African Languages Week marked to promote cultural identity

The African Academy of Languages (ACALAN-AU), a specialised institution created by the African Union, has set the stage to make the diverse languages on the continent more functional, acceptable and part of the development discourse of the people.

This is being done through the African Languages Week celebration, to help transform the language diversity to serve as a factor for African integration and development.

The overarching concept, according to the authorities, was to ensure “An Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics.”

There was the need to promote the dynamics of African worldviews and philosophies of life, through the empowerment and use of the diverse languages, the Academy argued.

A statement jointly issued by ACALAN-AU, and Africans Rising, a Pan-African Movement, which is a key partner in the celebration of the Week, said the continent was the most linguistically diverse region of the world.

It was, therefore, incumbent on the leaders and stakeholders to work effectively in their respective roles for accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063.

The statement, initialed by Ms. Ann Njiagi, the Media Outreach Consultant, Africans Rising, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Kumasi, said Africa was the most linguistically diverse continent of the world.

“It is within this context that ACALAN-AU is organising the inaugural African Languages Week (January 24-30), to provide an opportunity to showcase and promote African languages and cultures across the continent and beyond.”

The Academy officially launched the African Languages Week in Ouagadougou, in collaboration with the government of Burkina Faso, in July 2021, in a bid to increase awareness and appreciation of African languages by looking at pragmatic ways of empowering and rendering them relevant to the lives of the people.

The Week is also geared to taking stock on how African languages are faring in the world of global languages to see where the continent stands in the language development endeavors of the people.

“It is a way of developing linguistic cooperation and exchange, and assessing the necessary and vital work of developing the languages and the work that still needs to be done,” Ms. Margaret Nankinga, a member of the African Languages Week Coordination Committee, told the GNA, in an interview.

According to her, AU member states needed policies that promoted development, and every development plan should have a communication plan aimed at ensuring participation for all “nobody is left behind”.

Ms. Coumba Toure, a Pan-Africanist, commenting on the significance of the Week celebration, said the diverse languages on the continent should not be a barrier to development, but should serve as tool for knowledge acquisition, cultural identity and cooperation, adding that it was appropriate to give more visibility to local languages on the continent to engender social cohesion and accelerated growth.