Daliso Chaponda, a UK-based comedian and Britain’s Got Talent 2017 finalist, says he cannot speak Chichewa fluently despite his Malawian parentage.
In a video posted to Facebook on Monday, Chaponda says many Malawian fans leave Chichewa comments on his posts.
To make sense of them, he says he relies on Google Translate and is often shocked when translations turn out to be insults.
He adds that learning Chichewa beyond basic greetings “is not a piece of cake.”When one commenter urges him to at least learn common greetings, Chaponda concedes that simple salutations are easy, but he repeats that deeper fluency remains out of reach.
He notes his name, Daliso (meaning “blessings”), is spelled differently in Zambia, where he was born; in Malawi the name is often written with a “t” between the “i” and the “s,” a reminder that identity can wear many faces.
Meanwhile, another woman shares a contrasting experience: she says her children, born abroad, learn Chichewa because she speaks it to them at home.“Malawians we not proud of who we are. Have you seen Nigerians?
They can have kids in China with Asian women but will make sure the children know their language,” she comments.Chaponda does not reply to that particular comment, although he continues to respond to other messages.
Taken together, the exchange playing out publicly on social media becomes a lightning rod for debate about cultural roots and language preservation among the diaspora.
Ultimately, Chaponda’s situation underscores a wider issue: for many public figures raised abroad, native languages can feel as distant as a shore on the horizon even as fans expect them to be fluent.
