Accra, Feb. 11, GNA- Professor Adams Bodomo, Department of African Studies, University of Vienna, Austria, has proposed the establishment of an African cultural institute run by the African Union to promote the study of African languages.
The Institute, to be named after Pan-African icons, would be mandated to teach African languages and cultures worldwide with curricula contents designed by a coordinating body in Africa.
Prof Bodomo made the suggestion in Accra at a lecture on the topic: “Linguistic Pan-Africanism as a Global Future,” organised by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Pan-Africanism, he said, was a dominant ideological notion that people of African descent could only stand to gain a better future if the continent united and pooled resources together politically, economically and socially.
He explained that linguistic pan-Africanism encouraged the pooling together of Africa’s linguistic resources towards better and more efficient communication and cultural development on the continent.
Prof Bodomo said the establishment of a coordinating committee for creating standards for testing proficiency levels must be established, with funding from Africa and its diaspora.
“We must reverse the trend where foreign bodies from places like Europe and China, create institutions for teaching us their languages to a situation in which we require them to learn our languages in order to ply their trade in Africa,” he said.
He urged Ghanaians to be literate in their language of identity, and that every African child should be given the opportunity to learn to speak, read, and write in their mother tongue or any one of their languages of identity.
Prof Bodomo suggested that all diaspora Africans should be encouraged to learn to speak, read, and write Swahili and eventually Afirihili, as it had the greatest potential of becoming the most widespread pan-African language.
That, he said, would give an identity mark the African legacy, viewed as an object to interpret the nature around the continent for mutual benefits.
He urged the regional and continental level institutions and charity organizations to dedicate sections of their running costs to funding prizes and research grants for the promotion of African languages and literature.
Prof Bodomo said all foreign students, who came to study in Africa, seeking permanent residence permits in Africa, must be made to pass standardised tests in an African language.
He said the creation of a language policy must be nationalistic, stressing: “It is time to start seeing cross-regional language learning, where East Africans learn West African languages and vice versa and North Africans learn Southern African languages and vice versa.”
GNA