Cameroon is world’s 8th most multilingual country, according to the UK-based language authority, Ethnologue’s 2015 perception index.
The
country has some 281 local languages and one migrant language (Pidgin English)
while Papua New Guinea is top on chart with 839 languages. Nigeria is third
with 526 while the USA is fourth with 422 languages. North Korea tails the
classification table with just one language.
The ranking took into
consideration the number of living indigenous languages (mother tongues) and immigrant languages
(brought in by migrants) spoken within
the borders of each country. Ethnologue said the ranking isn’t a
measure of multilingualism on a personal level but a count on the number of
languages spoken as far back as the 100.
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| Cameroon: Africa in Miniature |
HAVE YOUR SAY: SHOULD NATIONAL LANGUAGES BE MADE OFFICIAL
Which of the Cameroonian local
languages should be made official languages and by implication accepted in
offices and taught in schools?
Beyond the official English and
French languages mostly used by most African countries, other countries
preserve their cultural heritage through their mother tongues or local
languages. The Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC has at least 4 official
languages (Swahili, Kikongo, Lingala and Tchiluba-including French).South
Africa has 11 official languages and Isizulu the predominant language taught in
schools.
Dr Sousthen Fouda said Germans had
chosen four languages which were being taught in schools before the arrival of
the French to Cameroon – Ewondo,(Center Region)
Duala,(Littoral) Fufulde (Northern Region) and Fefe (West Region). It
remains unclear why the teaching of the said languages was abruptly ended with
the arrival of the French.
HAVE YOUR SAY: SHOULD WE RETURN TO THE
TEACHING OF MOTHER TONGUES.? ADOPT WHAT THE GERMANS WERE DOING OR ADD MORE
LANGUAGES TO THE LIST?
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