International Mother Languages Day: is there anything to celebrate?

28 Feb, 2016 - 00:02 0 Views

The Sunday News

ON 21 February, the world marked the International Mother Languages Day, a day annually dedicated under the UNESCO calendar to celebrate each and every person’s mother tongue.

But to Ephraim Dube (not real name), who graduated into Grade Three at the beginning of the school term this year at a primary school in the predominantly Nambya speaking community of Hwange District in Matabeleland North Province, the day has little or no meaning at all.

He, like so many other people not only in Zimbabwe but the world over has virtually nothing to celebrate as his mother tongue is far from being recognised academically. His parents are Nambya in every respect and are quite proud of it but the problem is that very few schools are teaching Nambya beyond Grade Two in the Nambya dominant community.

Although the language has for the past four years been examined at Grade Seven at a handful of schools in the district, some schools are still reluctant to teach the language beyond kindergarten level, something that has irked traditional chiefs.

At home they use Nambya as a medium of communication but now that Ephraim is in Grade Three, at school he is supposed to graduate from his mother tongue and start learning iSiNdebele which will be examined at the end of primary school education — Grade Seven going forward into secondary school. ISiNdebele is certainly not his mother tongue. But like every child his age he is excited that he will be learning new things.

He is not yet worried about the slow but sure extinction of his own language, culture and identity because of the forced academic marriage. At that young age, nothing more matters. That language is a repository of culture and carries one’s identity and thoughts is not known at that innocent age and small mind.

What is crystal clear to him is that he has no one at home to help him with his homework as he used to do when he was in Grade Two. And he thinks his parents are dull, uneducated and ignorant because at times they fail to correctly assist him with proper iSiNdebele words although they can speak the language fluently.

His situation is just a microcosm of the macrocosm. It mirrors not only what is happening in Hwange where Nambya is dominant but in areas such as Kezi, Bulilima and Mangwe districts where Kalanga is predominantly spoken.

The same cannot, however, be said of Binga after the dominant Tonga language was examined at Ordinary Level for the first time last year while Venda in Beitbridge, Changani in Masvingo’s Chiredzi and Mwenezi districts and other so called minority languages face the same predicament of a likely extinction if no measures are put in place to make them fully recognised and taught up to all academically examinable levels to fulfil what is enshrined in the country’s constitution.

The constitution of the country recognises 16 languages including Sign Language but is still far from realising the real use of these languages as a medium of instruction especially in schools in dotted parts of the country that are not dominated by Shona and iSiNdebele.

Senator Chief Chitanga of the Changani people in Mwenezi district of Masvingo Province said the issue of languages was a cause for a splitting headache as it makes some other tribes more equal than others. He said languages mirror the way people live — their culture and failure to respect the language was the biggest undoing on a people’s culture and identity, values and ethos. Senator Chief Chitanga said it was sad that with the strides the country had made in the education sector it continued to overlook such an important issue.

“We cannot rejoice that our language is being recognised when it is not being taught at school. Our children are learning other languages and cultures that are alien to us and it completely distorts our culture. We have Chitanga Primary that started examining pupils at Grade Seven last year and that is as far as the teaching of our Changani language has so far gone.

“We want it to be taken further than that. We want a situation where Zezana Secondary also takes up from Grade Seven and make the language examinable at Ordinary Level. The challenge I think has to do with the colleges. There has not been any deliberate policy to ensure teachers are trained in most of these so called “minority” languages although they are not minor because once we call them minor it gives the assumption that there is a major one when all languages are equal.

“We have people with degrees in Changani but they are not qualified teachers and we hope the Government will do something to integrate them so that they complement its efforts in realising the importance of all languages as equal,” said Chief Chitanga. And with revelations from UNESCO that 40 percent of the global population are through a laxity of Government policies denied the chance to use their mother languages, it comes as no surprise that Zimbabwe is in this bracket.

Chief Nekatambe of Hwange had no kind words for schools that were reluctant to teach Nambya up to at least Grade Seven. He called upon the responsible authorities to enforce the teaching of the language in all schools in the district saying as traditional leaders they were tired of being forced to submit to other languages and cultures through academic association.

