The mother tongue question

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• Ghanaman 10 years ago

  Don't put words into her mouth. Give the exact quote, please.

  Don't put words into her mouth. Give the exact quote, please.

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• C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

  I posted this on Dr Bokor's article. Relevant here. Let me point out that I am very much aware of the efficacy of teaching children in their native language debate. In Norway, it was taken so seriously that they were ready to ...
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  I posted this on Dr Bokor's article. Relevant here. Let me point out that I am very much aware of the efficacy of teaching children in their native language debate. In Norway, it was taken so seriously that they were ready to pay parents to come to school to teach their own languages! By the mid-90s, that policy was in reversal, with mor eemphasis on integration of migrant children, hence Norwegian being emphasise. I chose English for my children though, and so were taught by an American teacher.
  
  And I am also aware of the work UNESCO is doing to preserve dwindling minority languages which are going extinct. Every language is a heritage of humanity and must not be allowed to go extinct.
  
  Now, what I wrote.
  
  First of all, I agree totally that what she said is crap! Indeed, vintage crap. However, I think she is being misunderstood. I posted this earlier, edited for effect.
  
  The confused woman said children should be taught in their "mother tongue", not a chosen Ghanaian language. The question of which Ghanaian language to be chosen therefore does not arise at all, as that shall defeat her basic, simplistic premise: other countries developed 'cos they teach their children in their mother tongues. Since Twi is not the mother tongue of Gas, Ewes, Dagombas, etc., in fact, the majority of Ghanaians, we can't expect Twi to be used as the chosen language. Not even any other single language. Hence, every child must be taught in the mother tongue, that's, if the fathers of kids from wives who don't belong to the same ethnic group as them shall agree to such a thing.
  
  Of course, it is all humbug! We have the experience of Malaysia's M. Bathir to remind us of what such a policy of teaching everybody in Malay diud to the disadvantaged Malay pop. he taught he was helping. The Indians and the Chinese made sure their children get the best of English language education privately and increased their worth tremendously and thus became the partners to the foreign investors, while the Malay graduates struggle to speak English properly and were still relegated. One of Bathirs last actions before he left office was to re-instate English as a medium of instruction in schools.
  
  Some of us shall not sit down and allow this woman with backward thinking to ruin our people. By all means, kids in class one to say 3 should be taught in their mother tongues, while being taught English as well. The privileged children who go to preparatory schools begin to speak English even before they master their mother tongues, if they learn it at all. English then is their mother tongue!
  
  Language alone is not enough to engender devet. It is the cultural pathos, values, attitudes, etc., that count most. And those things in Ghana are simply anathema to a civilised devt. Those are the things we need to change; not the language of instruction.
  
  Andy-K

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• Jasmine 10 years ago

  Andy, quit writing he "taught" he was helping.

  Andy, quit writing he "taught" he was helping.

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• New Sherrif in Town 10 years ago

  Dropping the English Language as the medium of instruction would require Ghanaians developing a Lingua franca, or a bridge language if you like. As the writer rightly puts it, the Ghanains already have adopted the Akan langua ...
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  Dropping the English Language as the medium of instruction would require Ghanaians developing a Lingua franca, or a bridge language if you like. As the writer rightly puts it, the Ghanains already have adopted the Akan language for their social and economic interactions. Why would any rational person seek to invent a new bridge or common language as a medium of communication or instruction in schools? Or how do we get the people's social and economic integration solidified with different languages of instruction for different ethnic enclaves? Keep the English language - it opens the rest of the world to us; or add Akan - it is already established.

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• Sankofa 10 years ago

  Why are we concerned about the Akan languages dominating language usage our country when we see nothing wrong with using English,a foreign language
  imposed on us by colonialism, as our official language?
  
  The fact that we ...
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  Why are we concerned about the Akan languages dominating language usage our country when we see nothing wrong with using English,a foreign language
  imposed on us by colonialism, as our official language?
  
  The fact that we adopt Twi as national language does not mean we do away with our other indigenous languages.Rather it will encourage us to become literate in our indigenous languages, and take pride in our own culture. It will also stop the growing trend of middle class urban families bringing up their children to speak English to the detriment of our indigenous languages.It is an utter nonsense which must stop.

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• Cut the Crap ! 10 years ago

  English is a Ghanaian language for heaven's sake - just like Frafra, Twi, Ewe, Ga , Fanti and others !
  
  it has been spoken in our country for centuries. it originated in England but no longer belongs to England. most speak ...
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  English is a Ghanaian language for heaven's sake - just like Frafra, Twi, Ewe, Ga , Fanti and others !
  
  it has been spoken in our country for centuries. it originated in England but no longer belongs to England. most speakers of the language today arrant British and the whole world is rushing to learn English.
  
