Namlish - a newspaper article

Namlish: A language for Northern Namibia
Written by By Merja Iileka at Ondangwa
Thursday, 02 April 2009

THE Oshiwambo people’s inability to distinguish between letters “l” and “r” has often been the joke thrown around at many a gathering between the more fluent English speakers in Namibia and the not so fluent.

Although English is the country’s official language since Independence in 1990, local usage varies significantly from the English spoken elsewhere in the world because the international language is the second or third language for the majority of Namibians.
In Northern Namibia, where the region is dominated by Oshiwambo speaking people, a pidgin language popularly referred to as Namlish has been created, to poke fun at Namibia’s very colourful linguistic landscape.
Namlish, a portmanteau of the words Namibian and English, comes from literal translations, mostly from Oshiwambo, but occasionally from Afrikaans, Damara, Herero or other tribal languages.
Drinking holes, mini-markets, small to medium enterprises and even Government buildings can be seen all over the Northern regions exampling Namlish of the highest degree.
Many residents of the North see no error when walking past bottle stores or signs boldly written ‘Well Come Bar’, ’Far well bar’ or even ‘we sell brocks and blicks here’.
Namlish also has its own pronunciation of English words. For instance, when conversing, words like ‘clothes’ and ‘kissed’ are mostly pronounced with two syllables.
Language teacher, Linda Shapange says Namlish to the Oshiwambo people is more than just a slip of the tongue.
Shapange, who teaches secondary level English and Oshindonga, says in the Oshiwambo language, the letter “r” does not exist and words or names containing letters “r” are more often than not replaced with the letter “l”.
“Of course it also has a lot to do with the environment in which a person grew up and the education a child received at school, as some teachers, especially in rural areas, also tend to mispronounce English words,” said Shapange.
Although some argue that the demise of Namlish will follow once more significance is placed on Namibia’s deteriorating education system, others believe that the pidgin language will live on forever.
“As long as we have Bantu and Khoisan languages in the land of the brave, Namlish will continue to develop its own set of English words. And why shouldn’t we speak Namlish? We will never be English or Americans but Africans until the day we die,” said Martin Iipinge, an Oshakati resident.