I hate to use that term "inferiority complex" in my "fake psychology", i think we should be allowed to use a little psychology especially when i know obama speaks some kijaluo, came all the way to soak up his culture, why? because he is extremely confident, the examples are numerous, even the wazungu DC's complained about disruption of cultures in their house of wazungus, it seems natural to me that someone should immerse themselves in their culture, particularly if you are an independent thinker, look inwards also, otherwise when it comes to "dependency syndrome" you look outwards at the mzungu, english, the Spanish, soap opera e.t.c to give value and meaning to your life.

Obama soaks up the parts that are aligned to his american culture, come to think of it we only align ourselves with aspects that are modern, otherwise we would be singing fgm, wife inheritance, walking around in animal skin e.t.c. But we choose what we think is currently acceptable and call that culture, I am sure Obama would not go as far as inheriting a wife or other beliefs or practices that he does not deem fit.

Every language mutates due to interactions. Shakespeare's English is Medieval and is not what is spoken today and so is Kikuyu, Kamba and indeed every other language. The bottom line however remains..they are still distinct languages. And so does cultures.

Enough with the name dropping!! You are not Obama! his journey through life was different. I don't think he would spend weeks trying to find out how to speak Dholuo just because he wants to fit in...if he did it would not be very wise of him. There is something people who name drop don't get! the pope speaks the language he is fluent in. it's likely he grew up where 100% of his friends spoke that language. he may have schooled in it and worked with it. Of course he is proficient and even thinks in it. How is that different from what dholuo is to a luo guy who grew up in Donny? Dholuo is the language his folks spoke to him at home! he never spoke it anywhere. He may not even know how to read it! He dreams in sheng and even his english is a word for word translation of 'kiswahili to english' and so he finds himself asking others "you are going where?"
While both are mothertongues - they are very different! One is PRACTICAL as practical as DHOLUO IS TO MAMA SERIKALI. Wewe mtu wa mjini.... ambaye huku wahijifunza kikuyu ukiwa mdogo sasa unajifunza ndio 'you fit in' would be best adviced to learn something more practical.

unfortunately english will need to be learnt by others regardless of how chauvinistic others feel... you know why? it's the language of the internet! newer generations may not feel as strongly about somethings as you think they will. English is practical! it will be "lingua franca" lol a latin word for french to describe english. Even rwanda is changing. China is learning english sana.... the world is getting interconnected and the old nationalistic tendencies may not disappear but morph not to include language... but the future is long.