President Hichilema’s grammar and articulation were near perfect on CNN yesterday- Laura Miti

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LITERATURE IN ENGLISH SHOULD BE COMPULSORY IN SECONDARY SCHOOL

By Laura Miti

Listening to President Hichilema on CNN yesterday , I thought – this guy was born deep in the dyoli. Rural area++. I doubt his parents were too literate. Yet, his grammar and articulation are near perfect.

What happened to our education system that majority under 30’s are painfully linguistically challenged? Few ever achieve grammar, spelling and vocabulary competence beyond Grade 6 level.

Along the way, many learn the jargon of their chosen profession, but remain extremely weak at both expression and comprehension.

This inability to express ourselves fully is the probably the main reason our social media is so foul. People just do not have the vocabulary with which to be civil. So nikutukana chabe.

Make Literature in English compulsory in secondary school!

20 COMMENTS

  1. Great observation Laura, not ifyaba EM trying to find a fault all the time.
    Ukupoke nkwale kumwaice kwambila kwikanga
    We’re in a desperate situation and therefore to seek sympathy we’ve to exaggerate a little bit
    The man is not an hydrogeologist or hydrologist, give him the benefit of the doubt
    Did you expect him to start researching 100 year events on the interview?
    Aikona man

    • This is clearly being petty. Of everything the President mentioned all you could appreciate is grammar. This shows how much this countey has misplaced priorities. People nolonger know whats important. Celebrating a foreign language really?. We’ve NEVER had a president with poor grammar. WHAT NONSENSE!

  2. In fact ECL and his minions could claim a place in the under 30s mentioned in this article. Ukufilwa fye naka Press Conference umungulu ulya. STUPID IDIOTS.

  3. Ba Laura, it is not just the spoken word. It us worse when it comes to writing, even a simple exercise like writing a cash receipt. Most taxi drivers are at loss what to do and they will give you the receipt book and ask you to fill in the details. That is how bad our education system is.

    The competence levels of the teachers and their commitment is dismal.

  4. Our education system is a mess. Institutions training teachers are in the “garbage in, garbage out” mode. Surprisingly Zimbabwe despite being under biting sanctions has, by far, better education standards than Zambia.

  5. Spot o n! The majority of the so called political party presidents of these one man or woman can’t express themselves in proper English without resorting to local languages.
    HH is superior to all these. Including pf. At pf conferences you can’t be a Lucazi from NW province because you won’t understand what they will be saying as all the conference will be devoid of English. Well done Laura for noticing.

  6. It is true. Many young people in Zambia nowadays, including some claiming to be journalists, don’t know the difference between loose and lose, for example.

  7. Ba Laura please be proud that you’re an African and not English. English is not our mother tongue, concentrate on the contents than the language. I am so proud of countries that use their native languages than people who pretend to be English.

  8. I listened to it too. I felt very proud of my president. Some local opposition political leaders are no where near HH when he is responding to interviews by international media; even when he addressing a president briefing. ECL is the only past president in Zambia I know who could not articulate himself in English properly. He would quickly switch to Bemba and woe to you if you do not understand the Bemba language; even at rallies regardless of where he was he, he was comfortable to speak only in Bemba. HH makes us proud mwe.

  9. English baLora is not a parameter to be used as the measure of intelligence or wisdom. Rewind back to early years of independence, a good number of our leaders didn’t have the education and English you are boasting about. Despite that they performed wonders. Language is an aspect of culture. Look at developed nations do they speak foreign languages.

    You are a lost soul.

  10. You have nailed it rightly, madam Laura Mitti.
    There are times when I fail to understand and comprehend the English language that is found on social media.
    One has to figure out what is being said in that particular article.
    A lot of reform is needed English language curricular.

  11. Exactly hh is a king when it comes to grammar and articulating things, that is the reason why whites applaude him so much when he is giving them an address, not bene meno meno who used to run away from BBC and cnn interviews because in their mouth was just bemba and junta

  12. It is a difficult thing to generalize though. Fluency and articulation in both speech and writing varies from person to person. I know of young people in their 30s who are extremely intelligent but their speech articulation is awful and vice versa I have come across young people who are very articulate but with dodgy intelligence, empty heads

  13. Exactly hh is a king when it comes to grammar and articulating things, that is the reason why whites applaude him so much when he is giving them an address, not bene meno meno who used to run away from BBC and cnn interviews because in their mouth was just bemba and junta and jammeson

  14. Dr Kaoma Mulenga, where did you get your doctorate? PHDs are never better nor jealous. If you don’t have maize to eat, go and cultivate….very lazy man

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