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*Fr. Ntim |
The Chief Examiner for Ewe in the July/August 2003 SSSCE commented on Question five for which candidates were to translate a passage in English into Ewe as “A few candidates did well by transferring in the original ideas in the source language into the target language. But others just took “word for word” approach and the result was lack of meaning and good cohesion in their work…..”
Thus, there is the need to rectify any bottleneck in the study and promotion of our indigenous languages, if we are to maintain our respective ethnic and cultural identity as a nation.
One will be surprised to know that in Akan for example, (the most widely spoken language nation-wide) most of the inscriptions that we find on our mummy trucks and billboards, are grammatically, and orthographically incorrect. Even colloquially (orally), most of our young people do not seem to have grasped the Akan language well enough. When such trend is not remedied, where is the future of our indigenous languages, and for that matter, our respective specific ethnic and cultural identities?
It is on the basis of this, that some of us are of the view, that a certain level of basic rudimentary grasp of the local language of the place, will be required for our children.
English as common language
This position does not in any way suggest or imply the other extreme position, namely, that because the future of our local languages seem to be at stake, English as our national official language should be scrapped off, and adopt one of the indigenous languages for Ghana as the Lingua Franca.
Such extreme position is excessive ethnocentrism, which is equally unacceptable for obvious sentimental and cultural reasons.
Which of the 52 or so languages in this land will be chosen, and by what criteria? If it is by the democratic criteria of majority, that will be a clear exemplification of the tyranny of the minority by the majority. This tendency of the majority always carrying the day is obviously one of the lacunae of democratic systems.
More seriously, for cultural reasons, why should other indigenous languages of the land give pre-eminence to one particular dominant language? Are we not calling for needless trouble, since language is so closely tied up with people’s cultural and ethnic identity as well as their pride?
Culturally, as already mentioned above, English Language seems to be cross-cultural especially in these days of the process of globalisation, and the more we keep it as our official national language, the better off we are. I personally recall an experience many years back in the mid 80’s as a graduate student in a University in the United States. We had other African and Asian students on the programme in addition to the Americans and other westerners. Any one, who has undertaken any graduate studies in any American University, knows that the hallmark of American graduate programme, is that of periodic seminar presentations and book reviews.
We had some students also from East Africa and Asia. They were good students but some of them from some Eastern and Asian countries were particularly handicapped linguistically. They had serious problem with the English Language, and during seminar presentations, some of them were highly unintelligible.
In the case of some of the East Africans, some did acknowledge to me, personally, (because we were friends), that at the time that they were growing up in the basic and secondary schools in that particular Eastern African country, that was the time, that the infatuation with Swahili language was in vogue in that country. English was of course encouraged, but it was almost peripheral, and was not taken with any seriousness as the Swahili. The same was with some of the Asian students who did not have English as official national language. Ever since, this writer has always hoped that this does not happen to Ghanaians any where on the globe. The English and the Americans themselves, do acknowledge, that Ghanaians are particularly noted for good English.
Consequently, it is the wish of this writer, that in as much as we have to ensure the survival of our various indigenous languages, and insist that our young ones not only speak them, but learn their grammar and orthography, we must, nevertheless, [not] make the mistake of pushing the English Language to the periphery – that would be almost suicidal, especially in this time of globalisation.
In addition, this writer will even suggest further, the need to insist on the study of French as compulsory in the Secondary Schools, (at least a functional knowledge of it) since by accident of history, Ghana is boarded on the north and east and west by French speaking countries, and the south is the Atlantic Ocean.
So to conclude in this language debate, we need to strike a happy medium between the two extremes of excessive ethnocentrism and particularity (that is, the notion that everything in our culture and language is best, and therefore, we must stick to only our language). That is not true. There has always been what Social Scientists refer to as “cultural borrowing.” Cultures borrow from each other to enhance one another, not only linguistically, but also artistically and even nutritionally.
The other extreme, that we also need to avoid, is the seeming unbridled passion with globalism, so much so, that as a nation, we (and especially our younger generations) get lost in the wilderness of modern globalisation, and lose our native distinctiveness and specific cultures, that are all encoded in our various indigenous languages, in favour of the English Language, important though it is.
Such orientation will be nothing more than self-imposed imperialism. Yes, English is very important. We still need it as our national official language. But need we not, be cautious of maintaining a healthy balance, between the two extremes of excessive particularity, and obsession with globalism?
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