UNWHITENING THE BLACKS (WHAT’S THE FUSS ABOUT ENGLISH?)

I don’t know what exactly to pin it down to. Is it modernity, inferiority complex, cultural brain washing (neo-colonialism) or just fashion?

I’m referring to the new trend where parents and society are quick to applaud children who are very much articulate in the English language than their mother/local language. I find this development very much disturbing.

I’m not in any way being an anti- English; far from that. But my worry lies in the irony where children born to ‘aboriginal’ Ghanaians, bred here in Ghana are not encouraged to express themselves in their respective local tongue but in English.

One may argue that in the current state of global affairs, it will be suicidal for anybody to lose out on the English language. That is, the current world order makes it mandatory for all and sundry to be literate in English. Fact. But, in my humble opinion, that should not be done by sacrificing the local language of the individual.

A couple of months ago, whiles on my twitter time line, I saw a tweet from one of the people I follow, Kobby Graham of Asheshi University and DUST Magazine, that made me go ‘’hmm’’. It was a quote attributed to Femi Kuti, where he questioned this phenomenon. In his opinion, parents should ensure that their kids are well groomed in their native languages.

I find it extremely sad that parents who have had the best grounding in their respective local languages are criminally denying their children that opportunity. They are proud to see their children speaking English when among their mates or in-front of friends of these parents who are themselves versed in their native language. It is very common nowadays to hear parents boastfully saying ‘as for my children, they don’t, can’t or understand or speak any local language except English’. Sadly, some parents and society often misconstrue their children’s ability to speak English to mean brilliance or intelligence.

 Interestingly, we have non- Ghanaians-Chinese, Koreans, Lebanese, and Indians- freely expressing themselves, in for example Twi, better than many Ghanaians. Even Ghanaian kids born outside Ghana are encouraged and some even speak fluently than some of their counterparts down here. Is it not a shame? I remember hearing Mark Okraku-Mantey saying that he would have felt miserable if Blakk Rasta (the radio presenter) had vilified/ criticized him for being less fluent in his native Akuapem language than English (a foreign/ borrowed lingua).

Language defines who we are. It’s a heritage worth preserving. It is a form of identification. That is why a Ghana man will go out of his way to help his fellow country man when he’s stranded either abroad or even right here in Ghana, just because the person speaks his dialect.

In fact, the Japanese and Chinese are noted for their robust approach to inculcating in their children, the virtue of speaking their mother tongue. I do understand that most Asians living in Europe or US have a ‘decree’, banning the speaking of English in their respective homes. And that is something worth emulating. Al-Jazzera has a documentary program where focus is on native cultures-especially languages, practices etc.-on the verge of extinction. The recent one I saw was on attempts by some native Australians (Aborigines) to save/preserve their native language through extensive production of books, audio cds, radio broadcast and educational curriculums so that the next generation of Aborigines won’t lose their origins (language).

The essence of this paradigm has fortunately dawned on the Ghana Education Service (GES) who have directed that children at the lower level of primary school (from primary 1 to 3) should be taught in the local language. This, according to GES, will enable these children better understand and appreciate the subject being taught.

I remember those days when the mere speaking of ‘vernacular’ in class was considered a crime which warranted corporal punishment. Class prefects were given authority to write down names of fellow class mates who speak vernacular with ‘double punishment’ inscribed against the names of the stubborn ones. I remember during my time at primary school, an ‘offender’ of this ‘NO MORE SPEAKING OF VERNACULAR’ directive wore a signage throughout the week. Others were asked to fill an entire note book with the sentence: ‘I WILL NOT SPEAK VERNACULAR IN CLASS AGAIN’.

In essence, the point I’m driving at is this: it’s good; it’s fun to hear your children express themselves beautifully in English. But it’s fantastic to hear them also speak perfectly in their local dialect(s). Let’s not criminalize or think it as inferior. Rather, let us all-parents, society, schools- encourage and teach these children to develop the art of mastering their mother tongues because identity transcends skin colour or a name.