Tuigtear dom go bhfuil mé beannaithe sa tslí is go raibh teangacha éagsúla mórthimpeall orm ón chliabhán. Labhraíomar Paistis sa bhaile, an teanga áitiúil i dtuaisceart na Pacastáine, ach chónaíomar sa deisceart, áit a labhraítear teanga eile darbh ainm Sindis. Ní labhraím féin Sindis ach tá m’athair líofa inti mar go raibh air í a fhoghlaim agus é ar scoil. Múineadh trí Urdúis (atá cosúil le Hiondúis) agus trí Bhéarla ar scoil muid, an dá theanga oifigiúl sa Phacastáin. Ní cuimhin liom Béarla rómhaith a bheith agam toisc nár úsáideamar é riamh lasmuigh den scoil. Ba nuair a bhogamar go hÉirinn gur tumadh isteach sa teanga sin mé i ngach áit ach amháin sa bhaile. De réir a chéile, ba líofa i mBéarla mé ná i mo theanga dhúchais. Mar Mhoslamach, d’fhoghlaim mé conas an Quran a léamh in Araibis. Níor thuig mé an bhrí a bhí leis na sleachta ag an am, ach músclaíodh spéis ionam go nádúrtha de réir a chéile. Ar deireadh, theastaigh uaim foghlaim faoin gciall a bhí leo agus mé ag cur suime sa domhan mórthimpeall orm. Roghnaigh mé an Fhraincis sa mheánscoil agus, ar ámharaí an tsaoil, ba as an Fhrainc do mo mhúinteoir, agus mar sin, cuireadh an taobh cultúrtha den teanga in iúl dúinn go héasca sa rang Fraincise. Uaireanta labhraím liom fhéin i bhFraincis ionas nach gcaillfidh mé í, mar a tharla do mo dheirfiúr. Anuraidh, thosaigh mé ag foghlaim teanga iomlán éagsúil arís, Teanga Chomharthaíochta na hÉireann (TCE), mar chuid de mo chúrsa ‘Léann na mBodhar’. Níorbh é sin an chéad uair go raibh teagmháil agam le teanga chomharthaíochta, áfach. Tá TCE i láthair i mo theachsa le 11 bhliain anuas, ó thosaigh mo dheirfiúr óg i scoil na mbodhar. Cé go raibh TCE ag mo dheirfiúr, ba ghnách léi comharthaíocht bhaile a úsáid leis an gclann, ach anois is féidir liom ceisteanna níos casta a phlé léi ag úsáid TCE ná mar ab fhéidir ag úsáid comharthaíocht bhaile. Agus mé ar scoil, chloisinn go leor daltaí ag gearán faoin nGaeilge, agus ag rá uaireanta, fiú, gurbh fhuath leo í. Ní dhearna mise staidéar uirthi, mar sin choinnigh mé guaim orm féin seachas “‘i ndáiríre? Bhfuil sí chomh dona sin?” a rá. Ach anois níl aon leisce orm é a rá. B’fhéidir gur deacair an teanga í ach is mó a deir sé faoin duine a éiríonn as í a fhoghlaim dá bharr ná a deir sé faoin nGaeilge í fhéin. Is ionann teangacha agus míorúiltí, agus níor chóir dúinn neamhiontas a dhéanamh dá leithéid de mhíorúilt. I consider myself blessed because all my life, I’ve been surrounded by different languages all the time. At home we spoke Pashto, the language spoken up in the north of Pakistan. However, we lived down in the south of the country and the language was different (Sindhi). Personally I don’t speak Sindhi, but my father is fluent as it was mandatory for him to study it in school. At school we were taught through Urdu (similar to Hindi) and English, the two official languages of Pakistan. I don’t recall being good at English because we never used it outside the school. It was only after moving to Ireland at age 11 that I was surrounded by English everywhere but home. Eventually I became more fluent in English than in my own mother tongue. As a Muslim, I was taught to read the Quran in Arabic. I didn’t understand back then the meanings of what we were taught to read, but interest in learning their meaning came naturally later on, as I became more aware of the world around me. In secondary school I picked French, and luckily my teacher was French so the whole cultural aspect of the language was easily communicated in the French class. I talk to myself in French sometimes, just so I don’t lose it as my sister lost hers. Different from all the languages in my dictionary, I started learning Irish Sign Language (ISL) last year as part of my course, Deaf Studies. However, that was not my first time having contact with sign language. In fact ISL was in our house since my little sister started in a school for the deaf 11 years ago. Even though my sister used ISL, with family she just used home sign. Now I can communicate with her on more complex issues through ISL than was possible with home sign. Going through secondary school, I saw lots of students complaining about the Irish language and going so far as to say they hated it. I never studied Irish at school so I refrained from saying, “Really? Is it that bad?” Today I don’t have to restrain myself anymore. It may be hard to learn but it doesn’t say as much about the language as it does about the person who gives up on it because it’s “hard”. Languages are miracles. Miracles that should not be taken for granted. 15
TCD Multilingual 2015
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