Communicating With My Grandma

    You won’t believe this but it’s true, unfortunately. Most of us are blessed to have grandparents we always long to talk to. Every time we see them or contact them over the phone, we enjoy that wonderful experience. You will have a lot of interesting topics to talk about, you will share stories, laugh together and learn from their wisdom. Would you be able to imagine how sad it is when a kid does not get such a pleasant experience?

I am one of the children who don’t successfully communicate with grandparents, especially my grandma, because of the language barrier. I was born in Rwanda and the most used language there is called Kinyarwanda. So, my grandma speaks Kinyarwanda, and I speak English. I used to speak Kinyarwanda as a little kid, but when we moved to the United States, I forgot it. The good thing is that I still understand it. Whenever my parents are speaking to me in Kinyarwanda, I usually get the meaning and reply in English because they also know English.

Whenever I get a chance to talk to my grandma, it is a different story. When I talk to her, our conversation is not smooth because I cannot express myself fluently. I need an interpreter, which means my dad or mom usually has to be there to tell her what I said. Even though that is not the best way of communication, it still works, and it’s better than not talking to her at all. To us, that is all that really matters. Hopefully I can relearn Kinyarwanda so one day I can properly speak to my grandma. In the meantime, I am satisfied with the method we are using now.

The ability people have to communicate is a priceless treasure, and all forms of communication should be cherished and appreciated even when we need other people’s help to understand each other.