Indigenous languages are cool


Language is the most critical, indispensable and universal feature that characterize human communication in all societies. In Africa, there is a discrepancy in terms of the importance attached to national (indigenous) languages and foreign (exotic) languages. If you speak English well, people respect you but if you speak Shona, Ndebele and other minor local (indigenous) languages, it does not matter how well you speak them, no one looks at you differently. Thus, most people in Africa believe that it is important to speak and understand English better, both to be accepted socially and to have better employment opportunities. In other words, they viewed English as the language.

 Indigenous languages play an important role in learning, teaching and socialization since they help in improving learning and understanding. They are critical as they help to define one’s cultural identity and also promote social and cultural independence. To ensure that local languages are not dead and they are not boring, learners should view them as conditions of social acceptance in social settings. If indigenous languages are not seen as languages that can bring riches to one’s life, no one will really care about whether they live or die. Given priority, these (indigenous) languages can become languages of economic development.

In Zimbabwe, local (indigenous) languages can also be used as languages of instruction: learning and teaching. They can be transformed to be market related, so that anyone who studied them stands a good chance of succeeding in the working environment. Primary, secondary and tertiary students need to be encouraged to aim at being publishers and writers in their local languages. They need to be told that they can become prominent information professionals and/or practitioners (journalists, librarians, authors) who speak English but are also fluent in their own local African languages. In other words, use of local languages help to stimulate local authorship as well as the indigenous publishing industry.

Although English is a global language, indigenous (local) languages need to be visible as well, so that they can grow and really become languages of instruction (official languages). Local languages need to be given a chance and that chance starts in our learning institutions. Remember, as a developing nation, we need to localize and globalize at the same time.
-- Lazarus Sauti.

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