Categories: linguistics, study
Date: 05 August 2004 03:53:41
A traditional language of Kenya.
I was introduced to it in class last night when, as a method of introducing us to the struggles migrants and refugees have with an unknown language when they arrive here, we had a lesson in Gîkûyû: completely in Gîkûyû -- with a lot of body language to get the message across! I have learnt a few key phrases, and it was a very enjoyable part of the lesson.
Even more enjoyable was watching the reactions of the late-comers as they arrived: the image of us echoing the teacher's Gîkûyû words had quite a few of them bewildered. They knew they were in the right class as they recognised us, but I am sure they wondered what on earth was going on!