Foreign Languages Broaden Your Mind

What is a mistake? It’s what you did not take, but should have taken. Missing a step is a good example. We are hostages of our phones, so it’s inevitable that we’ll fall, if we miss that first step on a flight of stairs. We did not take it, it was a mis-take. We even court suicide when we cross the street. We forget to bring down the leg from the pavement to the street. That’s why we fall. We made a mis-take.

That is why learning a foreign language is so difficult. We don’t know a word’s origin, so we memorize.  Quite frankly, I was not aware of the importance of word origin until I started offering Zulu lessons on this blog. I can never learn Hindi, Tagalog, Arabic, Vietnamese or Putongua, because they are completely different from English, my third language.

People who read this blog understand a little bit of Zulu because I explain a word’s origin wherever possible.

Zulu: the language.

Isi-Zulu: also the language.

Isi-Zulu: sorghum beer, beer of the Zulu people.

Ama-Zulu: people who speak Zulu.

iZulu: the sky

eZulwini: Christians say their god lives in the sky.

iZulu: the weather

iZulu: the king  

Back to the English word mistake. It has two syllables mis-take. Two or three? Two, I think. Which one is the core, the origin? It’s mis-, because it has a multiplier effect.

You mislead somebody.

He becomes misinformed.

You misjudge somebody.

You mispronounce a German word.

You misquote the President.

I’m learning Yoruba, a Nigerian language. Identifying the core of words makes the process easier. There’s also a plus, enjoying Nigerian hit songs by Rema and Kizzy Daniel.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.