ENGLISH IN AFRICA
We must change our
attitudes… our minds we must realized that from now on we are no more a
colonial but are free and independent people…
The African sun set on the
Union Jack but not on the English language. Africa needs a link language even
more than India and English, or Creole English, provides it.
This is paramount chief Anlaf the II. Just in his tiny chiefdom there are six
languages spoken. Africa itself has over a 1000 languages.
Most people talk Time
and the others talk Susu, but we have some minority
tribes like Lokos, we have Limbas
as well. We have the Pulaas and the Madingos are here.
The African nations with
hundreds of languages need a lingua franca and sixteen countries have retained
English since de-colonization. English Creoles are spreading rapidly throughout
the markers and bazaars of West Africa. Perhaps as many as 200 million people
now speak them.
And Standard English is
taught in Africa’s schools. For these children good English spelling and
grammar will be vital for a career in law, medicine or government. As president
of Sierra Leone, Siaka Stevens welcomes the role of
Standard English in Africa’s future:
Once the people chart their own course and they know what they are
about, they realized as they do here, that the purpose of education is not to
rid yourself of your own culture but to get as much as you can from outside,
mix it with your own, and get something solid. If you want to earn your daily
bread, the best thing to do is to learn English. That is the source from which
most of the jobs come