BEING a new parent comes with its own challenges and one of them is the issue of which language to speak to your child.   Nowadays it is ever increasingly becoming fashionable for parents to speak to their children in the formal language which is English.
Passing down of a parent’s local language appears to be diminishing more and more, not only in Zambia.
Whatever the case, it is very important for parents to realise that their children need to understand and speak their native language.
Hence the ministry of Education has re-introduced the learning of local languages in primary schools.
The whole purpose is for pupils to have a knowledge of local languages as opposed to just learning  the Queen’s language which is English.
Mothers are key in ensuring that children learn their local language as they are growing up.
Their mother tongue is important first of all to uphold culture and ensure continuity so that the Zambian languages and the culture do not become extinct.
In Zambia today, many children have become what some people call
“language orphans”.Nothwistanding the fact that their parents speak as many as five or six languages but they relate with their children using English alone and not any other language!
Their reasons are best known to themselves but the truth is that these children will not really forgive the parents for cutting them off from so much of their heritage.
Many of these children will regret their childhood as learning their local languages in old age will not be an easy task.
“I am ashamed to admit, I do not know my local language. When I asked my mother why she didn’t encourage us to speak in our native language, she said it was retrogressive to learn a local language!
It’s sad and unfortunate that she undermined her own language which is beautiful,” laments one child.
Exposing young ones to learning two languages at an early age is good for them.
Language acquisition ability decreases with age so children who learn two
languages at an early age have an advantage over those who only learn
one. It will be easier for them to learn even more languages because they will have the language acquisition skill.
After the age of seven it becomes pretty  more difficult to learn a new language.
One can instantly connect with their culture through their local languages.
“There is a lot I miss out on – music, literature, festivals. I do understand a bit, but while conversing with my elders, I’m lost and
feel like an outsider,” another child lamented.Children should not be treated as strangers in their own land simply because they cannot converse using their local languages which has a potential to identify their roots.
As observed above, many parents in Zambia now do not want their children to learn their local language for reasons best known to them
but the truth is that speaking to your child in their mother tongue is not a disservice to them.
Parents can still give the best of both worlds to their children.
The belief is that the more a family uses English together, the stronger their English language skills will become.While it is true that family members can also help one another by practicing English together,English should not supplant the native language in the home.
In fact, dropping the home language in favour of English can end up having many negative consequences.
One Lusaka parent says that is being lopsided child development and it will not help the child and can only be compared stunted growth as a misnomer.
Culturally, children become disoriented and for some reason they will find themselves in broader society and they will not be able to communicate in their local language and fit in.
As a speech-language pathologist and as a multilingual mother of bilingual children, Ana Paula G. Mum says she is shocked and confused at the number of parents who have chosen not to speak their native language to their children for various reasons or who have been persuaded to believe that speaking their native language to their children will hurt them socially or academically if the primary language of the community is different.
According to Ms Mum, speaking in a local language is because that is the language in which children are likely to be most dominant or
proficient, which in turn is the language in which they are able to provide quality language input as well as support effectively and consistently.
Class work and homework with their parents, it is important that these discussions take place in a language that feels comfortable and natural.
By speaking to children in their local language, parents build the foundation of language Research shows that children with strong first
language skills are more ready and able to learn a second language.
In other words, it’s difficult to build a second language if the first language foundation is not established and supported while the second
language is being learnt.
The language expert says that to put a halt on the native language will only hurt the child’s understanding. To promote the local language growth, and long-term negative effects will be inevitable.
To promote the local languages, parents should help with homework, projects, or assignments that are in the formal language but the explanations can be done in the local language.
Experts also advise parents to use the local languages in daily  conversation and family routines, during family outings and celebrations.
What children also need is not so much a highly accurate linguistic role model, but rather several people to speak the local language with.
It is important to also expose your children to their peers who can speak the local languages to help them learn the local language. Children are good at learning languages so it is important to allow them to learn the local language at a tender age.
According to research, your children’s friends, start being more important linguistic role models than parents at around the age of four.
Children benefit from speaking their local language in terms of education. In fact, studies suggest that if children build a strong foundation in their home language, they will learn to speak, read and write English (or the local language) even better.
Experts also say that the local language also comes from deep within a person and  to connect with our children fully, we need to be able to use words that have a depth of meaning for us.
“To sooth a skinned knee, to talk about new teenage love, or to share something personal about our own childhood, we need to use a language that taps into our own emotions,” the experts say
Most importantly, by choosing to switch to the local language, we are sending a message to our children that our local language, culture,
history and extended family are somehow inferior to the other cultures, language and way of life.
“It is important to show our children that our heritage is important.
We should do all we can to help our children stay connected to it. Our children may even travel to our local homeland when they are older to learn more about their roots,” the experts say.
Children may not appreciate learning the local language now, but down the road they will be thankful that their parents gave them the gift of a home language. Additionally, being bilingual is becoming more and more a door to a variety of business and cultural opportunities.
As stated above, when they are old, children go through the pain of not knowing their language.A lot of people in their generation do not speak the local language and the fear is that the language will eventually die.
Many grown up children wish their parents had spoken or encouraged them to learn their native language more when they were still young as a mode of communication.
It is now up to the parents in Zambia and world over to let the children know and appreciate who and what they are by teaching them their language and encouraging them to uphold their culture.