- A conscious effort to give priority to indigenous Ghanaian languages will help preserve Ghanaian culture and help Ghanaians understand it better
UNESCO first declared International Mother Language Day in 1999 and it was accepted by the United Nations in 2002 to figure in its general campaign to preserve all languages. The day is marked annually on 21 February to emphasise the importance of preserving and promoting the use of mother languages in all spheres of human development.
This year’s theme is “Multilingual Education: a Necessity to Transform Education”.
In a world where most countries are challenged in some way by migration, it is essential to focus on multilingual education to enable societies to develop the best kinds of education for development.
Most developing countries with a history of colonisation have had to decide what their official language would be: whether an indigenous language or a language of the colonial era.
All 16 countries in West Africa have an official language tied to their colonial history (English, French, Portuguese Creole). However, some countries have a widely spoken indigenous language, such as Akan in Ghana and Hausa in Nigeria, that can be regarded as a shadow national, indigenous language.
The language of power
Ghana has 81 indigenous languages, which are spoken by roughly 30 million people. Of these, 11 languages (Akuapem Twi, Asante Twi, Dagaare, Dagbani, Dangme, Ewe, Fante, Ga, Gonja, Kasem and Nzema) are taught in schools. English is the sole language of instruction beyond lower primary level in government basic schools.
Research by Grace Afrifa et al published in 2019 showed that the English language “exudes so much power and prestige in Ghana”. It is seen as the “language of the elite and the gateway to success”.
Previous research by Kofi Agyekum in 2009 and Jemima Anderson and Gladys Ansah in 2015 shows that English is fast becoming the language spoken at home among many Ghanaians, especially in urban and peri-urban areas. The Population and Housing Census (PHC) of 2010 shows that 20.1% of Ghanaian children below the age of 11 can speak only English. It is worth noting that urban dwellers are more inclined to shift to English than rural dwellers, who are generally more conservative.
The 2021 PHC shows that about 96% of the literate population is literate in English. Roughly 90% of the literate population in the Greater Accra Region can read and write Asante Twi, Ewe and Ga. It shows further that about 45.8% of the literate population aged six or older can write two languages, English and a Ghanaian language being the dominant tongues.
Ghana’s National Literacy Acceleration Programme (NALAP) was implemented across 20 districts as a pilot project in the 2009/2010 academic year to facilitate a comprehensive and innovative multilingual approach to education. The programme sought to teach children from kindergarten to lower primary in the indigenous language common to their school’s locality. The aim was to help children acquire skills in any one of the 11 main indigenous language and to improve understanding and academic performance. Research by the educational psychologist Tuntufye Mwamwenda in 2014 shows that NALAP recorded tremendous improvement in the learning abilities of children who took part in the programme.
This supports theories which suggest that when children are taught in their indigenous language, they understand better because they have acquired more vocabulary in the language from home and interaction with other speakers in the community. The current language policy promotes a transition from the indigenous language as the sole medium of instruction in lower primary school to English. This means children get to learn a second language (English) using their first language as a base.
Research shows that children who are supported to master their mother language “tend to encounter fewer problems with regard to speech, listening, reading and writing when it comes to learning a second language”.
Valuing heritage
Many children in urban and peri-urban homes watch cartoons in English at home after school and at the weekend. Preschool children learn children’s rhymes in English from TV and phones/tablets. This extends the usage of English from school to home. It leaves children with little time to interact with others in their indigenous language.
One question that comes to mind is this: is it possible to produce cartoons with indigenous characters from folk stories who speak Ghanaian languages? Can such cartoons be promoted on national and private television and online platforms?
As an element of cultural heritage, language is an integral part of cultural identity, history and traditions. For instance, a study of the English language involves studying the grammatic and other features of the language as well as literature in English. This has helped to spread English culture across the globe. Similarly, a conscious effort to give priority to indigenous Ghanaian languages will help preserve Ghanaian culture and help Ghanaians understand it better.
