Are they ashamed of their mother tongue?

EDITOR—I am disappointed with Banyankore and Bakiga women. For several years I have observed that they hardly speak their mother tongue! Children acquire their first language from mothers and indeed that is why it is called the mother tongue.

Mastering this first language helps them to learn second and other languages fast. However, these women have destroyed the first language.

For whatever reasons they advance, they don’t speak to their children in their mother tongue! instead, they speak to them in Luganda and English! There are so many unanswered questions:

Do these women have a mother tongue or is their mother tongue English or Luganda?

Do they know the importance of a child mastering its mother tongue first before learning other languages?

Are they ashamed of their mother tongue?

Do they think English is superior to their mother tongue?

Do they think not speaking Runyankore/Rukiga at home is modernity?

I take my children to school and meet Asian Banyoro, Batooro, Baganda and Banyarwanda mothers talking to their children in their mother tongue. What is wrong with Banyankore-and Bakiga mothers?

Fridah Katushemererwe
Makerere University