Tanzania drops English as the language of instruction in secondary schools

[Premeditated]

good

teach it as a third language or something. Or just have some schools teach it as a alternative language course like we do with french in the states. Those who are interested in doing business when they grow up, can learn that shyt if they want. No reason teaching African kids math and science in English if you already have your own language.

 

[newworldafro]

I'm not really sure how I feel about this

Respect! Absolutely no need reason for a foreign language to be the nations primary language. Many other Afrikan and Caribbean nations should follow suit.

What are they going to speak af the formal national language in Barbados or Puerto Rico or Jamaica. , patois??

 

[Mr. Togo]

English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions[13][14]and in professional contexts such as science.[15]

So yea if you are serious about your profession it would pay to know English.

 

[mbewane]

If you read the article it says other languages (including english) will be taught as electives like we do here. It's just that their normal classes (Math, sciences) will no longer be taught in English

No I did read the article, but as you know there's a HUGE difference in being taught English and being taught IN English. What I'm saying is that the reality of the world is that multiple languages is the way to go, and for historical reasons English is already present in Tanzania. That gives Tanzanians a HUGE advantage as opposed to, say, people from CAR. Loose from the ideological reasoning with which I agree (promoting and teaching in national languages) one should be careful not to shoot oneself in the foot. Of course English will be taught as an elective, but that's the case in French-speaking Belgium and their (our) English basically sucks. Tanzania has an advantage in that department, it would be counterproductive to just let go of it. I personnaly would consider keeping English with a special status, because if you totally demote it to a "foreign" language then you run the risk of having next generation's of kids that can't speak it. Which is a shame, not because it's English, but because being bilingual is the way to go now. I would have the same reasoning if instead of English it were Lingala, Chinese or Wolof.

And another point is this : I just checked the offcial website of the tanzanian govt, and it's in swahili and english. So how you gonna have English as an official language of the country, but teach it as an elective? The risk is that for various reasons now, some kids DO NOT elect to learn english. Their right. But if English remains an official language of the country, are we sure those who do not speak English will have access to public service, the gvt, etc? Another risk is that English will go back to being the language of an elite, the kids whose parents can maybe afford additional training in that language. And of coruse those are the ones who will end up in places with responsibilities. This is EXACTLY what happened in Belgium when French-speaking Belgium decided to make learning dutch an elective. Problem is, Dutch is an official language in Belgium, and to work at the federal level you need to be bilingual. Guess what happened: Federal level is totally dominated by Dutch-speaking Belgians, because they decided to keep teaching french compulsory and also teach portions of some stuff in french.Thus many are bilingual.

Language dynamics are extremely complex, Rwanda tried switching from French to English as an official language and has had a hard time at it, countries in the Maghreb still have issues TODAY because of the gvt's will to fully impose arabic as the only language (thus eliminating french and local languages), french-speaking Belgium is a linguistic hellhole precisely because the foreign language you choose is "elective", etc.

 

[Tommy Knocks]

This is dumb as hell. As a private english teacher abroad I can tell you that every emerging country is trying to learn english not phase it out. Its pretty common knowledge , that the world has changed now that we are in the age of information and the globe is one. It just so happened the leading language, thus being the international language, is english.

Go to any country in the world, and hit up an ATM, guess what the second language will be? English. This is why just about every european traveling abroad, must know some english. The way the world communicates with one an other is through english. I live in asia, and all the workers here are from all over the world, Russia, India, Ethiopia, Chile, and guess what language we talk to one another? English. Its the only way we're able to communicate to each other as an expat community.

This is dumb as hell, he's doing a disservice to his country. The local language will never disappear, it will always be spoken at home. Its how I learned my mothers native tongue, but english is hands down the most expressive communicative global language out there. If you're doing business anywhere in the world, they might not speak tamil, you might not speak spanish, but you can both do business in english. It works as a bridge worldwide , and that won't change for hundreds of years now that we have the internet. Its like arabic numbers 1,2,3,4 is now universal and cemented as the numerical code on earth. English will be that.

 

[NSSVO]

Why? English doesn't stand for Imperialism now, it's just the language of the world. Why phase yourself out?

