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The rise of English proficiency in Africa: A double-edged sword

"One of the biggest cultural shocks I experienced during my university days in Nigeria was meeting fellow students who could not express themselves in any of our indigenous languages"
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In Africa, a continent with thousands of indigenous languages, the rise of English proficiency, as highlighted by the 2023 English Proficiency Index (EPI), presents both an opportunity and a challenge. While foreign languages (English, French and Mandarin) facilitate international diplomacy and trade and provide individuals with access to global opportunities, their rise also threatens the survival of indigenous languages, which are crucial for maintaining cultural heritage and identity. Africans need to reflect on the implications of the dominance of foreign languages on the continent and adopt and implement measures that preserve and revitalize indigenous languages.

Rootless Africans

One of the biggest cultural shocks I experienced during my university days in Nigeria was meeting fellow students who could not express themselves in any of our indigenous languages. While they wished they could speak at least one local language, they had missed the opportunity to learn it, all thanks to their parents who believed that shielding them from local languages would give them a better head start in life. They were unaware of the far-reaching implications of their actions.

Language is a powerful tool that shapes culture, identity, and communication. A good question to ask is: “what brought us to the point where some believe that preventing their children from learning their indigenous languages would make them better?”

This mindset is a direct consequence of the colonial legacy that has shaped our history. Our forebears were defeated by colonists and dispossessed of their land and wealth. Raised under colonial rule, our parents were made to believe that they were lesser human beings than Whites. To succeed and prosper, Africans had to mimic the colonizers’ way of dressing, speaking, eating, etc… while shunning their own. They bought into the false Western narrative that everything good comes from the West and that African civilizations have brought nothing to Humanity. These beliefs, whether consciously or subconsciously, were passed down to us, their children. Over time, this internalized colonial mentality led to the perception that indigenous languages and cultures were inferior and irrelevant in the modern world. This notion was further reinforced by the education systems established by colonial powers, which prioritized European languages and knowledge systems over African ones. Consequently, many parents believed that speaking only English and adopting Western customs would provide their children with better opportunities and social mobility. This has resulted in a generational disconnect from our linguistic and cultural roots, causing many young Africans to feel alienated from their heritage and, by extension, their continent.

In 2016, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues reported that 40 per cent of the world’s languages were in danger of disappearing. The loss of indigenous languages has profound implications. Languages are more than mere tools for communication; they are repositories of collective knowledge, cultural practices, and traditional wisdom. Indigenous languages capture and transmit the knowledge and wisdom of indigenous communities through stories, proverbs, folktales, myths, poetry and songs that convey meanings about individuals, societies, cultures and nature interactions. For instance, many African societies have rich oral traditions that convey moral lessons, historical events, and communal values through stories, proverbs, and songs. These oral traditions are often embedded in indigenous languages, and their essence can be lost in translation. The younger generation, increasingly educated in English or other dominant Western languages, may become disconnected from their cultural roots and heritage. More importantly, any discourse on self, as an individual or as a community, past, present and future can bear meaning and purpose only when it reflects the way we think and see ourselves and the world, and ultimately the way we act, which are all shaped by language, as identity and culture are inherently tied to language.

Revitalization of indigenous languages

To counter the trend of language loss and ensure the preservation and revitalization of indigenous languages in Africa, it is crucial to implement comprehensive and multifaceted strategies. Governments, educational institutions, cultural organizations, and local communities must collaborate to safeguard linguistic diversity and promote the use of indigenous languages in various domains of life. Preserving indigenous languages is not just a cultural imperative; it also has significant economic implications. Indigenous languages play a vital role in local economies by facilitating communication and transactions in rural and community-based markets. They also support the development of local industries, such as tourism and cultural heritage preservation, which can generate income and employment opportunities.

To achieve this, we need to look at countries like Ethiopia, with its strong emphasis on Amharic, and Tanzania, which promotes Swahili, to serve as examples of how indigenous languages can coexist with colonial languages. Ethiopia is a highly multilingual country with close to 90 languages spoken. The 1994 Constitution grants all Ethiopian languages equal rights and designates Amharic as a federal working language. In March 2020, a new policy expanded the working languages to include Afaan Oromo, Tigrinya, Somali, and Afar. While English is a key language for international communication and secondary and tertiary education, Ethiopia continues to promote its local languages, ensuring they coexist with global languages.

Tanzania’s education system, on the other hand, is characterized by a bilingual policy requiring students to learn both Swahili and English. Swahili, used as the medium of instruction in primary education, reinforces cultural values and heritage, while English, taught as a compulsory subject, connects students to the international world. In post-primary education, English becomes the medium of instruction, with Swahili as a compulsory subject. At the tertiary level, Swahili is optional. The formal education structure includes two years of pre-primary, seven years of primary, four years of junior secondary, two years of senior secondary, and three or more years of tertiary education. These nations have successfully integrated their native languages into education systems and public life, demonstrating that linguistic heritage can be maintained while embracing the benefits of global languages.

For countries like Nigeria, where the English language is often viewed as superior due to colonial influence, policy-making alone may not suffice; a mindset shift is necessary. Nigeria has a multilingual language policy that recognizes the strategic roles of both the indigenous languages and English in education and overall manpower development. However, good the intentions of the government end with the stipulations of these policies, while the implementation is far from realization, especially in the use of the mother tongue, and hence, the objectives of the policy are far from being achieved. There is, therefore, the need to overhaul the policy regarding the use of the mother tongue with respect to the provisions and implementation.

There is a need to leverage technology, especially social media, where most communication occurs in recent years. Promoting indigenous languages online through content and campaigns is essential. This promotion should extend beyond sharing linguistic content; it should aim to reshape societal attitudes towards these languages and the communities that speak them.

The success stories of countries like Ethiopia and Tanzania demonstrate that it is possible to balance the benefits of global languages with the preservation of linguistic heritage. The time to act is now. Protecting indigenous languages is not just a cultural imperative; it is a necessity for building a more inclusive, diverse, and resilient future for Africa and the world.

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