The Standard Media – Lee Mwiti
“Naima Karimi is proud that her daughter Tiffany Nkatha can speak four languages. English, Kiswahili, French and her mother tongue, Kimeru. Tiffany, 16 years old and in Form Three, started learning French when she was 13 and seems to have an affinity for languages. “She is good at languages and always excels in them. She is also good at writing. She intends to learn German too and, if possible, Chinese,” Ms Karimi says proudly. Such a revelation from a parent, no matter how humble, brings to the core the level of importance we place on children learning other languages apart from the English they encounter in schools and in middle class homes. To a larger extent, Kenyans are progressive when it comes to mastery of languages since most children grow up learning English, Kiswahili and, for some, their mother tongue. Majority of schools also teach a host of foreign languages including French, German and recently Chinese.”(more)