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A letter to Kenyans Abroad - by bikozulu
Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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some people pick those accents as soon as they get a visa! All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Member Joined: 3/6/2008 Posts: 632
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Early this year i attended a funeral in the slopes and as the pastor preached he mentioned in his mother tongue the way people come now holding "dasani's" beacuse the water from the taps will make their stomachs churn and just the other day they used to bathe in the river all day - No doubt he was talking about the fellows from "Towns" with their oversize shades clutching bottled water.He continued his lecture on mannerisms and i have to admit i got his brief however what i could not get my head-round was where all this was coming from? Now i have lived in Europe/US for 12 yrs and counting having gone through Uni/Grad school here as well no doubt i have picked an accent. So i will not try to delve in the merits and demerits no will i justify it thats just the way i am. However what strikes/worries me is the "attacks" on each other and just like the pastor i cannot get my head why/where all this is coming from. Dare i say "relative poverty" is more dangerous than absolute povery and i think this is what ails majority of us. Could it be there is a tinkling of jezebel in most of us and we cannot stand different from the people we dont think they deserve it?? I remember when i was graduating in Grad school JK Rawlings was the key speaker and she talked about "The importance of failure in success" and success will always be perceived 2-fold and the less successful "by their own measure" will always fawn over others "perceived" more successful, and this i have seen it repeat itself time and again in my various trips to KE. So like the pastor in the slopes what really is ailing us as a society? if one wants to drink dasani so be it - The need to be recognised surely is a big burden in most of us and will surely destroy many.. PS: Two weeks ago i was in KE and was driving along Arwings Khodhek in a Mazda Demio, across the road an old acquitance saw me in his BIG Allion and he shouted "sasa xxxx naona bado uko huko chini"... and drove off..i have never laughed so hard.
The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday's logic.
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Rank: Member Joined: 7/9/2011 Posts: 730 Location: Nairobi
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Lolest! wrote:kiterunner wrote:
Using the username drunkard a few years ago you could barely complete your posts in English, kwani kwenu mlikua mnaongea nini, aii yawa
Good English is not a requirement to work for a Fortune 500 company. You just need to smell good and be arrogant   LMAO our goals are best achieved indirectly
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/26/2011 Posts: 759
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Excuse me! Drunkard is still my first name and yes my writing is still very bad. You can write the best english but if you can't speak it no one will give you a job, my resume was written by my college career advisor! infact it is only Wazuans who know my English is bad....... Yes being arrogant actually helps.... and yes if you smell like sweats nobody will hire you, not in the West!
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/20/2008 Posts: 437
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Just wondering whether this war (re:cologne et al) is good or bad for our very own @Pierce's biashara?
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Rank: Elder Joined: 6/21/2008 Posts: 2,490
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Ric dees wrote: PS: Two weeks ago i was in KE and was driving along Arwings Khodhek in a Mazda Demio, across the road an old acquitance saw me in his BIG Allion and he shouted "sasa xxxx naona bado uko huko chini"... and drove off..i have never laughed so hard. The man who marries a beautiful woman, and the farmer who grows corn by the roadside have the same problem
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Rank: Elder Joined: 2/26/2008 Posts: 4,449
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masukuma wrote:some people pick those accents as soon as they get a visa! 
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Rank: Member Joined: 7/9/2011 Posts: 730 Location: Nairobi
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Rollout wrote:Excuse me! Drunkard is still my first name and yes my writing is still very bad. You can write the best english but if you can't speak it no one will give you a job, my resume was written by my college career advisor! infact it is only Wazuans who know my English is bad....... Yes being arrogant actually helps.... and yes if you smell like sweats nobody will hire you, not in the West! You claimed you learnt kaleo majuu, so I wondered with such horrible English what did you guys speak at home? By the way speaking with an accent is important in some sectors ie teaching, custome care, waitressing ... but not all. In some jobs (the kind i would be interested in) I can keep my Kenyan accent and not give a care and still have a fulfilling career. So hii nyef nyef ya accent is everything mimi hapana tambua. our goals are best achieved indirectly
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/26/2011 Posts: 759
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kiterunner wrote:Rollout wrote:Excuse me! Drunkard is still my first name and yes my writing is still very bad. You can write the best english but if you can't speak it no one will give you a job, my resume was written by my college career advisor! infact it is only Wazuans who know my English is bad....... Yes being arrogant actually helps.... and yes if you smell like sweats nobody will hire you, not in the West! You claimed you learnt kaleo majuu, so I wondered with such horrible English what did you guys speak at home? By the way speaking with an accent is important in some sectors ie teaching, custome care, waitressing ... but not all. In some jobs (the kind i would be interested in) I can keep my Kenyan accent and not give a care and still have a fulfilling career. So hii nyef nyef ya accent is everything mimi hapana tambua. You have to separate speaking and writing! At home we spoke horrible swahili! Of course there are jobs you don't need to talk to anyone but every meaningful job has some aspect of customer care.... even your manager is your customer you need to communicate with him!
