Colonialism did not just take land, labor and resources. It colonized the mind. It taught us to rank languages, to assign value to them and by extension,to assign value to people. That is why many of us instinctively admire languages like English, Spanish or Chinese while treating African languages as inferior, informal or irrelevant. This hierarchy was never natural. It was taught, enforced and normalized.

In countries like Kenya,we have over forty indigenous languages,each with its own grammar,history, philosophy and way of understanding the world. Yet we are conditioned to see them as “mother tongue,” something to be left at home,something that does not belong in education,intellect or global conversations. Meanwhile,European and Asian languages are branded as intelligent,prestigious and powerful. This is not about usefulness..it is about power.

The colonial system trained us to believe that fluency in English equals education,while fluency in Ekegusii, Dholuo,Kikuyu or Kalenjin is treated as ordinary or even embarrassing. Children are punished in schools for speaking their native languages, accents are mocked and intelligence is measured by proximity to colonial speech. This is how epistemic violence works: it erases value without appearing violent.

What is even more disturbing is how deeply this thinking settles in us. Many Africans speak three or more languages but never consider themselves multilingual or polyglots. An African who speaks English, Kiswahili and an indigenous language is told that this is “normal,” while a European who speaks three European languages is celebrated. The difference is not skill…it is whose languages are counted.

African languages are not inferior. They carry memory,culture,systems of knowledge and ways of reasoning that cannot be fully translated into colonial tongues. When a language is dismissed,an entire worldview is dismissed with it. To devalue our languages is to accept the lie that our ways of thinking are lesser.

Now..real decolonization begins with we start noticing this conditioning, even when it shows up in our own minds. It begins with reclaiming our languages as complete,intelligent and sufficient. Speaking an indigenous language is not a limitation. It is evidence of depth, history and survival. And recognizing that is an act of resistance.

And no will not be afraid of speaking my mother's language,a language with our history. And no my mother's language is not inferior.

Bwairire👋