 

[I.AM.PIFF]

Higher education should still be in English I think. This concerns the elementary levels.

IDK what to think of it. It's great to teach in your own language but let's see how well the students can transition for swahili-based to english-based education.

 

[mbewane]

This is dumb as hell. As a private english teacher abroad I can tell you that every emerging country is trying to learn english not phase it out. Its pretty common knowledge , that the world has changed now that we are in the age of information and the globe is one. It just so happened the leading language, thus being the international language, is english.

Go to any country in the world, and hit up an ATM, guess what the second language will be? English. This is why just about every european traveling abroad, must know some english. The way the world communicates with one an other is through english. I live in asia, and all the workers here are from all over the world, Russia, India, Ethiopia, Chile, and guess what language we talk to one another? English. Its the only way we're able to communicate to each other as an expat community.

This is dumb as hell, he's doing a disservice to his country. The local language will never disappear, it will always be spoken at home. Its how I learned my mothers native tongue, but english is hands down the most expressive communicative global language out there. If you're doing business anywhere in the world, they might not speak tamil, you might not speak spanish, but you can both do business in english. It works as a bridge worldwide , and that won't change for hundreds of years now that we have the internet. Its like arabic numbers 1,2,3,4 is now universal and cemented as the numerical code on earth. English will be that.

Not sure about these two things, but I agree with the main idea of your post.

 

[Tommy Knocks]

Not sure about these two things, but I agree with the main idea of your post.

I dont know about in your country, but in my moms country french is spoken, but TV is in lingala. In the house, lingala is spoken. The Belgians came some 500 years ago, and the language is still going strong..........

For educational purposes French, and on a better scale english, are better. They both have actual dictionaries and written grammatical guidelines to follow. Lingala does not.

 

[mbewane]

I dont know about in your country, but in my moms country french is spoken, but TV is in lingala. In the house, lingala is spoken. The Belgians came some 500 years ago, and the language is still going strong..........

For educational purposes French, and on a better scale english, are better. They both have actual dictionaries and written grammatical guidelines to follow. Lingala does not.

I'm Central-African and Belgian, so I have some vague knowledge of DRC...Belgian didn't come 500 years ago lol, we didn't get their til late 19th. But that's not the point.

Just assuming local languages will survive is a leap of faith. take you own example : an expat working in Asia. So let's say you meet, who knows, a spanish chick there and you have a kid, and live in say Singapour. Are you sure you're gonna teach lingala to your kid? what language will you use as a family, lingala, spanish, or english? I ask because I know first hand there is no obvious answer.

Even for the people in Africa it's not so self-evident : as you said yourself, for educational purposes french and english are better (for the moment being, proactive policies can change that, and programs exists to do so). This means that some people will consider french and english as more interesting languages to know than local languages. So why teach those at all? If I take my own example, since my mom was not Central African she did not speak sango. My pops speaks perfect french, so we used french at home. I went to a french school, because 'french is better" for educationnal purposes. Result : I lived 8 years in Bangui and can hardly speak the language.

Hell, I read that in some northern country (I think it was Denmark but not sure at all) some parents are dropping their own language all together to teach their children english.

 

[3rdWorld]

I disagree with this. Knowing English is pretty important in this globalized society.

No its not..

the Chinese dont speak a lick of English and have managed to become wealthy..fukk the propaganda. Those Francophone African nations owe France nothing and need to drop French as well..

 

[3rdWorld]

And dont underestimate the power of language over people..
Said it before here, that if you speak another persons language they have power over you. Simple as that. Europeans expect the world to speak Euro languages for a reason, but dont care to learn anyone elses language. See, thats that power coming into play.

 

[Tommy Knocks]

I'm Central-African and Belgian, so I have some vague knowledge of DRC...Belgian didn't come 500 years ago lol, we didn't get their til late 19th. But that's not the point.

Just assuming local languages will survive is a leap of faith. take you own example : an expat working in Asia. So let's say you meet, who knows, a spanish chick there and you have a kid, and live in say Singapour. Are you sure you're gonna teach lingala to your kid? what language will you use as a family, lingala, spanish, or english? I ask because I know first hand there is no obvious answer.

