The beauty of IsiXhosa

Isixhosa is a very beautiful and unique language mostly cause of its confusing 15 clicks that were borrowed from another culture the Khoi-sans, one of the clicks being the “X” in the word xhosa. It is a language spoken by umxhosa who is proud of being umxhosa but today I feel as though we are not proud of ubuxhosa bethu. The youth of today find it funny for a xhosa speaking person to pronounce english words incorrectly but for an english speaking person to pronounces xhosa words incorrectly is understandable, WHY!?

We take pride in other languages but no our own, we’d rather be known as the youth who speaks english so fluently de kutwe “sisikhupa ngempumlo isingesi” rather than knowing your own language because then people will look at you in another. Youth, misspelling words from your mother toungue is not cool it is actual an embarrassment. Nothing is wrong with learning other languages because our country has 11 different languages that we also need to learn so that when we are in other provinces that speak a different language from ours but taking pride in your own language first is vital.

IsiXhosa and ubuxhosa I'd like to believe go hand in hand and today both of them have changed. They have changed because of the lives we live and the society we live in. Mandulo, during the days of our forefathers ubuxhosa were the things that you saw with your naked eye, the hardships, the things that we see in pictures today and make you think “this makes me proud of being umxhosa". UbuXhosa was the village girl wearing nothing but a traditional skirt and beads and goes to gatherings with other village girls where they’d sing and dance; ubuxhosa was the young boy helping his father with herding his livestock and playing intonga with the other boys. It is the old man sitting next to his kraal puffing and passing on inqawe yakhe while he waits for his teenage boy to bring the livestock home after a long day of herding. The xhosa woman who does nothing but look after the kids all day and also goes to the bushes to look for inkuni so that she can cook for her family outside eziko on a three legged pot. Ubuxhosa was after not being home for a whole year because of work or studies and before even entering the house you first go to ebuhlanti and talking to your ancestors, thanking them on keeping you safe all year-long and not forgetting uQamata, uThixo wamaxhosa. 

umXhosa is made up of the traditions and the culture itself. 

Xhosa girls singing and dancing

Know yourself African Child!

There are many changes in the world and so are there changes in society and our cultures. We as the children of umgquba (African soil), isizwe somzi ontsundu (black nation) have forgotten who and what we are.  We have moved forward with the world and left behind the legacy that our forefathers had left behind for us to pick up and move forward with. We have forgotten what isiXhosa and ubuXhosa is, what it is to be umXhosa.

Hello I am Aviwe Sinathi Nqanqali, a 1^st year journalism student at Walter Sisulu University in East London and to make my writing skills better I will be speaking my mind on isiXhosa my home language, the language with so many clicks even the name itself represents the clicks spoke in the language hence the “X”, clicks that are enough to confuse abantu bebala(English speakers) or foreigners except for the Khoi-Khois because that’s where they are borrowed from and ubuXhosa what makes me who I am today; my clan name which is vital in our culture because if you don’t know isiduko(clan name) sakho then you don’t know who you are because a clan name kwaXhosa is how you identify yourself and if you don’t know your identity you are known as “ubukranuka” meaning you lack identity, the traditions of my culture that I uphold, amasiko nesithethe zakowethu. Our traditions in our Xhosa culture are part of us because most of them transform you mentally and physically. Imbleko is done for a newborn who is being introduced to the ancestors; intonjane is done for a teenager who is going into adulthood or womanhood and ulwaluko which is done for a boy who is going into manhood. UbuXhosa is showing respect to your elders not speaking when an adult is speaking, and when being spoken to you must not maintain eye contact also knowing that umama is not only the woman who gave birth to you but also the mother from next door and also the mother you bump into on the streets, same as utata. From that, the saying is “it takes a village to raise a child” was born.

 Time have changed an so has society, children have rights but don’t know that they have responsibilities, umntana womXhosa (a Xhosa child) has forgotten who and what they, they don’t have anyone else to blame but their parents for not taking the time to teach their child about IsiXhosa and ubuXhosa 

It takes a village to raise a child!