When her 10-year-old son begged to learn Ashanti-Twi, UK-based Alice Ako was inspired to create a software that would help teach him and other children Ghanaian languages.
With her background in IT, Ako developed CrossDialect which teaches children their native language through either an interactive DVD, CD or a mobile app, wherever they are in the world. Alice is adamant that children should learn their mother tongue to keep Ghana’s plethora of dialects alive.
“I researched from family and friends to find out if their children understood or could speak their mother tongue and the results were bad,” she told GhanaWeb.
“I then researched further and realised that we are definitely creating a language genocide for our future children and if we don't nip it in the bud, our mother tongue will just vanish.
"If you look at our generation in the modern 21st century, we currently are able to communicate with our parents who would be in their 70s and 80s but once they go away and we are not able to communicate with our children, who will teach them?”
Do you want to know more about CrossDialect? To find out more, click here.
Dowload the app here
When her 10-year-old son begged to learn Ashanti-Twi, UK-based Alice Ako was inspired to create a software that would help teach him and other children Ghanaian languages.
With her background in IT, Ako developed CrossDialect which teaches children their native language through either an interactive DVD, CD or a mobile app, wherever they are in the world. Alice is adamant that children should learn their mother tongue to keep Ghana’s plethora of dialects alive.
“I researched from family and friends to find out if their children understood or could speak their mother tongue and the results were bad,” she told GhanaWeb.
“I then researched further and realised that we are definitely creating a language genocide for our future children and if we don't nip it in the bud, our mother tongue will just vanish.
"If you look at our generation in the modern 21st century, we currently are able to communicate with our parents who would be in their 70s and 80s but once they go away and we are not able to communicate with our children, who will teach them?”
Do you want to know more about CrossDialect? To find out more, click here.
Dowload the app here
