Is a strong grasp of the English language a proof of mental transcendence?
Ironically, people in Ghana are highly respected for having the best command of the English language. How strange, how romantic, and how ironic to think that people who are fluent in English has greater mental abilities?
Because of this innate and dangerous trend, we often assume that someone with exceptional communication skills, for example, can fix all of our difficulties straight by using their language abilities.
Unfortunately, being proficient in the English language does not indicate exceptional intelligence or leadership abilities.
In actuality, it doesn't always make someone a great leader or thinker, but we Ghanaians are frequently seduced by meaningless language.
In actuality, language is a manifestation of our identities as individuals, communities, or nations. As a result, language communicates allusions and meanings that go beyond itself. In other words, a language's meanings reflect the culture of a specific social group.
However, experts contend that engaging with a language entails engaging with the culture that serves as its benchmark. In retrospect, the interdependence of cultures makes it impossible for us to comprehend them without direct access to their language. Thus, the culture of a specific social group is indicated by a distinct language.
It appears that some schools of thought contend that learning a language involves more than just learning the alphabet, its meaning, grammar rules, and word order; it also entails understanding societal behavior, culture, and conventions.
In the end, a certain set of individuals see culture as sacred. For instance, more than 2,000 years ago, the historian Herodotus stated that there are no universal ethics regarding culture and customs since they are sacred.
To buttress his point, Herodotus told the story about the Persian king Darius. The king, said Herodotus, summoned several Greeks and asked them how much money they would take in exchange for consuming the dead bodies of their fathers.
But, extremely outraged, the Greeks proclaimed their refusal to perform such a gruesome act at any price, adding that cremation of the dead was a sacred obligation.
According to Herodotus, King Darius then called upon some Indians, who by custom, allegedly ate their deceased parents, and asked them if they would consider burning the bodies of their fathers.
The Indians felt insulted. And to ventilate their arousing disgust, the Indians retorted that such an act would be a heinous crime.
The moral lesson concluded by Herodotus, was simply that different group of people regard their own culture and customs as sacrosanct and superior (Ishay 2004).
Of course, having a superlative command of English language is an advantage to individuals, given its ecumenical recognition. However, I take an exception to a school of thought that holds a view that having a mastery of the English language is a sign of intelligence.
No, that is fallacious. For I have had the opportunity to give remedial instructions to a group of English indigenes who had learning disabilities(mentally incapacitated), and yet had unbelievable linguistic precision.
We definitely need attitudinal and behavioural change. Of course, individuals have their absolute right to speak the language (s) of their choice. However, I find it extremely abhorrent when bona fide Africans slavishly decide to scoff at the natives who speak their mother’s tongue fluently.
With all due respect and no offence intended on this occasion, although someone like Madam Akua Donkor of blessed memory did not have a classroom education, she harboured no vestiges of slavery as evidenced in her previous pronouncements.
I must confess I could not believe my ears when I once heard Madam Akua Donkor on the radio disclosing her inborn admiration for ‘Pan Africanism’.
Unlike the unliberated intellectuals who more often than not take solace in the foreign culture, Madam Akua Donkor was rather antipathetic to the Western way of life, judging from her solemn narratives.
According to Madam Akua Donkor, she was christened as ‘Victoria Donkor by her biological parents, but after growing up and developing superior powers of the mind, she did not find the wisdom or the need in keeping ‘Whiteman’s’ name, hence changing her birth name to Akua Donkor.
Madam Akua Donkor boldly and passionately asseverated, "Tell me why I should take a ‘Whiteman’s’ name." “Don’t I have my own culture?” “Would a ‘Whiteman’ ever name his child after me (Akua Donkor)?”
I was indeed dumbfounded to hear someone who had had no classroom education and yet was so liberated in the mind. Indeed, Madam Akua Donkor held no slavish mentality.
Juxtaposing Madam Akua Donkor’s emancipated mind or her refined disposition with a self-acclaimed intellectual’s thought processes brings nothing but extreme sadness, so to speak
Yes, we have self-acclaimed intellectuals who find it inappropriate to be called by their aboriginal names, but would rather take comfort in adopted ‘Western’ names. How bizarre?
It reminds me of a long-term friend of mine who once questioned me about my reasons for refusing to give ‘English’ names to my boys.
According to my friend, the ‘English’ people would find it difficult to pronounce the names of my children, and therefore it was needless for me to give British born children the native Ghanaian names.
In fact, I was deeply baffled and disturbed upon listening to my friend’s thought process. However, I contained my emotional intelligence, and showed maximum deference to my classroom educated friend, who is yet to liberate his mind to reach Madam Akua Donkor’s level.
All the same, my innocuous question to my friend was: “did our colonial Masters name their children after our great forefathers?
I proceeded: “Have you ever seen any Englishman who has named his child after our rich African names such as ‘Bawumia’, ‘Badu, Sarfo, Sakyi, Danso, Owusu, Mensah, Tetteh, Nkrumah, Busia, Danquah, Acheampong, Afrifa, Amu, Ayikwei, Quartey, Azumah, Gbedema, Atinga, Atuguba, Dramani, Kufuor, Addo, Akoto etc.???????????????????”I enquired.
Unsurprisingly, however, my friend answered no, and then added that he has realised why I have given African names to my three boys.
In sum, language and culture are unique and sacrosanct to a particular group of people, and hence cannot and must not be trampled upon anyhow.
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