English and Shona in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT: Most efforts to teach non‐Western languages focus on their complex phonological and syntactic systems. However, students of languages like Shona, a Bantu language spoken in Zimbabwe, also need to learn about the sociolinguistic setting in which the language is spoken. In the case of Shona, in the largely monolingual rural area of Zimbabwe, foreign speakers are able to speak the language in almost all situations, reflecting local use of Shona to meet formal, consultative and informal functions. However, many native speakers of Shona in urban areas have a multilingual repertoire, reflecting the pattern of English/Shona diglossia which is a legacy of the British colonial period. For these speakers, Shona marks their ethnicity, while English identifies them as educated citizens of the world. Foreign language learners need to know that there are some situations in which using Shona will not be judged as appropriate – when, indeed, it may be deemed offensive by some interlocutors. Only a knowledge of the roles of English and Shona in the culture will enable learners to make the appropriate language choices in the target language environment.