AS a child having grown up in South Africa, one would think that I would be able to speak multiple languages, or, at least more than two.
Yet, it is my reality as well as that of many other white South African youths who have been educated in the post-Apartheid South African school system to be lacking in this department.
This is something which has disappointed me since I finished high school. Before that, I had always thought of my inability to comprehend anything besides English to be a mere nuisance.
I often felt irritated when others spoke other languages around me as I could not understand them. However, over the years I began to see that I had been cheated on a far greater level.
The attempted teaching of isiZulu when I was in primary school did little to prepare me for the opportunity to take it as a second language in high school, especially since one had to be fluent in the language and many home-language Zulu speakers felt unprepared to do so themselves. As a result, my little understanding of isiZulu dwindled.
Attending a school in KwaZulu-Natal also meant that I had no academic exposure to any other languages despite living in a country with 11 official languages.
Although I understand the economic realities, I fail to see the legitimacy in having five or more Afrikaans teachers in comparison to three isiZulu teachers while others languages remain invisible at schools like mine.
Thus, I learned Afrikaans with diligence while my knowledge of Nguni languages remained minimal.
Despite being exposed to other languages by my peers and friends, I never felt the need to learn them as I was often catered to.
Thus, I left high school with the laughable knowledge of two languages.
I arrived at Rhodes University and this reality was made shockingly obvious to me.
I encountered my privilege through the unabashed opinions of my fellow students and began to see how greatly I had been failed and, importantly, had failed myself.
I began to see, clearer than ever, the disproportionate dichotomy between English and every other language in this country.
Last year I witnessed the #AfrikaansMustFall protests yet English continued its hegemony.
As a requirement for journalism, I took isiXhosa as one of my subjects this year and was made further aware of how fixed English is at the top of the proverbial pyramid.
As non-mother tongue speakers we were catered to so clearly by being taught largely in English, a concept which sounds ludicrous.
In comparison, one of our lecturers shared her story of being made to grapple and master English while earning her degree as she had been raised in a 100 percent Xhosa-speaking school.
English remains dominant in academia and the work-place. It is pandered to and made visible at every moment while other languages are made to be less important.
In my experience, this is a reality faced at every side and although it has differing results, it remains true.
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