Even for the people in Africa it's not so self-evident : as you said yourself, for educational purposes french and english are better (for the moment being, proactive policies can change that, and programs exists to do so). This means that some people will consider french and english as more interesting languages to know than local languages. So why teach those at all? If I take my own example, since my mom was not Central African she did not speak sango. My pops speaks perfect french, so we used french at home. I went to a french school, because 'french is better" for educationnal purposes. Result : I lived 8 years in Bangui and can hardly speak the language.

Hell, I read that in some northern country (I think it was Denmark but not sure at all) some parents are dropping their own language all together to teach their children english.

I didn't mean literal 500 years, I mean like multi hundred exaggerating lol.

My kid probably won't know lingala. It will be the language of whatever country Im in. Plus the language we are speaking at home, which would be english. I am american after all....

Keyword here: what country we are in. If you live in Congo, the odds of the local language going extinct is rare, not to say it doesn't happen, it happened in the past, latin is no longer spoken, however, we're not really conquering each other anymore. Thats why I believe it will be harder. Now in 1,000 years, who knows, Im sure lingala will be ancient and past. No language lasts forever, but its yet to be seen what will happen now that we live in the age of information. Maybe english will be the one and only language, or some english based language (think latin) which is evolved and incorporates various languages, slangs from all over the world. Only time will tell, wish I were alive to hear it.

but I think now that we have a worldwide database (internet) we can always pull up and learn languages of the past. and so it wont really go extinct like say some Hittite language from ancient days that no one can even learn to speak today.

 

[mbewane]

No its not..

the Chinese dont speak a lick of English and have managed to become wealthy..fukk the propaganda. Those Francophone African nations owe France nothing and need to drop French as well..

Money is more important than languages I have to agree lol

I would tend to disagree with you on the bolded for the same reason in my other post, meaning that knowing various languages IS an asset today, regardless of the language. Francophone african countries don't keep french as a gesture towards France lol, but as a tool for regional business and reaching out to the world. Senegalese can easily do business with/travel to Québec, Belgium or Madagascar thanks to the french language. It's a tool, and an advantage over those who do not speak global languages. It's overlooked by those who DO speak a global language (and especially by english-speakers) but trust me, I've been around Italians, Hungarians, Poles etc and a lot envy french and english-speakers for this exact same reason.

Learning and speaking the local and, if possible, a global language should go hand in hand, and it's not impossible. Languages are not a zero-sum thing, and programs exists today aiming at teaching both the local language and French.

 

[3rdWorld]

Money is more important than languages I have to agree lol

I would tend to disagree with you on the bolded for the same reason in my other post, meaning that knowing various languages IS an asset today, regardless of the language. Francophone african countries don't keep french as a gesture towards France lol, but as a tool for regional business and reaching out to the world. Senegalese can easily do business with/travel to Québec, Belgium or Madagascar thanks to the french language. It's a tool, and an advantage over those who do not speak global languages. It's overlooked by those who DO speak a global language (and especially by english-speakers) but trust me, I've been around Italians, Hungarians, Poles etc and a lot envy french and english-speakers for this exact same reason.

Learning and speaking the local and, if possible, a global language should go hand in hand, and it's not impossible. Languages are not a zero-sum thing, and programs exists today aiming at teaching both the local language and French.

People overate language on the international front. Sure Senegalese can do business with people in Canada as they can speak French, but ultimately the end result could be met with no French ever having been spoken. Thats why I gave an example of the Chinese..Ive met many that cant speak English but can communicate well enough to get business. The idea of needing some European language to do international business is 1980s thinking directed at Blacks only to allow someone to dominate us through language and culture. In the 90's many American business people took classes in Japanese thinking it would held them somehow.

No one needs to learn German in order to do business with Germany, no one needs to learn Mandarin or Cantonese to get business in China, or needing to learn Punjabi cause you want a deal in India. Its a power game language. Why then didnt all those conquering Europeans learn the languages of the Natives they invaded?