David Dontoh takes his turn at Sanegbaa

Renowned actor and Chairman of the governing board of the National Film Authority, David Dontoh, will be a speaker at this year’s Sanegbaa which will be held at the premises of the Bureau of National Languages in Accra on Friday, February 28.

Sanegbaa, which promotes Ghanaian languages, is held every year to commemorate the International Mother Language Day which promotes linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

The day was created by the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), to promote the dissemination of mother tongues and a fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world.

David Dontoh will speak on the theme, “Effective Use of Ghanaian Languages in Ghanaian movies”. In a statement, the organisers said the segment was intended to help film producers use the right Ghanaian words, phrases, clauses, sentences and expressions and in the right context when working on their movies.

“By this, it is the hope of the Bureau that film producers will become good ambassadors of Ghanaian languages to the world and also play important roles in their preservation.”

Prior to the master class, there will be screening of well produced films in the Ghanaian languages. Sanegbaa will host the music legend, Amandzeba in a conversation on the use of Ghanaian languages in producing international standard music.

One of the outstanding segments of this year’s edition is the launch of a book of translated poems of Prof. Lade Wosornu into 11 studied Ghanaian languages.

The poems include Desert Rivers and The Master Brewer and Raider of the Treasure Trove which has been translated into Ga, Dangme, Ewe, Fante, Ashanti Twi,Akuapem Twi, Dagaare, Dagbani, Nzema.

This is the first of the Bureau of Ghana Languages Literary Legends Works Translation project geared at translating literary works of prominent Ghanaian authors into Ghanaian languages.

The Special Guest of Honour will be Mrs Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture with Mr Abdourahamane Diallo, Head of the UNESCO office in Accra as the Chairperson.

Supporters of this year’s edition are the Ghana National Commission for UNESCO and Yumvita.