The Misuse of English

The Misuse of the English Language by Mickey Nekomba

In a country like Namibia, the English language (also known as the Queen’s English) is, as we like to call it, ‘slaughtered’.  It’s so cruelly treated that if it was a teddy bear, it would have its eyes popping out and a missing button. Poor bear.

But is it our fault really? All the grammar rules, all the spelling… English can make you tear your hair out! Take a look at the words their vs. they’re or this vs. these. They sound the same, kind of, but they’re not correct. Why? More rules. Those red underlined words in essays back at school were a bit saddening, but hey, everybody’s got to be corrected and that’s just the way we learn. All of us have faced challenges in the English language one way or another and the question we’d like to know is how do we overcome the problems that others face?

Each year, each month, probably each day there’s a new word invented such as Googling, bootylicious, etc. and we adopt these words in our daily language which later affects the way we write. We all know those slang words, don’t we? ‘Nxa, kamastag, etse, hukal…’ Your lecturer would not appreciate it if you wrote something like this in your essay: “I think Intercultural Communication is tog about getting along with each other and whatnot, man.” Imagine the shock on your lecturer’s face. Imagine!

So if you’re willing to improve your English skills a little bit, take an English class, read more novels, observe where and when punctuation marks are used and in which context, and do bits and pieces of research here and there. Highly recommended!

Mickey Nekomba