The argument comes that Ghanaian languages have a limited vocabulary to describe complex concepts. My question is, what prevents us as a people from creating new words to describe these complex concepts? Just as the English language borrows words from other languages to describe concepts, dishes and so on that are not indigenous to its culture – think kwashiorkor, pizza, rendezvous, kindergarten and ballet – indigenous Ghanaian languages can also borrow from other languages for enrichment.
As the government implements language policies to improve education in schools, what can we do to make learning easy for our children and also preserve indigenous languages? Some suggestions:
- Parents should make a conscious effort to teach their children their mother tongue at home, especially in urban and peri-urban communities. I was born to an Nzema father and an Akuapem mother. That makes me Akan but gives me two different dialects. My siblings and I missed out on learning Nzema because Daddy was almost always busy with work and Mummy was a housewife who did petty trading. Quite the same story for most adults of my generation. We got to learn only Akuapem as our mother tongue. Daddy tried to speak Nzema with us when we were much younger but he stopped at a point because he was mostly away from home.
In our adult years, we are Nzemas by name but Akuapem in practice. I am married to an Akuapem woman. We both love to speak what I call “Twinglish”, a fine blend of English and Akuapem Twi. We decided that we would speak Akuapem Twi with our children at all times. This has been helpful. We make a conscious effort to speak as much Akuapem Twi with our children, although Twinglish finds its way in there often when we are speaking with each other.
To make their Akuapem skills better, they get to spend holidays with their grandparents in the countryside. Their Akuapem Twi is always improved by the time they return. I noticed that when they bring a school assignment home, we are able to help them through it using Akuapem Twi and English. This helps them to understand the concepts better. Our children (the eldest is six years and the youngest 18 months old) speak and understand both English and Akuapem Twi quite well. If they run short of vocabulary in either language, we are always available to help them out. - I have noticed over the years that many musicians, especially those who do gospel, are incorporating indigenous languages into English to gain more international appeal and at the same time share our rich culture. Artists such as Joe Mettle, Celestine Donkor, Diana Hamilton and Wiyaala are doing an amazing job in this regard.
The same can be said of pop artists such as Kuami Eugene and KiDi, who use pidgin English and patois French mixed with Ga and Twi. This should be encouraged more widely. - Media houses such as Asaase and Citi FM, which are generally anglophone radio stations, have indigenous languages beautifully incorporated into their main morning shows and other programmes. These are ways we promote the speaking of Ghanaian languages and let the public know that it is okay to speak English fluently and also speak an indigenous language fluently with pride.
- I remember when I was in primary school back in the 1990s, we were punished for speaking “vernacular” – that is, our indigenous language. This caused a measure of fear of speaking vernacular in school even as we struggled to express ourselves properly in English. English not spoken properly attracted teasing by colleagues and sometimes punishment from teachers. This discouraged some pupils from speaking at all in school. It affected their sense of self-confidence and self-worth.
The situation is better now, but it can be improved. Beyond the school environment, we need to appreciate that people who do not speak English are fully capable of expressing valuable ideas in their indigenous language.
Language is an important part of our heritage. It would be such a breakthrough to have a national policy which acknowledges, in addition to English, at least one indigenous language as an official language that could be used across all levels of education as a medium of instruction. It is never too late to start.
Emmanuel Asei Kangah
Asaase Radio 99.5 broadcasts on radio via 99.5 in Accra, 98.5 in Kumasi, 99.7 in Tamale, 100.3 in Cape Coast and on our affiliates Bawku FM 101.5 in Bawku, Beats FM 99.9 in Bimbilla, Somua FM 89.9 in Gushegu, Stone City 90.7 in Ho, Mining City 89.5 in Tarkwa and Wale FM 106.9 in Walewale
Tune in to broadcasts online: www.asaaseradio.com, Sound Garden and TuneIn
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
Live streaming on facebook.com/asaase99.5. Also on YouTube: Asaase Radio Official.
Join the conversation. Call: 020 000 9951 or 059 415 7777. Or WhatsApp: 020 000 0995.
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
