Learning Sesotho and Other Things

Trying to learn Sesotho has given me is a much greater appreciation for individuals who master languages other than their birth language. I also marvel at language itself, how it is that we communicate in such a highly complex manner. Each language is different, how ideas are crafted differ, yet speakers in whatever language converse; sharing ideas, conveying needs and perspectives, and telling stories.

My Sesotho lessons now include translating a Sesotho language news article. Since I am just a beginner, I don't always understand the headlines, which are often cryptic attention grabbers and not necessarily proper grammatically, so I never know what I will learn, not just about language but about culture. In a recent article I came face to face with the complexity of numbers in Sesotho. Numbers one to ten are quite straightforward but after that ... after that even Basotho are know to prefer English terminology. The article referenced ages. Here is my best attempt at a literal translation of one phrase containing a number. "A man whose years of tens they are two, of units they are two," - in other words, a twenty two year old man. The rest of the story turned out to be another example of a custom I have referenced before, where a man/youth who wants a wife, just takes one.

In this article the twenty two year old man had seized "a girl whose years they are ten and of units they are four" to be his wife. The most troubling aspect of this story was that although it is against the "law of Lerotholi" (the royal law of Lesotho) to seize a girl so young, her parents' involvment of the police (what the news article was reporting) was to seek assistance to obtain the payment of "cows, they are six", which in that village was the customary payment for so seizing and violating an unmarried girl. This payment would be in addition to the bride price that the man's parents would subsequently negotiate with the girl's parents.

More and more I am hearing and learning of this practice, and those I talk with continue to add to my understanding that this is not a random, infrequently occurring practice, but rather a common continuing practice in many parts of Lesotho. If a man/youth fancies a girl he simply seizes her and takes her home to his parents, and he has himself a wife.

What I am also learning as I work on translating news article is that news here is not a lot different than news back in Canada. News here too, tends to focus on the troubling side of human experience, not about positive events. News tends to more often record the depths of man's selfish and violent actions, and here, the often equally violent response of 'village justice'.

So learning Sesotho is becoming a mixed experience for me. I marvel at the fabric of language, man's ability to communicate. Yet, in gaining some ability to understand another language I am saddened. Despite all that language offers humanity in terms of communicating and in reconciling differences, evil incarnate remains in our midst. Sadly, irrespective of our culture and language, a common response of mankind to differences it seems, is too often abuse, violence, and selfish actions.

Oh, that the Prince of peace might reign in hearts.

~ Benno ~