"Therefore, let’s join hands in making the African child the intellectual equal of the Western or Asian child, even though, in technical terms, the African child already is, had it not been ... read full comment
Just listen to his nonsense.
"Therefore, let’s join hands in making the African child the intellectual equal of the Western or Asian child, even though, in technical terms, the African child already is, had it not been for the fact the African child’s totally immersed in Eurocentric conscientization and inferiority complex, though, once again, much more work need to be done."
Brother 10 years ago
Why not Americaman2? We are debating what will benefit us but because of your hatred for Nkrumah you will never listen to any suggestions even though you have no alternative to proposed. This attitude of me alone will see no ... read full comment
Why not Americaman2? We are debating what will benefit us but because of your hatred for Nkrumah you will never listen to any suggestions even though you have no alternative to proposed. This attitude of me alone will see no result. We better come together as a broom and be strong. Advance our interest.
Frank Appiah 10 years ago
We all know who you are.Don't behave like a misguided infant.
We all know who you are.Don't behave like a misguided infant.
Kosoko 10 years ago
Francis, this is best way one can look at this important subject but complex issue. I had a friend who wrote his master's thesis on this. His work reveals how language influences one to the very core of the psych in terms of ... read full comment
Francis, this is best way one can look at this important subject but complex issue. I had a friend who wrote his master's thesis on this. His work reveals how language influences one to the very core of the psych in terms of manners, thinking and behaviour. Francis, my concern is, right now that such a damage has been caused in a severe proportions, how do we start. My point is in modern times, it will be difficult to propose that each ethnic group should educate a child in their own language. So how do we begin? Should we start politically as for example Nkrumah proposed Swahili? With our poisonous Eurocentric minds, wouldn't others say we want our own language. To understanding my point clearly, look how a simple political unification for our own economic survival has become a problem for us.
francis kwarteng 10 years ago
Dear Kosovo,
Good day.
This is a very complicated subject. I am happy to see you share your friend's experience with us.
Again, this is a complex issue as you rightly noted. Yes, there is the likelihood that each et ... read full comment
Dear Kosovo,
Good day.
This is a very complicated subject. I am happy to see you share your friend's experience with us.
Again, this is a complex issue as you rightly noted. Yes, there is the likelihood that each ethnic will agitate for its language to be used as a medium of exchange.
For instance, Nkrumah propsed Hausa for the West African sub-region, this, according to Dr. Kwame Botwe0Asamoah (See Chapter 7 of his book "Kwame Nkrumah's Politico-Cultural Thought and Politics" and the writings of Nguigi wa Thiong'o).
Thus one way to go about the complication is to do what Ngugi Thiong'o does. He has seen that not every Kenyan is literate in English. Therefore, he publishes his work first in his native Kikuyu (he's a Kikuyu) then later in English.
This is because, like I said before, many of Ngugi ethnic group members are literate in Kikuyu. It's surprising how he has increased his readership base and made thousands of Kikuyus aware of what is goig on around via his Kikuyu writings.
This was hardly the case before Ngugi chose this path. The question is therefore not to throw away these European languages completely per se.
In fact, President Julius Nyerere did the same with Swahili. He translated the works of Shakespeare (and others) into Swahili. Millions of Tanzanians and East Africans were able to access these translated materials with relative ease.
Also, Wole Soyinka tried to do the same with his books but the linguistic complexity of Yoruba frustrated him from continuing. There are some Nigerian writers who write exclusively in Yoruba and other native Nigerian languages and have therefore succeeded in expanding their readership base.
My concern is to increase literacy for the masses via all available means so that each citizen provides his/her quota to national development. Personal development is another. In other words, not only those with elitist grounding in European literacy (education) can develop Africa! We need everyone on board.
However, it's sad East Africans are now clamoring for instructional/learning materials in English rather than in Swahili. This is one of the greatest issues we Africans face today. Africans want to be like everyone else except themselves.
