Speaking local languages helps protect culture, traditions: Africans

By Fatma Esma Arslan and Ahmet Emin Donmez

DAKAR, Senegal/YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AA) – Speaking local languages helps people preserve their culture and traditions, according to Africans.

“Speaking our own language will help us preserve our culture and traditions and allow us to develop it,” said Muhammed Eminu, who speaks the Fula language.

The African Union’s acceptance of Swahili as a working language is a ”source of pride” for him and the whole of Africa, Eminu told Anadolu Agency.

Eminu lives in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde where some 250 languages ​​and dialects are spoken. He said that about16 African countries speak Fulani as a mother tongue.

Ngono Mbarga Audrey, a cook, said: "We are African first and foremost. Protecting our language means protecting our identity."

French teacher Doudou Mane said that integrating local languages ​​into the African Union (AU) will strengthen the communication between society and institutions.

Living in the Senegalese capital Dakar, Mane said that especially Wolof is spoken among 39 local languages.

“Literacy in Africa is generally learned through English or French. There is also an illiterate population who cannot get any education. Therefore, integrating local languages ​​into the AU will enable to reach this part of the society as well,” Mane added.

Mamadou Diop, another Senegalese, stressed that language is not just a means of communication.

Diop said the recognition of the Wolof language in regional organizations will also mean the recognition of the Senegalese culture.

English teacher Ndeye Khady Diouf said children that can speak both the local language and English or French improve their capacity to express themselves.

Emphasizing that she fully supports the promotion of African languages ​​in every medium, she said “mother tongue is also (the part of) an identity.”

“There is an inseparable link between culture and language. That's why I'm in favor of using local languages ​​more in official channels,” she added.

After the AU accepted one of the local languages, Swahili, as the “working language," the issue of local languages once again came to the agenda.

Nearly 2,000 languages and dialects are spoken across the African continent. Despite this linguistic diversity, English and French are used as official languages in most of the continent.

* Writing by Gozde Bayar in Ankara.