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Rank: Member Joined: 7/9/2011 Posts: 730 Location: Nairobi
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Rollout wrote:kiterunner wrote:Rollout wrote:Excuse me! Drunkard is still my first name and yes my writing is still very bad. You can write the best english but if you can't speak it no one will give you a job, my resume was written by my college career advisor! infact it is only Wazuans who know my English is bad....... Yes being arrogant actually helps.... and yes if you smell like sweats nobody will hire you, not in the West! You claimed you learnt kaleo majuu, so I wondered with such horrible English what did you guys speak at home? By the way speaking with an accent is important in some sectors ie teaching, custome care, waitressing ... but not all. In some jobs (the kind i would be interested in) I can keep my Kenyan accent and not give a care and still have a fulfilling career. So hii nyef nyef ya accent is everything mimi hapana tambua. You have to separate speaking and writing! At home we spoke horrible swahili! Of course there are jobs you don't need to talk to anyone but every meaningful job has some aspect of customer care.... even your manager is your customer you need to communicate with him! If it is true you went to University (not community college) you may have come across several foreign born scientists and professors whose accent you wouldnt call American by any standard. Any way you digress on the accent business So let me get this straight. You are struggling to write in English, speak with super fluent American accent (but do you say), just learnt kaleo in majuu, super arrogant and in your words very successful (and do not smell kenyan of course) our goals are best achieved indirectly
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 10/9/2006 Posts: 1,502
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From now Kenyans should not learn and understand their hosts accent and languages just because Wazuans dont like it.!! work to prosper
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Rank: Member Joined: 7/9/2011 Posts: 730 Location: Nairobi
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Tokyo wrote:From now Kenyans should not learn and understand their hosts accent and languages just because Wazuans dont like it.!! Let everyone live their life but the kind of condescending attitude Rollout oozes in this forum is hard to tolerate in the virtual republic (or anywhere else). He contradicts himself on his hallowed high horse our goals are best achieved indirectly
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 7/22/2011 Posts: 1,325
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What you guys dont understand is that this is a cultural issue, it may be true that diasporans in America are more particular about personal hygiene than the rest, because thats how American culture is. Trust me, even amongst the most African of Africans, Nigerian men, I have not as of yet met one who says he cannot and will not use deodorant. If you have a job, you have to maintain personal hygiene, otherwise your co-workers will complain to your boss, you will be pulled aside and given a warning, if you dont abide you will be fired or taken to a dept where you can work by yourself. Americans only care about the bottom line, if your lack of using deodorant makes Becky uneasy, unable to focus and unproductive, trust me you will be axed. Even Indians in America dont have that distinct Indian smell, go figure. The only people who can afford to not have good personal hygiene are plumbers and car mechanics, everyone else has to shape up or ship out! So it has nothing to do with arrogance or Kenyans in US thinking they are superior, its the culture!
And like someone correctly pointed out, the Americans you encounter in Kenya are the wealthier ones and they are on holiday, they have all the time to listen and try to figure things out, they are there for an African experience. But the American in the US is a completely different person, he is usually overworked, stressed and always in a rush, he has no time to figure out if you're talking about a hat, a heart, a hut or being hurt. He is quickly annoyed and his anger is usually stoked by Fox about immigrants stealing all his jobs! So dont think that just coz you've encountered some Americans in Kenya and they understood you, that you somehow have an argument.
Lastly the accent is usually acquired subconsciously, one day you realize that you can pronounce things the American way. Granted there are those who try to force the accent trying to be cool, but most people just get tired of being told huh, and what did you say and being corrected on the right way to pronounce stuff, that they eventually pronounce it the American way. Thats why its ludicrous to me that that author is demanding we somehow just switch off the accent at JKIA as if its tap water. Imagine having to consciously remind yourself to pronounce something a certain way, when you speak you dont think of pronounciation you just speak. Even in academic papers, you have to spell things the American way eg they spell civilise as civilize, so thank God for Word, coz alot of us would get docked off for spelling errors. And the villager vs city comparison is spot on, case of the pot calling the kettle black.
