adminCollen Takaza
University of Zimbabwe
DESPITE knowing, that local communities have their own local languages most officials — government, civil society, politicians — use the English language when addressing rural people.
It is widespread for officials from different facets of life to address rural people in English even when the majority of listeners are not fully conversant with the language.
This practice can be traced to the effects of colonisation on many Third World countries. Languages of former colonies are still widely used in Africa, Zimbabwe included.
Although the colonial master was destabilised and left the country subsequent to the liberation war, we still see her dominance in Zimbabwe through English.
The continued use of English is actually a global concern and its increased use cannot be alienated from the imperialism of the West, thus it can be considered to be a form of linguistic colonisation.
The Nziramasanga Commission Report on Education and Training of 1999 criticised the language practices in education and other public sectors for entrenching the dominance of English.
As indicated in the Constitution of Zimbabwe amendment number 20 of 2013, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages a few of them being Kalanga, Shona, English and Ndebele. English is used in government and business as the main medium of instruction.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), languages, with their multi-faceted implications for identity, communication, social assimilation, education, and development are of strategic importance for people.
Sadly, as a result of globalization processes, many languages are increasingly under threat or vanishing completely.
UNESCO notes that every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.
A global plan of action is now in place for the Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032). The major focus is on people’s rights to freedom of expression, to an education in their mother tongue and to participate in public life using their languages, to ensure the survival of local languages.
The continued use of the English language, by officials when addressing rural people have multiple implications.
In a paper entitled The Politics of the English language Maxwell Kadenge and Dion Nkomo have argued that the role played by English at the expense of indigenous languages is exclusionary as it marginalizes the majority of Zimbabweans who are not proficient in English.
The same can be said of a public address by officials when talking to rural people, a majority of whom have a slapdash knowledge of the language.
In, most cases the local people fail to understand what these officials will be saying in English. Language thus becomes a communication barrier between rural people and the officials.
The internationalization of English makes it a dominant language and when officials speak at any platform they seek to reach a diverse audience even when speaking in a rural setting.
For example officials from a political setting may be speaking to people in a rural area who speak the same language but may choose to use English.
The reason could be that they wish to make sure their address reaches probably the whole nation as such events may be aired on national television or on radio.
Online Reporter