Tackling the problem of vernacular ‘freestyle’
Earlier this week, a news item about a workshop on the teaching of Ghanaian languages excited me because it coincided with an online communication I had just had with daughter No. 2, resident abroad. Our WhatsApp chat had ended with me making the humorous comment: “some of you need Twi lessons!”
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Her equally light-hearted response: “Twi on social media is freestyle!” She had added: “You will collapse if you see how people write Ga!”
I replied: “I put it to you that it’s ‘freestyle’ only to those who don’t know the spellings.”
Daughter again: “Also, the keyboards are not Twi friendly. Hahahaha!” with some emojis or smiley faces added to complete the repartee.
The coincidental news item, a Ghana News Agency report in the July 10 issue of the Ghanaian Times, quoted Asante-Akim South District Education Director Ignatius Mwinbe Ere-Der as attributing the poor academic performance of some pupils to their inability to read.
“He indicated that about 1.1 million children from the kindergarten up to class two were unable to read – a situation that was deeply worrying.
“He was opening a five-day capacity building workshop on the teaching of Ghanaian languages for circuit supervisors held under the ‘USAID Partnership for Education Programme’ and jointly organised by the Ghana Education Service, the Education Ministry and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) …
“Mr Ere-Der noted that the use of the local language as a medium of instruction would go a long way to improve reading and writing among school children. Participants will help to train other circuit supervisors, basic schools heads and kindergarten teachers.”
One hundred selected districts and municipalities across the nation are to benefit from the programme, the report stated.
My daughter’s witty explanation for her poor Twi spellings sums up perfectly the general situation. Not only is the writing of Twi in a lot of online chats “freestyle”, unfortunately, that is also the case in other media, including newspaper advertisements. Even advertisements by reputable organizations, as well as official communication at times show ‘freestyle’ tendencies.
I don’t know about other Ghanaian languages, but misspelling of Twi words in the public space are very common. One wonders why to get it right the originators of the text don’t make the effort to consult. Is it because they believe that nobody will notice, or complain? Or they think it doesn’t matter?
But it does matter! If we are not able to read and write properly in our own languages, it can’t be a matter to be glossed over.
Many children can’t even count in their vernacular or name the days of the week. And as for knowing the vernacular greetings, clearly it’s expecting too much! But surely, these are basics, our cultural heritage and underpinnings! If we lose language and customs, what makes us Ghanaian?
And we are all to blame! Many of us, educated in and with foreign languages, are guilty. I myself confess that now I find it difficult to name the months in Twi although I knew them years ago. But I have invested in Twi/Akan dictionaries to bail me out when necessary!
One can understand the gravity of the problem when one listens to some radio stations which are supposed to broadcast in Twi. More often than not, their panellists speak so much English that the programmes might be mistaken for English language ones. Why at all do they agree to participate in vernacular discussions if they can’t speak a full sentence in the language? And some of the programme hosts are no better.
What is equally hard to understand is why the big organizations which spend a lot of money to commission publicity featuring vernacular expressions don’t go the extra mile to make sure that their spellings are correct.
For example on the same day that the Times published the report about the Ghanaian languages capacity building training, there was a conspicuous, full page colour advertisement in the Daily Graphic by DStv, the digital satellite TV service, announcing a new promotion, a reduced price package, with what appeared to be a Twi/Akan slogan “ЄDA FƆM”.
I read the announcement a number of times, trying to understand it. I could understand the first word but what did the second word mean? Apparently it was meant to express ‘low’, but in that case was the spelling correct?
I thought the catchphrase was meant to convey the meaning ‘it (the promotion/price) is very low/on the floor’; but if so, I think it should rather be ‘Єda fam’.
My Advanced Akan Dictionary (by J.O. Anane) confirms that in Akuapem, Asante and Fante Twi, the word for ‘floor’ is fam, or famu. The Afram Twi Dictionary (by Adwoa Apraku), too, translates ‘floor’ as єfam.
Or could it have been meant to express the slang ‘it (the price) is cool’? If that was the intention, then it should perhaps have been: ‘Єda Fɔmm’.
So, DStv, what is “ЄDA FƆM” meant to tell the public? Or it wasn’t a Twi expression, but another language altogether? We need to know!
But why would anybody creating an advertisement based on a Ghanaian language slogan not take the trouble of checking if it is correct? Surely Ghanaian language teachers in the schools and the universities could assist?
Anyway, it’s good to know that the GES is organizing trainer of trainers workshops in Ghanaian languages. But what an irony that, as appears to be the case, it’s a foreign agency, the USAID, that is providing some of the funding for us to train people to teach our own languages!
Nevertheless, undoubtedly it’s a positive step towards ending the embarrassing vernacular ‘freestyle’ so much in evidence.
It’s also noteworthy that while the computer keyboard has symbols that one can substitute for some of the Ghanaian alphabets, it’s not the same with the standard mobile phone keyboard, as my daughter pointed out.
Anyhow, despite the keyboard issue, I intend to do my bit towards reducing the Twi ‘freestyling’. There will be a Twi dictionary in the post to my daughter very soon!