Don’t say that. Stop. Why are you speaking like that? What is wrong with you? Are you coloured? You’re not white? Why do you sound like that? These are a few questions and words I grew up hearing on repeat. A constant remind of who I wasn’t. The intentions of these words were simple and deadly, they aimed to control my way of thinking of myself and other people. I have brown hair, light brown eyes and the most important element in describing me is that I am fair skin. And being born this way came with responsibility and privilege I never knew belonged to me. My family never treated me different, they never changed the way they spoke when they were speaking to me and I got into the same trouble as my cousins and brother.
My true first language was taught to me by my grandmother before I went to preschool. It was a coloured language that allowed my entire family to communicate with each other. I …show more content…
The effect that my first true English had on my proper English was colossal. English at school never intrigued me, never made me lust for more, never made me want to get to class early, never made me devoted to do extra readings and never encouraged my sense of literature. During the seven years of junior school I never grasped the concepts I was being exposed to during English class so obviously I wasn’t good at English. I was not used to this proper English because it conflicted with the English of my grandmother, my true first language. So which English do I choose? Which language was correct? They both held a sense of importance to me and for years I put off the questions around both languages. And I went with using both. When I was playing at lunch or chatting to friends at aftercare I used my grandmothers English so I developed that language quicker than my proper English. My parents and brother were disapproving of this developing
My true first language was taught to me by my grandmother before I went to preschool. It was a coloured language that allowed my entire family to communicate with each other. I …show more content…
The effect that my first true English had on my proper English was colossal. English at school never intrigued me, never made me lust for more, never made me want to get to class early, never made me devoted to do extra readings and never encouraged my sense of literature. During the seven years of junior school I never grasped the concepts I was being exposed to during English class so obviously I wasn’t good at English. I was not used to this proper English because it conflicted with the English of my grandmother, my true first language. So which English do I choose? Which language was correct? They both held a sense of importance to me and for years I put off the questions around both languages. And I went with using both. When I was playing at lunch or chatting to friends at aftercare I used my grandmothers English so I developed that language quicker than my proper English. My parents and brother were disapproving of this developing