But then again, we can always make compromises: We can always make social, political, and cultural compromises around this complication. Even in America where sometimes certain subjects became technically difficult, we Ghanaians always came together as a study group and broke down these complexities in Ga or Twi for others to understand.
I have also observed that other Africans (Ethiopians, Nigerians, Arab North-East-West Africans, etc) and Asians (Russians, Chinese, Thai, etc) did the same. I had classmates from Asia and South America who did the same.
It's always our native languages we run to when English and French become forbiddingly difficult. Therefore, we need to stregthen these African languages and add them to the borrowed ones.
Again, this is a complex issue as you rightly noted. Yes, there is the likelihood that each ethnic will agitate for its language to be used as a medium of exchange.
For instance, the West African sub-region Nkrumah proposed Hausa, this, according to Dr. Kwame Botwe0Asamoah (See Chapter 7 of his book "Kwame Nkrumah's Politico-Cultural Thought and Politics" and the writings of Nguigi wa Thiong'o).
Thus one way to go about the complication is to do what Ngugi Thiong'o does. He has seen that not every Kenyan is literate in English. Therefore, he publishes his work first in his native Kikuyu (he's a Kikuyu) as well as in English.
This is because, like I said before, many of his ethnic group members are literate in Kikuyu. It's surprising how he has increased his readership base and made thousands of Kikuyus aware of what is goig on around. This was hardly the case before he chose this path.
The question is therefore not to throw away these European languages completely. We can always make compromises: We can always make social, political, and cultural compromises around these perceived complication.This is what I partly meant to argue in my essay.This is a very complicated subject. I am happy to see you share your friend's experience with us.
Thus we need to carry out intense research to see how feasible this path can be and how beneficial it will be for Africa. It also calls for dedication, scientific objectivity, truth, etc. Money may be an issue as well. But let us perform a cost-benefit analysis.
I had comprehensive conversations with Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah a couple of days ago. He told me so many interesting things about Ghana which most Ghanians are probably not aware of have been researched into. Nkrumah's presidency tasked our scholars with research covering several aspects of Ghanaian and African lives.
These researches have been shelved and ignored after his overthrow. Yet they are still relevant today. We can use them by way of longitudinal studies and see how they can benefit us today. The West and those "developed" parts of Asia have been doing the same thing. In effect, these Nkrumah-era researches should be looked into. We also have to continue frm there.
Besides, memorization happens to be entrenched in our colonial educational system because many students do not understand certain concepts in English and have to memorize them in order to pass. I did this in school. Yet our teachers could have explained them to us in Ga, Ewe, Dagomba, Gonja, Nzema, or Twi!
I shall be exploring your concerns in analytic detail in the fture. But please don't hesitate to share with me any useful ideas you may have (franciskkwarteng@yahoo.com). You know no one has all the answers. If this is what we have to do, then we need to come together as a people and let consensus decide. I believe Dr. Botwe-Asamoah may be exploring some aspects of your concerns.
Finally, we don't necesserily have to throw borrowed laguages away. We need to follow the example of Ngugi, Nyerere, etc. Recall that there are so many Ghanaians who can't read English Bibles but can read those in native Ghanaian languages with relative ease.
Just listen to his nonsense.
"Therefore, let’s join hands in making the African child the intellectual equal of the Western or Asian child, even though, in technical terms, the African child already is, had it not been ...
read full comment
Why not Americaman2? We are debating what will benefit us but because of your hatred for Nkrumah you will never listen to any suggestions even though you have no alternative to proposed. This attitude of me alone will see no ...
read full comment
We all know who you are.Don't behave like a misguided infant.
Francis, this is best way one can look at this important subject but complex issue. I had a friend who wrote his master's thesis on this. His work reveals how language influences one to the very core of the psych in terms of ...
read full comment
Dear Kosovo,
Good day.
This is a very complicated subject. I am happy to see you share your friend's experience with us.
Again, this is a complex issue as you rightly noted. Yes, there is the likelihood that each et ...
read full comment