It’s not certain if either side of that bargain achieved any great mastery. One outcome was that we were exposed to other PNG cultures during our interactions and learned about them mostly through the kindness of our friends in entertaining our otherwise poor language skills while they advantaged themselves by exposure to our use of good English. The best aspect of this experience was to make us sensitive to other people’s language use, style and the nuances of expression, since we were learning by imitation from many different people and not being formally schooled in Tok Pisin. Reconnecting with our own country folk by adopting Tok Pisin was a journey we consciously took over many years. So I too am possibly hypocritical in championing others to use local languages. Nevertheless, our father made the equally emphatic order that we learn English to the best standard possible and the command, which was executed mainly by mother even though she had voiced her disapproval, was not entirely detrimental to us but rather afforded us some advantage in the education system and later on in our work and everyday lives. In hindsight it was probably not his best idea and possibly hypocritical since dad was also schooled to read in Hebrew while at Martin Luther Seminary. Our parents had placed little importance on instructing us in our Sinesine tokples by conscious decision of my father during the 1970’s era when he was at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG). As first language English speaking Papua Niuginians my siblings and I were introduced to Tok Pisin during our late primary and secondary school years.
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