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<h1 class="gmail-bold">Let’s end English obsession</h1>
<span id="gmail-spnDate" class="gmail-block gmail-datestamp">2016-09-25 06:06</span>
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<p class="gmail-left">Enock Shishenge</p>
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<img id="gmail-image" title="Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi. (Cornel van Heerden)" src="http://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/2078/ee7d94a7e097416383cc487671d4ccec.jpg" alt="Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi. (Cornel van Heerden)">
<p class="gmail-text">Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi. (Cornel van Heerden)</p>
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<div class="gmail-left"><h5 id="gmail-Relatedheader" class="gmail-bold">Related Links</h5></div>
<ul><li class="gmail-bold"><a href="http://city-press.news24.com/Voices/id-like-more-discipline-in-our-schools-20160617">‘I’d like more discipline in our schools’</a></li><li class="gmail-bold"><a href="http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/but-whats-your-english-name-20160712">“But, what’s your English name?”</a></li><li class="gmail-bold"><a href="http://www.news24.com/World/News/french-politicians-want-english-scrapped-as-eu-language-20160627">French politicians want English scrapped as EU language</a></li></ul>
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<p>Georg Hegel warned:
“We learn from history that we don’t learn from history.” There still
exists a perpetual, if not detrimental phenomenon to prioritise the
Englis<span>h language over our own languages. </span></p><p><span>It is clear that we ha</span><span>ve not learnt from history that African languages are not useless, and we use them less and less. </span></p><p><span>This is a disturbing fact. </span></p><p>History
is littered with stories which should have taught us various lessons,
including that language was used as an instrument to conquer us in
Africa. French, Portuguese, English and other western languages were
forced on us and, lately, it seems, the Chinese espouse the same
imperialistic covert policies to impose Mandarin in Africa.</p><p>They do that with the help of our democratic governments. They employ designed monetary pretexts to impose their language on us.</p><p>Language imperialism impairs the perceived and envisaged development of African languages.</p><p>As
a result, all the valuable knowledge passed down to us by previous
generations, such as language, culture and traditions – that define our
heritage – will soon face extinction.</p><p>Language can be described as
the permanent and stable, but developing nucleus of personality; it is
absolutely our own. Without our languages we are nothing, less than
nothing.</p><p>It is obvious that we are still slaves of post-colonial
psychological imprisonment when it comes to how we Africans treat the
English language.</p><p>In South Africa we have 11 official languages,
but we have officialised English at the expense of our own. We are
closed to admitting that our indigenous languages carry our heritage and
way of life.</p><p>This Heritage Month, we ought to celebrate indigenous languages but, instead, we celebrate our heritage in English. </p><p>The
Pan South African Language Board, which is meant to promote African
languages, has become another empty policy-pretext to further perpetuate
stigmas around African languages.</p><p>Our Constitution also sounds
the death knell to the promotion of these languages. They are
theoretically protected but practically neglected.</p><p>The
appreciation of our languages will only be realised when we begin to
treat them as the languages of politics, economics and research. </p><p>Accents
and fluency in English must not be mistakenly equated to intelligence.
Psychoanalysis must be carried out to treat the detrimental effects of
post-colonialism.</p><p>This colonial mentality can be traced back to
the colonial and apartheid eras where we were taught to glorify English
and Afrikaans as the supreme languages.</p><p>The symbolic effects of
post-colonialism still hold us ransom. We are not aware that we
perpetuate white supremacy through the English language.</p><p>U<span>NESCO</span>’s
Endangered Languages Programme estimates that 6 000 languages that are
spoken today will disappear by the end of the century. </p><p>Our home languages face extinction within the walls of our homes. Our mother tongues are foreign to our children.</p><p>Because
our skin pigmentation makes the attainment of whiteness impossible, we
then resort to using accent as a means of blending in with the
“superior” race.</p><p>We ought to be honest and elevate our languages to prominence. We must stop using English where it is not necessary.</p><p>This
in turn will help preserve our culture and heritage. This Heritage
Month we must celebrate the power of our own languages. We must do away
with the obsession with English.</p><p>The social order and school
curriculum still indoctrinate us to worship English. Language policy
makers seem to be agents of Cecil John Rhodes’ dream to westernise the
world.</p><p>In 1901, Rhodes initiated scholarships to safeguard his dream of making the whole world English.</p><p>In the 1980s, our teachers severely punished us, and some still do so, for abusing the Queen’s language with our nasty accents. </p><p>When
a teacher discourages a learner from speaking an indigenous language,
is psychology paralysing the learner to start thinking that their
language is useless?</p><p>One is flabbergasted that some students
majoring in African languages still write their theses in English. It
proves that our own languages are regarded as useless, not only by
whites, but by us as well.</p><p>Decolonisation starts when one becomes
conscious that one is colonised. Failure to be aware further perpetuates
and maintains the status quo. We need to disrupt the existing orders
purposed at suppressing our languages.</p><p>The fertile ground for
promoting and developing languages is at school level, and it is
something that Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi must be commended
for.</p><p>But let’s speak our languages at home as well. I have a
strong conviction that our languages can be turned into those of
politics, economics and research.</p><p><em>Shishenge is an indigenous-language teacher and activist at Wena Research Institute</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><strong>TALK TO US</strong></p><p>Do we perpetuate white supremacy by using English over other languages?</p><p><a href="http://www.news24.com/Opinions/Voices/lets-end-english-obsession-20160923">http://www.news24.com/Opinions/Voices/lets-end-english-obsession-20160923</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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