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<h1>Ngugi wa Thiong'o: 'African languages need to talk to each other'</h1>
<p class="gmail-intro">Renowned Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o has been in
Germany, reading from his work at the event "Voices of Africa." He spoke
to DW about the crucial role of African languages in empowering the
continent. </p>
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<p><em>DW: What do you see as the role of young people in taking Africa forward?</em></p> <p>Ngugi
wa Thiong'o: Young people are always the future of any country, the
future of any nation. Do you want to know the character or the future of
any nation? Look at the young people, what they are reading, what
language they are speaking, what their behavioural patterns are, what
knowledge they are getting and that will give a clue as to the future of
that country.</p> <p><em> So do you think Africa's young generations can take the continent forward?</em></p> <p> Yes,
they can! But we have done them wrong, we the older generation, and the
wrong thing we have done is we have made the languages of Europe as if
they are the only ones which can bear knowledge, intelligence and
everything else. This is very wrong. My policy which I am advocating is
simple: Start with your mother tongue. Then, know whichever is the
lingua franca or the language which can enable people from different
linguistic communities to speak to each other and then add English,
French and any other language. So we have a minimum of three, I mean
triple language policy. My philosophy is summed up this way: If you know
all, and I mean all, the languages of the world and you do not know
your mother tongue, that is enslavement. If you know your mother tongue
and add all the languages of the world to it, that is empowerment.</p> <p><em>What role does language play in decolonising the mind, as you say?</em></p> <p>That
is what I am talking about, a different language policy in Africa,
where we have a triple language policy: Mother tongue, lingua franca and
then French or English or whatever. That is how we are going to
decolonise Africa because that also creates an attitude. You see,
knowing only English and French creates an attitude that knowledge comes
from outside. That all is good and everything else comes from outside
and you can see it has created a mentality in Africa where even African
leaders look for validation from the West. If initiative comes from
within the country, they are suspicious of it unless there is validation
and it is never the other way around. Start with ourselves, add to it.
It is very simple but very effective. Then you are able to build
confidence, to create inventors, discoverers, makers of things because
we have the three language policy. But the key thing is starting with
the mother tongue, build confidence and then we shall get engineers,
inventors, and makers of things with our gold, with our diamonds, with
our copper, with all the resources we have now. 90 percent of African
resources are controlled by the West. Africa, if I may say so, has been
the eternal donor to the west.</p> <div class="gmail-picBox gmail-medium"> <a class="gmail-overlayLink gmail-init" href="http://www.dw.com/en/ngugi-wa-thiongo-african-languages-need-to-talk-to-each-other/a-44297656#" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer;"> <img src="http://www.dw.com/image/16245728_404.jpg" title="Ngugi wa Thiong'o is regarded as a leading candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature" alt="Ngugi wa'Thiong'o reading from one of his books (CC-BY-SA-Kanaka Menehune)" width="340" height="191"> </a> <p>Ngugi wa Thiong'o is regarded as a leading candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature</p> </div> <p><em>You have written many books and your latest is called "The Mind." How do you see the future of literature in Africa? </em></p> <p>First
of all already, even within the European languages, I have read all the
brilliant produced novels from young writers who produce incredible
literature. Unfortunately it is all in European languages. But the
future of African literature lies in African languages. African
languages quite frankly are the new frontier and we must go there and
explore. It is like a virgin territory that has not been explored yet
and wonderful things will happen to us.</p> <p><em>So in the future you think that African literature will be written in African languages?</em></p> <p>We
shall write in African languages, we shall invent in African languages,
African languages will be talking to each other. Let me give you one
quick example: I would like people to please visit the Jalada website,
go to the internet and look up Jalada translation issue number one and
look up the story called <em>The Upright Revolution. </em>That story I
wrote in Kikuyu but young people called the Pan African Collective, they
took the story and now it has been translated into 71 languages the
world over, 50 of them are African. So here we are getting African
languages talking to each other and that is very important, having
respect for each other's languages and this is the way to the future.</p> <p><em>The interview was conducted by Mohammed Khelef.</em></p>
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<h4>DW recommends</h4>
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<a href="http://www.dw.com/en/berlin-holds-its-first-african-literary-festival/a-43405542">
<h2>
Berlin holds its first African literary festival
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<p>Berlin's first literature festival with and by African writers,
"Writing in Migration" explores these authors' trans-cultural
experiences. Ahead of the event, DW spoke to three authors taking part
in its program. (25.04.2018)
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<a href="http://www.dw.com/en/who-will-win-the-2017-nobel-literature-prize-after-bob-dylan/a-40796538">
<h2>
Who will win the 2017 Nobel Literature Prize after Bob Dylan?
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<p>Who are the potential laureates for the prestigious literary award?
After last year's controversy surrounding Bob Dylan, the Swedish Academy
is expected to go with a more traditional choice. (04.10.2017)<span class="gmail-icon gmail-pics"></span>
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<a href="http://www.dw.com/en/german-university-honors-kenyan-writer/a-17613396">
<h2>
German university honors Kenyan writer
</h2>
<p>Ngugi's literary works, like "The devil crucified" and "Matigari,"
pointed mostly to shortcomings within the Kenyan state. Now, Germany’s
University of Bayreuth is awarding him an honorary doctorate. (05.05.201</p></a></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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