Can’t I just speak any language like myself?

So, we decided to have a conversation that never loses its ability to spark conflict; it just never gets old.

What is the true definition of a coconut and what makes me (or anyone) a coconut? Best believe the conversation took a life of its own.

I know I’ve been called a coconut because “I try to speak like a white person” all the while my tongue was moulded by English-speaking teachers.

I mean isn’t that the reason we find black people who speak with a heavy coloured accent?

But why are there all these unnecessary definitions?

Can I not just speak like myself?

I remember on one occasion in an interview, the gentleman who interviewed me said I “speak so well…” – in comparison to whom?

Did I previously have a stroke and was learning to speak again? Should it really matter how I speak – when I really just need for someone to concentrate on the content of what I am saying?

ALSO READ: Celebrating the use of indigenous languages in adveritising

I swear, the next time someone says to me that I speak well, the answer will be that they listen even better. Safe to say, I never got called for a second interview…

As black people, we really just undermine each other.

We laugh at each other when words aren’t pronounced as we expect them to be, but we are quicker than lightening to help white people with our languages.

If we can help others learn what is foreign to them, why can’t we help our own kind learn what is also foreign to us?

I cannot remember a time when a white person called me a coconut or attempted to diminish my proficiency in Afrikaans or English.

But I certainly can remember the instances where black people shouted “she thinks she’s better”, or a certain statesman calling us “clever blacks”.

All I can say is, black people have PhDs – “the pull him/her down syndrome”. We will never all speak the same, as we will never have the same kind of education.

Here is a dare: the next time someone says something incorrectly, perhaps instead of running to the bathroom to laugh at their “African accent”, we should actually help correct the African who resides in Africa.

READ NEXT: DA files complaint against Blade Nzimande over ‘Afrikaans is a foreign language’ claims