In My Tongue

For me, I would say that I feel... With English, I feel kind of ambivalent about it, I guess, because... I guess because there's no history, I guess, culturally for us in terms of English, so I'm kind of like... Okay, it's just the most widely spoken language. And I guess I don't think it's as cool as I did when I was a kid, I'm just kind of like, you know, it is what it is.

With French, I feel kind of conflicted about it, because it's a colonial language, but also, I understand the dynamics and history behind it here in Canada. I guess I'm just kind of... grateful to just know another language because it's always... It's, you know, it's always good to know more languages, and... I feel like it's nice, too, because then I get to speak to other like, French-speaking Africans. So it's like a way to kind of, you know, connect with other people from the diaspora -- even though it's a colonial language so there's that. I guess that's how I feel about it.

And then, in terms of Lingala, I mean, I definitely want to know... I want to learn more of it, and how to speak it, I guess, properly, and write it, and everything. And I did a bit of Lingala lessons here for a while, but there was just so... There weren't very many students -- I think it was just me and my sister, so I don't think... I think they cancelled them after a while, but, I would love to improve my skills in that language and it's nice, as you mentioned that... just being able to speak to different family members.

Because I have family members who live, let's say, in England or in the US who don't speak French. So, I guess it's nice to speak English with them, and then, in Congo, it was nice to, you know, be able to understand Lingala, because then I can speak with family there. So, I guess I am thankful for all the languages that I speak, because then, it's like that connection with my family.