[lg policy] Namibia: Pros and cons of English as official language

[Harold Schiffman]

 Pros and cons of English as official language
11 Sep 2012
Article Views (non-unique): 151

By Beven Liswani Kamwi

MY short paper seeks to critique the pros and cons of adopting English
as Namibia’s official language and medium of instruction and its
implications. Before I start the discussion at hand, it is of utmost
importance to provide a brief description of Namibia in relation to
language policy.

Namibia is a country with approximately 2.1 million inhabitants
according to the 2011 population census statistics. Officially Namibia
has thirteen languages of instruction in the first grades of
schooling.

Out of these languages, three including English are European
languages, while two, namely German and Afrikaans, are connected with
the colonial history of Namibia. Interestingly, with such a low
population figure, Namibia is home to many languages hence it was a
daunting task to enact a neutral language policy to accommodate all
parties in the country. This was also observed by one Maho in 1998.
Maho remarked that Namibia is a vast country inhabited by few people,
but it has many tongues.Let it be borne in mind that Namibia is a
multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society, thus Namibia’s
approach to language policy and planning was based on the policy of
unity in diversity.

At independence, the framers of the constitution decided to adopt
English as the official language of Namibia, thus serving as a unifier
among the many prevailing ethnic languages and cultural diversities in
Namibia.From the linguistic and cultural perspective, one notices that
with the introduction of English as an official language and medium of
instruction in Namibia, many Namibians are losing their cultures and
competency in their mother tongues.

This is further worsened by the exposure to various media such as TV
and radio that mostly conform to the use of English.This use of
English appears to emanate from Namibia’s language policy, which has
adopted English to be the official language. Needless to say, the
language policy in pre-independent Namibia did not seek to promote
local languages and cultures but rather sought to marginalize them
further since its policies were based on apartheid.

It is on this basis that at independence, a language policy was
adopted with the aim to rectify the language disparities of the past.
This gave birth to the declaration of English as an official language
and some local languages. So the question which boggles the mind is,
whether this language policy has really achieved its objectives in the
period since its adoption? Admittedly, such question is open to
diverse responses depending on one’s detailed analysis of the issue.

My opinion on this is that, good as it may appear on paper, the
language policy document leaves much to be desired in terms of
accomplishments. Instead of promoting local languages and cultures,
the language policy has made English dominant over them.
Moreover, it is interesting to note that the Namibian language policy
for education states that for pedagogical reasons, it is ideal for
learners to study through their home languages and this obviously
could also play an important role in local language promotion and
cultural preservation.

In addition, the same language policy (1990) also outlines that the
education system should promote the language and cultural identity of
all learners through the use of the mother tongue as a medium of
instruction at lower levels as well as teaching it throughout formal
education. However, the practical reality on the ground is
discouraging as the true reflection of the matter shows a number of
shortcomings, amongst others, insufficient resources are available in
local language development, insufficient teachers are qualified to
teach the mother tongues, and general support from all the
stakeholders for the development of African languages lags behind.
We even observe a situation of unequal language development. In light
of this, the dominant status of English is prevalent in many areas
such as administration, education, courts, broadcasting and so on.

In contrast, the status of national languages is low as they are
excluded from almost all official domains by the current language
policy.
If this trend continues, then the use of national languages and the
preservation of local cultures will not gain momentum.
These local languages, which in my view are already minority languages
in functional terms, will turn into marginalized languages in the
future. While it is an undeniable fact that English plays a key role
both locally, regionally and internationally, this must not make us
denigrate our national languages as they are the repositories of our
cultures and define our existence as human beings. So, when we speak
or use English, let us not forget the important roles that our mother
tongues play in our lives.


• Beven Liswani Kamwi is a Master of Arts in English student in the
Department of Language and Literature Studies, Faculty of Humanities
and Social Sciences, University of Namibia (Unam).

http://www.newera.com.na/articles/47595/Pros-and-cons-of-English-as-official-language

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