  Those who want to have a local language as the medium of instruction in schools should go ahead and set up private schools and send their own children there. Of course they would not send their children to Twi-language schools. Why should anybody want that when it is a sure path to nowhere ?
  
  The poorer people in Ghana already know that English is the language go status and anybody who can afford it sends their child to a private school- notifier fun or display but tolerant and master the English language.
  
  People know what they want and do not need arrogant politicians and bureaucrats to tell them what to do. it is more than likely that this minister sends or has sent her own children to a private school to make them fluent in English.
  
  Already the biggest socio-economic divide in Ghana is between those who have command of the English language and those who do not.
  
  This whole argument is really much ado about nothing ! An ethnic language such as twi , no matter how widely it is spoken will never be accepted as an official language in Ghana and it cannot be imposed lest the country be thrown into civil unrest and even war.
  
  This argument crops up every now and then and quietly dies off till another stupid person brings it up again.
  
  Meanwhile life goes on and so does the culture of mediocrity that prevails in Ghana.

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• Atoklo 10 years ago

  Cut The Crap thank you for your input and I am100% in support of your comment. When I was in secondary school in the 60's, although English Language was compulsory and also the medium of instruction, it was also compulsory to ...
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  Cut The Crap thank you for your input and I am100% in support of your comment. When I was in secondary school in the 60's, although English Language was compulsory and also the medium of instruction, it was also compulsory to choose at least one vernacular for the WAEC School Certificate of Education Examination. That way everyone had the advantage to choose their mother tongue beside other subjects. If we are to develop and do business with the rest of the world, should we do away with the English Language? Kwame Nkrumah tried to find a solution for this problem but abandoned it for obvious reasons. When are we going to learn from past mistakes? We did away with the old styled secondary school/sixth forms and where has that got us today in the educational league in Africa, and the world for that reason? Ministers come out with stupid ideas whilst they educate their children in private schools abroad. The devil you is ........

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• Ghana Boy. 10 years ago

  Man, you startet very well with english is a ghanaian language just Like ewe twi ga and other major ghanaian languages. I want to add this piece that even though the world is preparing for everything global, nobody will like ...
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  Man, you startet very well with english is a ghanaian language just Like ewe twi ga and other major ghanaian languages. I want to add this piece that even though the world is preparing for everything global, nobody will like to see his or her culture go so easily and to assure oft somehing you know already,a language is always an integral part of a culture that must
  be protected. So therefore TWI must never be tolerated as the only medium oft communication, to the advantage oft some and the disadvantage oft others.

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• Abeeku Mensah 10 years ago

  We love excuses in Ghana period. Being followers of our colonial masters is just not enough for us we have to be copy cats of the wrong kind. For starters, even the Irish proximity to the British Isles has not stopped them fr ...
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  We love excuses in Ghana period. Being followers of our colonial masters is just not enough for us we have to be copy cats of the wrong kind. For starters, even the Irish proximity to the British Isles has not stopped them from speaking Irish english which is slightly different from that of UK and so is the case of the USA. It is also not a secret to anyone the French do not use English above native tongue neither does all other non-English speaking European nations. Our independence never gave us true independence because we had to hold on to something from our past even as it held us back in school.
  
  There are not many nations in the world where the medium of instruction at schools and or public transactions are carried out in some foreign language preferred over native tongue but former British and French colonies. There should be no debate; has there been any meaningful benefit with the use of English over native tongue? Do we still not have to pass every basic English test prior to gaining admission into US and British institutions of higher education irrespective of passing the GCE "O" and "A" levels once the handiwork of the British?

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• COMPILLER 10 years ago

  In Ivory Coast @ Nigeria illetrates could speak better English @ French resp.But in Ghana it is the opp.cos of our vernacular in schools.

  In Ivory Coast @ Nigeria illetrates could speak better English @ French resp.But in Ghana it is the opp.cos of our vernacular in schools.

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• Johannes B Awotwe 10 years ago

  Did you realize that Twi is a foreign language to a Dagomba, Frafra or Ewe. Some non-Akans may speak Twi just because they live in Akan domain. If you go to Frafra area of Ghana for instance, none of them speaks Twi. Therefor ...
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  Did you realize that Twi is a foreign language to a Dagomba, Frafra or Ewe. Some non-Akans may speak Twi just because they live in Akan domain. If you go to Frafra area of Ghana for instance, none of them speaks Twi. Therefore forcing them to learn Twi is just the same as forcing them to learn English.
  
  We simply need a neutral language ie English in order to avoid any discrimination of minority tribes which will certainly cause tribal unrest in Ghana.

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