In My Tongue

I think about that a lot too, how... How, like, I just don't know enough Lingala, to be able to like... I guess, transmit it, if I were to have children, which is kind of sad to me, because then it's like well that language just like... died with me, which is why I'm trying to -- I'm trying my best to kind of learn it.

Because the other issue, too, is that because I learned it by listening and I was never spoken to and had that, you know, reflex of replying. I don't really know how to speak. I can only understand and eavesdrop on conversations, but then actually responding is a challenge.

So there's that, and there's also the fact that, like my mom, her... On her side, my grandparents speak Kikongo, and then on my dad's side, I think his mom speaks Tshiluba, and then on his dad's... On my dad's dad's side, they spoke Chokwe. So, it's like, there's all of these... There's like, not only Lingala, there's all those other languages related to my ethnic tribes that are lost, because then it's like, well, my parents only spoke... they spoke their common language, and then, they didn't really speak to me, so now all of those languages are kind of gone -- at least for me.

I don't know what the situation is like in Congo, but I think a lot about that, and how all that... The culture and everything related to those languages aren't... I won't be able to pass those down, so...