could relate to the post, but was thrown off by the lack of black characters. Where are the fictional Siphos and Nthabisengs?

Trev:

I feel uber self-conscious about being accused of "blackface" and putting words in the mouths of people. Perhaps I could take on the challenge, addressing my own fears. You don't think I will be hung, drawn, and quartered if Zolani speaks up?

Melusi:

No. I don't think you would be black facing.

Trev:

I quite like the idea of dismantling identity. I love the work you are doing with Melusi's Everyday Zulu. Especially the catchphrase "There is um'zulu in all of us". I am currently working quite hard at snapping my monotongue. I only speak English fluently. Then Durban Boy Afrikaans and a long tail of other failed attempts. I would love to be able to have these conversations with characters from outside my bubble. It feels like I would be talking out my Donkey though. The voices in my head disagree with me, but presumably, see the world in the only way I have been able to. I can understand how someone could disagree with me, but only a me disagreeing with me if that makes sense. How can I speak for someone whose experiences are so different from mine?

There is um'Zulu in all of us

Melusi:

Well, you are speaking for me now aren't you? We never actually had this conversation. Sure it started in reality. But you must have some idea of where it would go.

Trev:

The only way I can explain my hesitance is the shared experience in the post you read. It was about being a guy and the various reactions to the Toxic Masculinity ad that Gillette put out. In it, I did voice some female characters. Even that was hard. I have a sense of what many of my friends and family may have thought, but it feels difficult to venture into any areas where the character looks bad. If I call someone Stuart, I can make them look bad and not feel bad myself. All I have to say is, "It's not really Stuart". In the same way I can tell a good mate that he looks like he has eaten all the pies. But I can't tell an acquaintance that they are packing on the pounds.

Sipho:

Actually, it is not cool that I had to wait until Melusi asked you to give me a voice hey. Your think you are all high and mighty. You fear of looking bad looks bad. Perhaps if you actually made an effort to learn another language, and experience other cultures, then you wouldn't feel so bad? Maybe the point at which you were comfortable criticising others would have been earned, because you have clearly demonstrated that you have built the relationships necessary. That the criticism isn't from your perspective.

Nthabiseng:

I don't know. I don't feel comfortable with some white boy speaking for me. What do you know of what I would say? It wouldn't be convincing. Our worlds hardly overlap. There is too much pain. You have been holding the microphone way too long anyway. Sipho, do you really think they are going to make the effort to learn stuff they don't have to? English dominates the world anyway. There is no need. Nothing is going to change. We are all just being forced to jump on board.

Zolani:

Hold on. I am trying. My name is Zolani, but that was given to me in the same way as others were given "Christian names" when the schools started transitioning two decades ago. Except this time, it was me asking for an isiXhosa name. The Freds, Patricias, Jimmys and various other names given because we didn't bother learning peoples real names. The challenge is that the tools aren't there to learn in the way other languages are. The Memrise app has a community version of isiXhosa, but it is limited. With other languages, there are Audible books, Netflix series, and it is possible to go to places where you can immerse yourself. I just make lots of false starts. I want to learn. I just don't know how.

Nthabiseng:

If you really wanted to learn, you would find a way. The rest is noise. People have been promising to learn for years. What I also don't what is a bunch of poverty tourism. Some of you treat us like we are a Show. You come into where I live to have a drink and see how "the others" live. You buy a trinket and go home. You aren't genuinely learning. You are "helping". We don't need your handouts, observation, and general condescension. Save us the civilizing mission.

Trev:

I get that it sounds a bit whiny. It is just genuinely hard to have an action plan for improving things. Most of us are too busy just paying the mortgage, taxiing the kids, and responding to emails. I have found Facebook quite useful as an Open Houseparty of sorts. I still haven't got to engage with lots of people face to face, because I live in the UK. But I do have daily conversations now with people outside my bubble. I feel like my bubble is becoming more holey. The interesting thing is the people don't fit the stereotypes. You can't assume anybody's political, religious, or social views from their names. Even from accents. Gradually, we are getting to the point where people can choose who they want to be.

Sipho:

You are the one who goes on about daily practices. If it is something you really value, you will find a way to do it every day. It is just like getting fit. If you only do something once a week, you stay interested but not much more. If you do something twice a week, you can maintain the level you are at. You need to be doing it at least three times a week to improve. But if you really care, you'll do something every day. Even if it is just a little. Your bubble is a mirror of what you do every day. Stop talking about talking and talk.

[Melusi is kind of fictional, Nthabiseng, Sipho and Zolani are fictional]

Soaking Ideas

When we talk 'off the cuff', where do the words come from? Mostly fully formed sentences come out, with occasional stumbles, ums, errs, and likes... but from where? I am attempting to break out of my Monotongue English world. I am learning new words slowly, and sentences, and gradually creating webs of understanding. It takes ages for it to soak in. I think most of what we say is sitting there waiting to be said. Pre-cooked. So when we listen and act, most of us are just waiting for these pre-existing scripts to play out. It is like our body recognises the situation, and says 'I got this', then goes into automatic effort. It takes a lot of effort to pause, and say 'No, maybe this situation is new'. It takes a lot of effort for new information to soak in, connect to what we already think... and perhaps even change our minds a little.

Soak over night

Nationality and Language

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.

