Don’t look down on Ghanaian Languages
November 17, 1999, UNESCO proclaimed February 21 as International Mother Language Day and it was first observed throughout the world on February 21, 2000. This day was instituted to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, multilingualism and to highlight greater awareness of the importance of mother language education. The institution of the day was also to bring to the fore strategies that nations can adopt to save their various indigenous languages and tap their immense benefits to the full.
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Celebration of the day in Ghana
In Ghana, the celebration of the International Mother Language Day has not been given the due attention it deserves, compared to the attention given to other international days instituted by the United Nations because of the poor attitude of Ghanaians towards their own mother languages. Many people feel shy to speak their own mother language. Students who study Ghanaian Languages in our senior high schools and universities are mocked at and branded as “unintelligent students” by their colleagues who pursue different courses. This worrying situation does not augur well for the study and development of our local languages.
Bureau of Ghana Languages
The Bureau of Ghana Languages (BGL) was established in 1951 to write and publish books exclusively in the Ghanaian Languages. Since its establishment, the department has been promoting 11 Ghanaian Languages so far studied in educational institutions; namely, Akuapem Twi, Asante Twi, Dagaare, Dagbani, Danice, Ewe, Ga, Gonta, Kasey, McNamee and Noumea. The department also translates materials from English into the above-mentioned languages and vice versa. The BGL, as part of its core mandate of developing and promoting the study and use of Ghanaian Languages, has been championing the celebration of the International Mother Language Day in Ghana over the years to highlight greater awareness of the need to use our local languages for national development.
Population
One interesting characteristic of language is that it is a living organism. This means that language grows and dies. Available statistics indicates that 50 per cent of about 7,000 languages spoken in the world are likely to be endangered within the next few generations, and about 96 per cent of these languages are spoken by a mere four per cent of the world’s population. It is worthy to note that what happened in the 1960s where the number of students offering Ghanaian Languages in the secondary schools steadily fell from 51 per cent in 1960 to 24.5 per cent in 1968 as a result of the neglect of Ghanaian Languages, seems to be rearing its ugly head again in our current educational system. The intake of students of Ghanaian Languages in our universities continues to be on the decline over the past decade. This situation paints a gloomy picture of the future of our languages and if the trend is not checked, it will lead to the extinction of most Ghanaian languages in the near future.
Ghanaian Language policy
The current Ghanaian Language Policy states that Ghanaian Languages should be used as a medium of instruction from kindergarten to primary three. The junior high students are learning one Ghanaian Language and the teacher trainees are also made to study one Ghanaian Language under the policy. This has created a vacuum in the senior high schools and it is making the study of Ghanaian Languages difficult for most of the teacher trainees who do not study Ghanaian Languages in the senior high schools. To add insult to injury, some of these teachers end up teaching the subject in our basic schools. How can these teachers be adequately equipped to ensure the success of the policy?
The way forward
That language plays a crucial role in the socio-economic development of every nation cannot be overemphasised. Apart from language being the medium of communication, it is also used for identity, social integration and preservation of culture, among others. With the celebration of the International Mother Language Day on a larger scale, our local languages can be harnessed to promote unity in diversity.
The theme for this year’s International Mother Language Day, ”Quality education, language(s) of instruction and learning outcomes”, could not have come at a better time. It is an open secret that the use of second language as a medium of instruction still contributes to the falling standards of education in the country. Meanwhile research has proven that the mother language serves as pre-existing knowledge upon which inferences can be made to facilitate transfer to a second language. The policy makers should make the study of Ghanaian Languages compulsory in the senior high schools. This will solidify the current language policy and will also give quality training to our teachers who will steer the affairs for the policy to achieve its intended purpose.
The writer is with the Bureau of Ghana Languages. Writer’s e-mail avusco@gmail.com
