Musa26 wrote:Sophisticate wrote:I suppose lone words should be omitted too, huh?
For the record, mixing English and Somali is a crutch for those of us who haven't quite mastered our mother tongue, for whatever reason. Perfectionism is probably the biggest obstacle to learning a language, as an adult, that coupled with the fact that Somali speakers are less than empathetic with you if you are Somali, is probably the reason (1) improvements in proficiency aren't made, (2) there's a reluctance to learn it all together. Perhaps, they are more patient with ajnabis (which are willing to embarrass themselves in an effort to learn), but that kind of courtesy isn't extended to Somalis born abroad that have limited to no proficiency in their mother tongue.
Sophie how is your af somali ? do you regularly converse in the mother tongue or do you prefer to speak english
My Somali is rudimentary, at best. English is my dominant language. You might find this surprising but my parents started off speaking to me in only Somali, despite being born abroad I didn't speak English until I was 5, just Somali. As you can imagine English took over and I have been speaking it ever since. Keep in mind, my parents have enabled me by also speaking mostly in English to me. They speak several languages themselves, so it's more of a disservice to me. I always tell myself that I would consider improving it some day. Haven't gotten around to it. And it's a little too late for me to be dhaqan celis. I guess I won't be getting a one-way ticket to Borama or Hargeisa anytime soon.
