Dear Mr. Nkem Njicha,
Greetings.
You are elaborating on a point which is well known. And I totally agree with you, and my article does not object to that. What my article tried to address is: why does a country say it is bilingual? What ensures that bilingualism is successful and will be sustainable? Look at all the countries which are officially bilingual in the whole wide world and show me one which practices the kind of bilingualism Cameroon practices! I can predict to you with the certainty that day will follow night, that bilingualism, which can mean nothing else but the use of two languages in the administration of a country, is bound to die in Cameroon! Anyone who has enough insight into language phenomena will understand this. I have tried to show it in my article.
The World is basically English speaking. And Cameroon Francophones have discovered this and as I said in the article, they learn English for the enormous advantages it gives them outside of Cameroon. But what does that matter, if official texts will be served to Southern Cameroonians mainly in French? Let us suppose that all Cameroonians are speaking the two languages, and all text are drafted and circulated only in French. How will Southern Cameroonians or those who are brandishing their bilingualism feel? Do you see the fraud my article captures? To say that your language is one of the languages used in the administration (as a sign of recognition of your own component) and then ignore it in practice?
Bilingualism is not itself about language; it is about recognition of one component of a country. It is about respect; it about honouring the other side. In fact, read about Bill 101 in Quebec.
Regards,
Denis.
On Thursday, February 25, 2016 12:51 AM, 'Timothy Mbeseha' via ambasbay <ambasbay@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Hi Mr. Sanda Oumarou,
I am sure no one will rightly question your right to be an African Cameroonian. What I personally question is whether you have ever understood the meaning of institutional bilingualism (French and English) as proclaimed by the Constitution of La Republique du Cameroun, the country you served as Government Minister. If you understand it kindly let us know how many texts ever emanated from your Ministry in French and English. Although you were born in Ngaoundere, which is in French speaking Cameroon you seem to be able to speak or understand both French and English. However at the time you were Minister how many of your Directors, Chiefs of Services and others with equivalent ranks could express themselves in the two official languages of Cameroon. It is very unfortunate that each time this topic comes up some of us invoke the idea that French and English are colonial languages. It looks like those who belong to this camp would have loved to adopt all or some African languages as their official medium of doing official business.. Interestingly for Mr. Sanda Oumarou, I wonder if he can speak , talk less of writing even any other three of the several dozens of local languages spoken in Cameroon. We can argue whether colonialism was a good or bad idea. To me,that is a mute argument. All we know as a fact is that as bad as colonialism was, (and many important countries around the world including the USA) were colonized most of what we do in our daily lives today is a relic of the colonial period. From the schools we attend, the hospital we go to when we are sick to the roads and cars we drive on are all remnants of our colonial masters. What I understand Denis to mean in his write up is the fact that bilingualism as proclaimed in the constitution of Cameroon is a farce. If you choose to react, try to show us how this bilingualism is successful. Don't tell us the goodness in speaking English or French. The current 1996 Cameroon constitution was adopted with full knowledge that bilingualism (the use of French and English) in official administrative services will be practiced with equality at all times. Correct me if I am wrong.
Mbeseha
On Wednesday, February 24, 2016 1:38 PM, Julius Acham <achamj07@gmail.com> wrote:
Brother Denis,
Our problem is Colonization and Annexation and the Non Implementation of UN Resolutions. Our problem is not linguistic. In this day and age, knowing both French and English is win/win. It is noteworthy that by dissolving that illegal Union in 1984, President Biya gave us Our Restoration on a gold platter. We can take it if we really want it and focus on taking it. This is HRH Fon Gorji Dinka's lamentation that PEOPLE with Internationally defined boundaries by Treaties and who have been rejected keep going round and round and round and round instead of enforcing their internal and external legal victories. See www.ambazonia.org
JA
On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 2:48 AM, 'Atemkeng Denis' via ambasbay <ambasbay@googlegroups.com> wrote:
--Greetings to everyone.Please find attached en enlightening article on Cameroon bilingualism for your reading.Enjoy.Denis.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ambasbay" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ambasbay+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
WWW.AMBAZONIA.ORG- ONGOING CIVIL DEFENSE FORCE SIGN UP
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ambasbay" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ambasbay+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ambasbay" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ambasbay+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ambasbay" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ambasbay+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
0 comments:
Post a Comment