The Ghanaian linguistic dilemma: The Curse of Tower of Babel

The English language, and to some extent, French are assuming statuses as international languages. Therefore, one's ability to speak and understand one or both languages is vital to one's success in this modern “global village”. The problem that we Ghanaians and the rest of Africa have is their use as a medium of instructions and learning in the classroom, especially the first few years in school. It is an established scientific fact that babies who are still in the womb are sensitive to and can hear their mother's voice. It is therefore no wonder that babies learn to speak and understand their mother's language first. Ladies and gentlemen, before I go further, let me use my own life experience to throw more light on the central point of this article. At the age of 7 when I was enrolled in the Primary 1 (P1) of Bodomase Methodist Primary school, I was very fluent in my Twi and I could even write some few sentences in it.

All of a sudden, my teacher started writing some things on the blackboard that I could not relate to nor read. Although the teacher did his best to guide us to read some few sentences, we found it harder to read much less to understand. This unfortunate situation went on throughout my primary education. I started to get some handle on this foreigner at middle school Form 3, nine years after starting school. At that time, all what my previous teachers, who themselves did not have a complete handle of the language, tried to impact into me had been missed. I think that if I had been taught by my mother-tongue, I would have come out better educated than that. Our use of English language as a medium of instructions from A to Z is doing more harm than good to our young. In September 11, 2006 in reaction to a sermon that the then VP Aliu Mahama delivered to the youth of Ghana one Abdul wrote on Ghanaweb, “Ghana's education is the source of all the problems we have in the country. First, education in Ghana is just a mere parroting of other people's ideas and observations. This lack of originality has created elites who cannot think beyond their noses and come out with common sense solutions to our problems.

All they know is big English and 'chew and pour'. At best the educated ones in Ghana are just verbatim plagiarists”. In the April 21st, 2006 issue of the Global Information Network, Joyce Mulama wrote, “it is important to promote local languages at the very basic level of learning such as nursery school, and then let the children slowly be introduced to English as they come up the ladder”. She continued, “We uphold that mother-tongue education is important, just like English, because we live in a global village and we have to prepare children to be both local and international citizens. Local languages play an important part in promoting culture and giving children a sense of belonging and identity”. Studies conducted by UNESCO have also shown that children who receive basic education in their own language perform better than those educated in only English.

Fellow Ghanaians, since the colonialists imposed their language on us, we have not been able to get Ghanaians to switch to English because of the power of the gene-driven mother-tongue. Just take a look across the length and breadth of Ghana from Bolgatanga to Accra and from Half-Assini to Ho, people have practically jettisoned English in favor of their mother-tongue. All the radio stations that have sprang up lately broadcast mostly in Twi and the others use the other native languages. All the internet-based radios also use local languages. Therefore, the argument that the intellectualization of some of these languages would go a long way to boosting educational standards in Ghana is a home-run. There is a mismatch between what the government wants to achieve and what can practically be achieved. According to the Bible, when God wanted to save mankind, He (the word) became flesh and dwelled among us. By so doing, He learnt our language and was able to communicate to us by it. In the same vein, if one wants to send a message to ants, one has to communicate it in the language that could be understood by them.

We should be able to translate the books of knowledge into the languages which the people of Ghana can understand so that they can better be taught. “The vibrancy of political discourse relying on indigenous languages in the district assemblies reflects socio-linguistic realities in which the indigenous languages of Ghana are used in many walks of life. Even in the schools, the indigenous languages have semiofficial role. In 1991 survey of Cape Coast, where English is very prestigious and widely used, Fanti re mains a language of considerable importance in many social domains. To be sure, English was official medium of instruction throughout primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools; yet in 95% of primary schools surveyed, teachers reported using Fanti as a medium of instructions, at least some of the time. Most teachers reported that the children who begin school cannot understand basic directions or instructions in English. And teachers reported almost unanimously that non-Fanti students have little trouble learning Fanti” (David Laitin; The American Political Science Review, Sept. 2004).

Whether a single Ghanaian language should or would be chosen to be intellectualized and used as a medium of instructions for Ghana is a matter of political debate, but suffice it to say that Ghanaians would have little or no trouble learning another Ghanaian language. Our current educational predicament points to the trouble and great difficulty with which we have over the years shown in trying to learn English and acquire knowledge through it. The only thing that the colonialists' language has given us is robbing us of our identity and made us inferior to them. The only way that English can fully play its role of connecting us to the rest of the world is when we have first had the opportunity to acquire knowledge by the easier means which is own languages.

Perhaps, the theme of this article would better be illustrated by the story of some agricultural extension officers and their experience on one of their first field trips. (This story is on Ghanaweb) “These young African experts graduated from one of the universities in Africa and were ready to impart new farming technologies to rural farmers in various areas of their country. On the first day of their jobs, they came to terms with one issue which had apparently been neglected in the course of their training: language, that most important tool of communication. In spite of all the academic theorizing about sharing new technologies with the indigenous people, apparently nobody ever thought that these scholars were going to start working with people, the majority of whom did not communicate in the scholars' language of education in which all the wonderful theories of agricultural extension were propounded” (Adam B. Bodomo, Dept. of Linguistics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway).

This story illustrates the scant attention that has been paid to the issue of language in African development efforts over the years. Often, ambitious development plans have been drawn without the due consideration given to linguistic issues. There are many reasons for this unfortunate situation. One is that we Africans and for that matter Ghanaians have been cultured to believe that our languages are not “scientific” enough and that they cannot be used for any serous academic work. This dangerous idea is unfortunately being peddled by our so-called intellectuals. Languages always develop out of another language. For example, English and French ar e nothing but transliterated forms of Latin, Greek and some other languages, even some African languages have found their way into it. We can easily transliterate those “scientific” terms to suit our tongue. While a white lady (I cannot remember her name) who settled in Ghana found it wise to write “Kan Me Whe”, African writers—the Adu Boahens, Wole Soyinkas, Chinua Achebes, Ingugi W'Athiongos—found it “wise” to write in English. I think policy makers and intellectuals in Africa have completely underestimated the role that language play in the development of every nation.

Indigenous Ghanaian languages are the most widely used in Ghana today despite the persistent attempt by politicians to get us to switch to English. Unfortunately, these same languages are not used in the formal education system. During the last presidential debates, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, the Vice-President was concerned that only a few Ghanaians would be informed by those debates that were carried in English.

Fellow Ghanaians, there is a linguistic and communicative problem on the African continent. Like a virus, its activities cannot be seen with the naked eye, but its impact is devastating. Unless we find a way to use our languages to educate our kids, our quest to achieve a respected black identity and accelerated national development will forever remain elusive.

Kwasi Amoakohene ([email protected])