Page 13 - My Mom Speaks Broken English: My Lingustic Identity; Language and Literacy Project, UWRT 1103

I began helping my sister organize her toys. My
mother moved to the next room. I could still hear her
speaking faintly on the phone.

“Amaka, why does mom always talk like that when
she is on the phone with someone who is not Nigerian?”
my sister looked up at me, genuine confusion plastered on
her face.

“What do you mean, Ugonna? Help me pick these up!
These toys are yours anyway!”

My sister crossed her arms in annoyance. “I mean,
whenever mommy is talking to a white person, she always
makes herself sound like them! Why is she pretending?”

I thought for a moment. I had never really considered
this before. My sister was right; whenever she used the
phone, my mom always made herself sound more like the
white people that I heard on TV. Then, I thought to all of
the times when my mom was told to repeat herself, people
unable to understand her through her accent.

After coming to my conclusion, I responded to my
sister’s question. “I think it is so that they understand her
better. You know, so that they don’t have to keep asking
her to repeat everything over and over.”

My sister seemed to ponder this for a moment. “That’s
stupid.”

I looked down at Ugonna pointedly. “She has to. If no
one could understand her, how would we get anything
done?!”

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