KB Asante: Voice From Afar column
Bad command of language hinders understanding
Employers complain a lot about the inability of many graduates to write. Many from our high institutions of learning are said to find it difficult to express themselves precisely and cogently. The secondary or high schools are often blamed.
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But whatever the cause, we must deal with the problem at all levels of education and exploit all opportunities to improve our capacity to express ourselves well on paper. My friends in the media should take pains to teach us unconsciously to write and speak well.
We often murder the official language English on radio and television. This is serious. It is difficult to understand what some TV announcers say. Sometimes the script they read is not well-written. Sometimes they do not seem to understand what they read. Some news readers do not seem to have gone through what they read before they go on air. They rush through a sentence and stop or pause when they lose breath or track.
One quite often hears something like this:
‘President Mahama said this when he opened the new wing of the chemistry department at the University. College of Winneba before the convocation.’
I have not quoted from any particular news item to upset those who may feel that they are being criticised. Sometimes the pause makes it difficult to follow the thought being conveyed. News readers should be ready to read ‘texts for which they are not prepared’ as we did at secondary school reading competitions. But the main news items should, as a rule, be carefully drafted and studied by the reader before he or she goes on air.
Every language has its own rhythm and pronouncing words with affectation and without following the usual flow of phrases make understanding a bit difficult. At Achimota College, even though many of the masters were English, we were made to listen to BBC broadcasts to improve on our spoken English.
The World, by Wickam Steed, Editor of the London Times, was a favourite programme of mine. We learnt Churchill’s famous broadcasts such as the one which began ‘The news from France is very bad’. The piece about ‘we shall fight on the beaches’ etc. was moving. We need such a speech from our President to stir patriotic pride and fervour at this difficult time of serious cracks in the economy and demonstration of public unease.
GBC should organise proficiency training in news reading and all news readers on the major channels should have some training. Ghanaians can be good English speakers as Komla Dumor and others have shown, and when such people speak you know they are Ghanaians or Africans and not a caricature of Englishmen or Americans.
Language is an effective tool for national cohesion and for galvanising people into action. Our various languages need not divide us. Two or three languages can unite us as they do in some countries. Formerly, we used to learn the language of our temporary or new home. Today we try to impose our language on the people of the place of our sojourn.
And our radio and television stations do not help. We should have a language policy on radio and television. Private radio stations can continue to broadcast in the local language as many do. But even here standards should be set and kept. The news in the local tongue should be cast in choice language. Radio stations cannot fully control the language of discussions and callers but contributors should be encouraged to use the language which not only informs but elevates.
The national station, GBC, should continue to give news and programmes in the local languages but the major news in English should not be adulterated by a gibberish of languages. If those interviewed on the major news programme cannot speak English they should not be entertained for long. They can speak at length when the news is cast in Twi, Ewe, Ga, etc. English is the official language of Ghana and the media should promote command of the official language.
The national station and indeed the major radio and television stations should consider it their mission to disseminate information and promote national cohesion. Good language should be a major tool. We are lucky to have English as the national language.
It is necessary for international economic and social intercourse. It opens up international literature, in science, technology and finance. We should try to master the official language and be at home in the ever-shrinking small world. Our schools should help us master the official language, which is the common language of communication and without which the individual cannot exercise his or her democratic rights.