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/1/2009 Posts: 846
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Rollout wrote:kiterunner wrote:Rollout wrote:Excuse me! Drunkard is still my first name and yes my writing is still very bad. You can write the best english but if you can't speak it no one will give you a job, my resume was written by my college career advisor! infact it is only Wazuans who know my English is bad....... Yes being arrogant actually helps.... and yes if you smell like sweats nobody will hire you, not in the West! You claimed you learnt kaleo majuu, so I wondered with such horrible English what did you guys speak at home? By the way speaking with an accent is important in some sectors ie teaching, custome care, waitressing ... but not all. In some jobs (the kind i would be interested in) I can keep my Kenyan accent and not give a care and still have a fulfilling career. So hii nyef nyef ya accent is everything mimi hapana tambua. You have to separate speaking and writing! At home we spoke horrible swahili! Of course there are jobs you don't need to talk to anyone but every meaningful job has some aspect of customer care.... even your manager is your customer you need to communicate with him! You remind me of those guys who speak English with some mother-tongue influence, add on an American accent to the shrubs, my goodness, just speak the horrible swahili or kalenjin that you learned huko majuu all together.
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/1/2009 Posts: 846
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Nabwire wrote:What you guys dont understand is that this is a cultural issue, it may be true that diasporans in America are more particular about personal hygiene than the rest, because thats how American culture is. Trust me, even amongst the most African of Africans, Nigerian men, I have not as of yet met one who says he cannot and will not use deodorant. If you have a job, you have to maintain personal hygiene, otherwise your co-workers will complain to your boss, you will be pulled aside and given a warning, if you dont abide you will be fired or taken to a dept where you can work by yourself. Americans only care about the bottom line, if your lack of using deodorant makes Becky uneasy, unable to focus and unproductive, trust me you will be axed. Even Indians in America dont have that distinct Indian smell, go figure. The only people who can afford to not have good personal hygiene are plumbers and car mechanics, everyone else has to shape up or ship out! So it has nothing to do with arrogance or Kenyans in US thinking they are superior, its the culture!
And like someone correctly pointed out, the Americans you encounter in Kenya are the wealthier ones and they are on holiday, they have all the time to listen and try to figure things out, they are there for an African experience. But the American in the US is a completely different person, he is usually overworked, stressed and always in a rush, he has no time to figure out if you're talking about a hat, a heart, a hut or being hurt. He is quickly annoyed and his anger is usually stoked by Fox about immigrants stealing all his jobs! So dont think that just coz you've encountered some Americans in Kenya and they understood you, that you somehow have an argument.
Lastly the accent is usually acquired subconsciously, one day you realize that you can pronounce things the American way. Granted there are those who try to force the accent trying to be cool, but most people just get tired of being told huh, and what did you say and being corrected on the right way to pronounce stuff, that they eventually pronounce it the American way. Thats why its ludicrous to me that that author is demanding we somehow just switch off the accent at JKIA as if its tap water. Imagine having to consciously remind yourself to pronounce something a certain way, when you speak you dont think of pronounciation you just speak. Even in academic papers, you have to spell things the American way eg they spell civilise as civilize, so thank God for Word, coz alot of us would get docked off for spelling errors. And the villager vs city comparison is spot on, case of the pot calling the kettle black. Stereotype, am sure enough Wazuans deal with Americans of all levels on a daily basis whether in Kenya or wherever and they are not on holiday, this is the kind of thinking that pisses the Kenyans in Kenya, because you are assuming no Americans, do business in Kenya? or are you assuming the Kenyans who live in Kenya and visit America have not encountered Americans who speak proper English, forget about the slang and wengs in the harlems.
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 7/22/2011 Posts: 1,325
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This is the point where I give up, wacha nikajipatie sshughli!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,821 Location: Nairobi
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I am normally not offended by accents... they are a survival mechanism. What I am pissed off by is 1. forgetting to speak your mother tongue or swahili 2. picking up an accent as soon as you go through a successful visa interview All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Member Joined: 11/19/2009 Posts: 3,142
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Nabwire wrote:This is the point where I give up, wacha nikajipatie sshughli! Give up but dont forget kutuma pesa.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 3/18/2011 Posts: 12,069 Location: Kianjokoma
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Muriel wrote:Nabwire wrote:This is the point where I give up, wacha nikajipatie sshughli! Give up but dont forget kutuma pesa. western union. The girl has valid points si kama jamaa flani
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Rank: Member Joined: 5/7/2010 Posts: 282 Location: Nairobi
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I have a cousin who has lived in US since 1990. Everytime he comes 'home', he always speaks proper in mothertongue and never in 'American' accent. So I guess it depends on how fast some Kenyans get 'Americanized'.
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A letter to Kenyans Abroad - by bikozulu
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