Spouse is Kenyan and I have learned a fair bit of Swahili. My spouse is fluent in English, Swahili, and their tribal language which I know basically none of.
I never could have imagined how much it would help me understand them better by understanding their language. It has profoundly changed me as a person.
Language is not purely functional, it is woven into who we are and how others perceive us to be. I started learning to simply participate more with them and their family, now I am experiencing my brain be rewritten.
As a person who only spoke English well into adulthood and then is rapidly learning a very different language and culture, I feel like I have a POV that nobody else in my life understands.
Spouse is Kenyan and I have learned a fair bit of Swahili. My spouse is fluent in English, Swahili, and their tribal language which I know basically none of.
I never could have imagined how much it would help me understand them better by understanding their language. It has profoundly changed me as a person.
Language is not purely functional, it is woven into who we are and how others perceive us to be. I started learning to simply participate more with them and their family, now I am experiencing my brain be rewritten.
As a person who only spoke English well into adulthood and then is rapidly learning a very different language and culture, I feel like I have a POV that nobody else in my life understands.
Thanks for asking :)