"Moi je ne comprend pas ton Anglais la ehnn..."
This phrase is familiar to me. And I'm sure I won't be wrong if I say it is familiar to many of you too.
When I just came to Yaounde, and was still grappling with the French language, I would resort to English whenever I was stuck and couldn't find the right word.
The response from service providers, especially in public and private offices, was more often than not, the one quoted above.
Granted, I hear this phrase a lot less these days.
I don't know if it is because my proficiency in French enables me to speak it without resorting to English, or because more French speaking Cameroonians are making an effort to learn and speak English.
Constitutionally, French and English are our official languages.
In reality, as a journalist, 80% of the time, I'm obliged to spend time translating documents into English, when I go out to cover events. This shouldn't be the case.
What are your thoughts on bilingualism, as it is practiced in Cameroon.
4 comments:
My understanding of this bilingualism in Cameroon is that English speaking Cameroonians are obliged to learn and speak French, while francophones don't feel obliged to speak English. And another thing is that we are neither ashamed nor afraid to make mistakes when speaking French, but they dont like to venture to speak English for fear of making errors.
And this rubbish of francophones sending their children to Anglo Saxon schools, I feel like they're just doing it because it's a fad, a trend, it's fashionable to do so. Are those parents even following up at home to ensure that the English their kids learn at home is also spoken at home?
Don't worry! Francophones realize that French has no place in the world when they move abroad. Instead the bilingual Anglophones have more opportunities coming their way. It is the French speakers who have a lot to learn. But don't tell them that.
Your own could even identify u were speaking the English Language. My own phrase that lurks in my memory is that "je n'est comprend pas votre partoir la eeeh". I just felt like melting. There is nothing like any official bilingualism in Cameroon. English language teachers and send to teah in the remotest French schools while the reverse isn't true for the English Language schools. The president is also promoting the neglect of the English language as he has never ever made a single speak in the English language. He's more like the president for the francophones and Peter Essoka ( who translates and re-echoes the speech) the president for the English speaking Cameroonians. This is what I always think.
All things work together for good. well the vision of Cameroon when Anglo united with the French was one of inequality. Thanks to His Grace they have now built a monument to pacify their shortsightedness.
Ideally Anglophones were to be suppressed even the francophone children are embodied that. One of my recent travels to pays. I was in transit with some Francophone teenagers or adolescents. I just asked a simple question and the rudeness I got in French. Another needed my help while in Cameroon return flight. I answered in English she turned her head before I could finish a word.
Our strength, determination, vision, being humble, tenacity fueled us to learn and speak French. Hopefully we encourage one another as Anglophones. This is bc the pressure to survive and integrate at times gets to some.
To me it's non existent. If I bc a star and a francophone journalist interviews me. I will definitely respond in English. If they are not happy they should have subtitle application or get a translator. Cameroon is bilingual and they should learn both official languages.
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