Chilapalapa or Fanagalo.

Chilapalapa or Fanagalo.

One cold African winter’s morning,
Another lesson intruded without warning;
Whilst trying to study a dead language.
A lesson from the wisdom of the ages;
If what I say can’t be understood,
Then all of my intentions are no good,
And you will still be blind,
To the vision in my mind.

The dramatis personae on stage,
Two people far different in culture and age,
A colonial English schoolmarm,
A young herd boy from the farm.
Between them a table heavily piled,
With Latin lesson books neatly filed,
Ready to be returned from whence they came,
One or two with glory, the rest with shame.

Please come with me if you will,
But promise to be very, very still;
As we delve into each mind.
And observe thoughts of a different kind,
In what has been really said,
And which between the lines has been read.
Judge not who is right or wrong,
Or unto whom the fault belongs.

If only I could find a way,
For him to grasp what I say:
“Nkomo puta jabuku in the boota”
She must really think I’m a polooka;
Puta, a lady of disrepute
Must want me to put Jabuka beer in her boots:
Probably wants them to stretch,
Cow's pee is best even with the stench.

He hasn’t understood a word I said,
Can nothing sink into his head?
“Tata faka lapa moto” that should inspire.
Take and put it in the fire
Great, look at the smile on his face,
Pity this isn’t the time or place
to teach him English
As GBS said “Why can't the English…?

Quote prompt:
“An expert is a man who tells you a simple thing in a confused way in such a fashion as to make you think the confusion is your own fault.”
~William Castle

Word Count 267
40 lines

Authors note.
“Africa is known to be by far the most linguistically diverse continent. The number of African languages is usually put at around 2000 (Grimes 2000), i.e. one third of the world’s linguistic heritage. This number is not static, as some languages are still being “discovered”, while others, with few speakers, are disappearing.”
Ref:
http://tinyurl.com/aowgu


Chilapalapa is a language spoken primarily in Zimbabwe, and a variant used in South Africa is called Fanagalo.
Ref:
http://tinyurl.com/ox2nmb

It should be noted these are pidgin languages.

GBS: George Bernard Shaw