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“First we took on Anglicized names as means of” fitting-in”.

But, does having a Ghanaian name or visiting home frequently make us culturally fluent Ghanaians? Does going to the stereotypical Ghanaian parties, replete with Ofori Amponsah music or Ghanaian latest Hip- Life music make you a culturally “Ghanaian” in the diaspora, even if you and your family can't speak any Ghanaian dialect?

Interestingly, most Chinese immigrants' kids speak their mother- tongue fluently. So do Koreans and South American immigrants' kids. But, how often do you see that among Ghanaian immigrants? Not that often.

As immigrants in the diaspora, have you ran into a Ghanaian immigrant's family at the shopping Malls and Grocery shops, lately? Whenever you come in contact with one , just watch closely. Chances are the adult in the family —which is usually the mother—with her heavy Ghanaian accent ,which weights several pounds—will talk to the kids in English (“Twinglish”)—a mixture of twi and English-- or a mixture of Twi and the language of the host country. But, her accent always betrays her “ghanaianism”. In other words, she couldn't camouflage her Ghanaian heritage with her newly-acquired English, Italian, German or French accent ,which is never closed to the natives of her host country.

The interesting aspect of the whole thing is that the kids, who have full command of their local language, sometimes make fun of the parents who mispronounce most of the words and mix-up their tenses and grammar. I'm not making this up. C'mon, you know quite a few Ghanaians in your neighborhood that fit in this mode.

As first or second-generation Ghanaian immigrants we sometimes behave as if being a Ghanaian“has been reduced to a set of aesthetic symbols or an obligatory family vacation to Ghana every two years, when our kids can't even communicate with the folks because they don't know a word in the local dialect. Sometimes, all that the Kids know about Ghana is static or unrealistic version of the country of our birth constructed by us—the parents.

The question is: Why are we not making any effort to encourage our immigrant kids, including those we “imported” from Ghana ---who want to shun their Ghanaian heritage so badly, ----to speak the mother- tongue at home?

As a Ghanaian Immigrant, shouldn't you teach your kids your mother-tongue?

“But, how do you manage that in the host countries, where English or the local language is dominant?”

A lot of Ghanaian immigrants are using the above statement as an excuse not to try at all. They're very adamant about not teaching their children their mother -tongue.

Why should they spend time and energy to teach their kids of Hausa, Twi, Ga, Ewe, Fanti, Dargarti or any other Ghanaian dialect they themselves hardly use? Why should their children learn any Ghanaian language which they think is not going to be a great utility in school and work? Mindful of the fact that the kids have no intention of living or working in the country of their immigrant parents—Ghana.

In their line of reasoning, assuming that their kids live in the U.S, it would be better to teach them the English language, in order to prepare them for the life in the U.S.

It's a reasonable argument, given the fact that most of us have lost the sense of belonging and we don't even know when and if ever we're going to go back home to live again. But, the benefits of passing one's mother tongue to the next generation, especially those born and raised outside Ghana, is enormous.

Take my 15yr old daughter, Asantewaa, who was born in the States. I started speaking to her in Twi from day one. I consistently talk to her in Twi at every opportunity at home or when we go out. She speaks English primarily, but she perfectly speaks Twi to me. She's also hooked on Ghanaian movies, especially those filmed in the Ghanaian villages, laced with Agya Koo's indigenous proverbs. Mind you, she does all that at her own will. Thank you!

Amazingly, I didn't know the importance of the movies and their effects on her until we made a trip to Ghana in Dec. 2007.Frankly , my expectation was very low for her because I didn't know how she was going to 'fit –in” . But, to my surprise she communicated with everyone and able to mingle very well.

Needless to say, she was able to communicate with her grandparents, cousins, aunties and uncles in Twi fluently. Everyone, including the Waakye seller was proud and fun of her because she was able to talk in a language they all understood. This girl enjoyed herself so much so that she literally cried when she was coming back at the end of her visit. I think her ability to communicate in Twi made her adjust easily to the people at home and made her one of the “natives”.

The point is, if the parents speak enough English or the host country's language and insist their children to speak their mother –tongue, it's not going to happen. So to give the mother tongue a chance, the parents can set up a household system where that heritage language has the opportunity to develop and grow in a lot of different ways within the child.

However, it becomes a problem when both parents have different mother tongue. In such case they have to negotiate and compromise on which language they want to use at home.

Nevertheless, some pre-school teachers speak against the need for the immigrants to teach their mother- tongue to their kids, because they think it will” interfere with the host countries' language development”. They say that for the fear of learning and speaking mother- tongue at home before they attend school might impede their learning of English, or the host country's language and, that might slow their academic learning process. Continued    Source: Kwaku Adu-Gyamfi

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