South Africa - Dominant Language Map

Mare Nostrum

L'unificazione dell'Italia iniziò solo nel 1815, dopo le guerre napoleoniche. Fu completato quando Roma divenne la capitale del Regno d'Italia nel 1871. Gli stati della nazione hanno bisogno di una storia di origine "Batman Begins". L'Italia ha scelto la brusca fine dell'Impero Romano d'Occidente 1.400 anni prima. I poeti avevano risvegliato i cuori nel Quattrocento, parlando di "antico valore nei cuori italiani non è morto", e Machiavelli cercava un leader politico che la "liberasse dai barbari". Ironia della sorte, dopo che la storia fu creata, l'unificazione dell'Italia portò la convinzione che il nuovo paese meritasse il proprio impero d'oltremare. Nostaligia è stata stimolata a dipingere il quadro del Mare Nostrum - reclamando le coste del Mediterraneo.

Mare Nostrum

Deutsch und Zulu

Germanische Migration

Deutschland wurde erst nach dem Fall Napoleons 1814 zu einem Land. Eine Konföderation von 39 Staaten wurde gebildet. Es wurde erst 1871 als ein einziger Nationalstaat vereinigt. Ich denke oft an die Parallelen zwischen den germanischen Migrationen und den Bantu-Migrationen. Die Zulu-Nation wurde 1818 von Shaka gegründet. Vor 1800 wanderten viel kleinere Gruppen sprachlich verbundener Gruppen durch eine Welt mit weniger als einer Milliarde Menschen und ohne Grenzen. Bauern, Entdecker, Krieger, Händler und Menschen auf der Suche nach einem besseren Leben für ihre Familien. Die germanische "Migrationszeit" erlebte ihren Höhepunkt im Fall des Römischen Reiches (375-568). Wir wissen weniger über die Bantu-Migration, die allmählicher war und mindestens um 1000 v. Chr. Begann und ein viel größeres Gebiet abdeckte. Die Bantu-Erweiterung erreichte, etwa zur Zeit der germanischen Version, Südafrika.

Bantu Migrations

España y Sudáfrica

Durante mucho tiempo, España fue la potencia mundial dominante. Crecí en Sudáfrica, donde cualquier impacto duradero no es inmediatamente obvio. España dominó las Américas hasta una combinación del movimiento de independencia después de Napoleón y la Guerra Hispanoamericana de 1898. Sudáfrica también fue afectada por la Guerra Napoleónica. Fue entonces cuando Gran Bretaña miró al sur. Llegaron los 1820 Settlers y comenzó una serie de Anglo-Somebody Wars hasta que se formó la Unión de Sudáfrica en 1910. Para entonces, España ya no era un gran negocio. Creo que entender el colonialismo español ayudará a entender los pasos necesarios para ayudar a sanar mi propia patria.

Guerra hispano-estadounidense

ukuphindaphinda

Enye yeendlela iindlela abantwana bafunda ngazo, kukuphindaphinda. Bazokopisha abazali babo nootitshala. Amagama nezenzo ziphindaphinda ngokuphindaphindiweyo njengomdlalo. Ukuqonda akukho, kodwa bafundisa imizimba yabo. Imizimba yabo iyazuza ukuqonda ngendlela. Xa ndizama ukufunda iSiXhosa, andizange ndikwazi ukuphinda ndiphinde ndiyidlale. Into endiyibonayo inegama lesiNgesi eliqhotyoshelweyo. Iimvakalelo zesiNgesi. Ngcamango zesiNgesi. Andikholelwa ukuba ukufunda iilwimi malunga nokukwazi ukuguqulela igama elinye. Ngokuphathelele ukwakha iwebhu yokuqonda. Ukufumana imibuzo emihle. Ukusebenzisa ukungaqondi, kodwa ukhululekile kunye nokungahambi kahle kokufunda.

Grume

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.

Korthand

Vooroordeel is 'n nuttige kortskrif vir beginners. Wanneer iemand sê, 'Ek kan nie die klavier speel nie', beteken dit nie: 'Dit is onmoontlik vir my om die klavier te speel.' Wat hulle werklik bedoel, is: 'Ek het nooit die nodige moeite gedoen om te leer hoe om die klavier te speel nie.' Die speel van die klavier is soos om 'n taal te leer. Dit is moeilik. Dit verg konteks. Dit verg koördinasie tussen die hande, die oë, die geheue en die emosies. Rassisme is effektief dieselfde ding. 'Al X mense lyk dieselfde' is kortliks, 'Ek het nog nie geleer om die individue te kan sien nie. Ek het nie genoeg konteks en begrip om buite die wêreld waar ek grootgeword het, te sien nie. '

Dieper Begrip

As jy jou ore oplei, kan jy hoor dat die grense tussen tale vaag is. Engels is 'n duidelike voorbeeld. Baie min mense op Mud Island praat soos die Koningin. Ek is 'n Engelsspreker van die eerste taal (met 'n Suid-Afrikaanse aksent) en daar is baie stede waar ek sukkel om te verstaan. Glasgow is die mees voor die hand liggende voorbeeld. Dit is wanneer hulle die 'dieselfde' woord sê. Wannee jy na Duits, of Nederlands, of Sweeds, of Frans luister, sal daar woorde wees wat die tale skakel. Daar is selfs woorde wat Spaans en Sanskrit (Naranja - Oranje) verbind. 'Lycka' in Sweeds beteken 'joy/happiness or geluk'. Dit is maklik om die verband met Lekker in Afrikaans te sien. Iets wat lekker is, bring beslis vreugde en geluk. Om ander tale te leer, kan wees om 'n voorwerp rondom en om te draai. Om 'n wyer uitsig te kry. 'N Dieper begrip.