Africa Day: Let’s reflect on indigenous languages

EDITOR — Yesterday, Africans from many parts of the continent and the Diaspora commemorated Africa Day.

Now that the celebrations are over, there should be introspection on the way indigenous languages are being viewed in Zimbabwe and throughout the continent. Zimbabwe has 16 recognised languages as enshrined in the Constitution.

However, there is still a gap in language equity as some languages are seen to be superior to others.

Shona, Ndebele and English are the most dominant in narratives making the other 13 appear inferior.

More work needs to be done to fix this anomaly which is not representative of the diverse spread of ethnicities found in Zimbabwe.

The first step towards an increased appreciation in local languages is through branding of products and official documentation. An example of a country which preserves its language is Germany where 85 percent of their products or places are written in local languages.

Closer to home, South Africa is one of the African countries that give prominence to their own indigenous languages. There seems to be a fair distribution of Xhosa, Zulu, Venda, Afrikaans, just to mention a few. In Zimbabwe the story appears different.

There is still a mentality that places English on a high pedestal, which puts people under pressure to speak fluently in a language introduced to us through colonialism. In countries like the United States or England where English is the natural language, there is no rush to understand African languages.

Why can’t Zimbabweans and Africans focus on their own indigenous languages as well as dialects?

Our indigenous languages are dying slowly as some parents even fame themselves for having children who are eloquent in English, but struggle with local languages. Nobuhle Mutaki, Harare Polytechnic.