He said it was disheartening to note that while there was talk of celebrating lingual and cultural diversity, the country was doing exactly the opposite by destroying other cultures and creating hegemony on others.

“It’s an issue that makes me angry. I am a traditional leader and I expect the teachers to speak to me in Nambya when I visit schools but it’s me the host who now becomes the stranger and I am forced to adopt their language because they can’t say even a greeting in Nambya.

“Our children are all corrupted and our culture is being distorted. Something must be done to make sure all areas in the country are allowed to have their local languages taught in schools, at least up to Grade Seven for a start. You will find out that at times it simply goes down to attitude. We have certain headmasters who are hot headed and would not allow the teaching of Nambya as if they are in some district where Nambya is foreign. Asking them to teach Nambya is just like asking a school in China to teach iSiNdebele. They feel we have to beg them to do so but we can’t do that,” fumed Chief Nekatambe.

He said they were going to hold a meeting with the district education officer to discuss the issue amid allegations that the community was mobilising to demonstrate against schools that are refusing to teach Nambya. The issue of languages has become a social contention hotbed that has in some societies caused a splitting headache with communities protesting against headmasters who do not speak their languages.

Language expert and chairperson in the Department of Languages at Lupane State University Mr Mbulisi Ndlovu said languages define people’s identity, culture and they represent thoughts and must be protected from vandalism through academic and social associations.

“It is unfortunate that it has taken the Government too long to realise the need to encompass all languages in the school curricula and let some of them go under. But the issue as it is should not be limited to teaching grammar and books only but extended further to poems, songs and other such things that define the culture.

“A people’s culture is always expressed and articulated in their language. For example in Shona they use plurals “imi” to refer to someone they respect while in Ndebele even a respected person is called in singular “wena” and it explains why there is such contentions in spellings, it is because the misspelling will distort the meaning.

“I do not, however, see any logic in people protesting against a Shona-speaking headmaster at a secondary school in Matabeleland. Would they protest if they are to be given a white headmaster? I think it’s just an attitude problem. Black people just have an attitude towards their own languages and towards each other. But if the pupils are past the critical development stages I see no problem,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He added that the East African tigers were a lot more ahead in terms of development in the use of their mother tongue as the medium of expression.

“The problem that we have with languages that are not ours is that they naturally force you to think twice. If one is using English one is obliged to think first in his mother tongue, then think of how to put it across in proper English. This explains why we have no proper words in iSiNdebele for some English words, which is the same with all other languages,” added Mr Ndlovu.

He said the issue should start with the Government using all languages in its documentation and not assume that everyone knows and understands English, Ndebele and Shona. Director of curricula development in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Arthur Makanda said the ministry was working to ensure that all the languages were taught in schools in the country. He said although it was going to take some time, urging patience on the part of those affected he reiterated the need for the communities to co-operate with the Government in developing the required literature.

“We are aware that the constitution recognises 15 languages plus one which is Sign Language. We are in the process of aligning our curricula with the country’s constitution to include all the languages but it is certainly going to take some time because we have no ready literature in some of the indigenous languages.

“We want our curricula to embrace our diversity. We are quite mindful of the fact that language is a repository of culture and it therefore defines the people’s identity. In that regard the ministry is happy that Tonga for example is now examinable up to Ordinary level while we are working on bridging the gap so that it becomes examinable at Advanced level.

“Great strides have also been made to make Nambya examinable and we are happy to say that we have since developed a dictionary in Nambya in a collaborated effort with the Nambya Cultural Association. Our focal point in as far as literature and human resource development is concerned is Great Zimbabwe University where all the indigenous languages are taught and we are getting some of the reading material in South Africa for Venda and ChiChangani languages while for Tonga we are looking at Zambia but we will convert the literature to suit our local dialects,” he said.

The International Mother Languages Day, however, like so many other days under the UN banner seems to have little or no meaning at all in Zimbabwe. Important as it is especially in a country like Zimbabwe where there are so many tribes, hence so many languages, one would assume that the country would take stock of the strides it has made so far in addressing the issue of some languages facing extinction due to academic association and socialisation.

The issue is therefore likely going to remain a source of social and political contention as has been seen in some parts of the country if no corrective measures are put in place as some communities have already sown the seeds of strife on the fertile ground of their languages’ neglect.

 

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds