1. Mother Tongue for Scientific and Technological Development in Africa. By Kwesi Kwaa Prah. 87 p.
2. African Languages for the Mass Education of Africans. By Kwesi Kwaa Prah. 89 p.
The theme treated in the two short books is generally the same, i.e. using mother tongues in Africa for education development.
In African Languages for the Mass Education of Africans the author first provides a background to language issues in Africa. The next two chapters are theoretical, dealing with "Language and Society" and "Culture, Language, Wisdom and Knowledge". In both these chapters the author argues strongly in favour of African languages and the potential they have for development. In the last two chapters entitle "Language and Mass Education from Colonialism to Post-Colonialism" and "The Road to Language and Cultural Development" respectively, the author makes it clear that there is still a long way to go before African languages are taken seriously, particularly by the African elite. It is noted for instance, that even in countries which are almost unilingual and uni cultural (Botswana, Lesotho, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, etc.) very little has been done to develop African languages.
Prof. Prah does however show, with convincing arguments, that there is still hope and room for educating the African masses in their own languages. One recommendation that comes out clearly is transborder and therefore transnational cooperation regarding many of the African languages that are spoken in more than one country. Other important recommendation, include: creating language bodies in different countries charged with the development of African languages, something like the "Academie Française" in France. The author also argues strongly against "substractive bilingualism" whereby a child at school is made to learn very little if anything in his/her mother tongue and to master English/French or Portuguese to the detriment of his/her mother tongue as he/she advances in school.
In the second book, Mother Tongue for Scientific and Technological Development in Africa, the author follows more or less the same pattern as in the previous book. He first presents some general theoretical considerations on language. Chapter one is on "The Dialectics of Culture, Language and Development". The following chapters are entitled, respectively; "The Role of Mother Tongue in Africa, Yesterday and Today"; "Mother Tongue and Contemporary Development Challenge"; "Attitudes of University Students in Southern Africa to the Relevance of Mother Tongue to Scientific and Technological Education"; and "Some Relevant Informed Opinion". Chapters four and five of this booklet are particularly interesting because they are based on the findings of surveys the author carried out in different places. The attitudes of the Herero (of Namibia) towards English, Afrikaans, German and their mother tongue are of particulaar interest (Chapter 4). Similarly, in Chapter 5, it is interesting to note that university students in Southern Africa generally have a positive attitude towards mother tongues.
After reading the two works the following observations can be made:
It would have been good if the author had spent more time looking at examples from outside Africa, in countries which might have been faced by similar language problems as ours in the past, and how they were able to overcome them.
The author talks about "culturizing" Science and Technology to suit African needs. Apart from translating the scientific knowledge into African languages, one does not see exactly how this "culturizing" process is to be carried out.
The author convincingly argues for an African knowledge base on which outside knowledge can be solidly built. This is very attractive but what is this knowledge base? Where is it to be found? In tales, proverbs, folkloric songs, riddles?... We should remember that a lot of African folklore is not even properly understood by the average African. Some of the things talked about in our proverbs and folkrolic songs are not applicable today and need to be seriously researched on so as to be understood.
The author does bring out some disquieting points. For instance, literacy campaigns in local languages for adults do not always have the desired effect. There is very little social mobility and status resulting from such achievements. So what is to be done?
The author talks of promoting African values. Which are these values? Are they the ancient, the recent or the contemporary ones?
In conclusion, I can say that in the two booklets, the author ably handles the issues of why African languages are in the situation in which they are. As to how to remedy the situation and bring about the long awaited fundamental change in language attitudes and policies in Africa, a lot more thinking and researching will have to be done.
Otherwise, the issues raised by Prof. K. K. Prah are topical and critical for the development of our continent. The debate should continue.
Reviewed by
Dr. Oswald Ndoleriire (PhD)
Assoc. Professor of Linguistics
Dean, Faculty of Arts
Makerere University
Kampala, Uganda