Saving Africa's Indigenous Languages

Language is a natural gift that is used for communication, social integration, identity and of course for the presentation of culture.

One of Africa's greatest admirable attributes is its diverse indigenous languages as the continent boasts of more than two thousand languages.

The diverse languages are part of the reasons why the continent is described as one with rich cultural history and heritage.

It is often in the interest of the people to make use of their languages as often as possible because not doing so would be leading to the extinction of such languages, therefore, it is encouraging for people to pass their language from one generation to another

Unfortunately, African indigenous languages are seen to be fading away as it is being threatened by many factors such as; urbanization, lack of support of the languages by the educational systems, the media, national policies, disregard by the speakers of the languages and other socioeconomic factors.

African cultural languages are vastly becoming extinct at an alarming rate and it was to this end that the United Nations Educational

Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) predicted in 2012 that the Igbo language in South Eastern Nigeria might become extinct by 2025 except something is done about it.

When this prediction was made, the Igbo language had a population of about twenty-five million speakers. This language and many other African languages with a lesser population of speakers are suffering and are feared to be going into extinction.

Therefore, it's a necessity for the government, stakeholders, citizens, policymakers and everyone to work towards preserving Africa's

Indigenous languages.

To continue to see that these African indigenous languages exist, certain things need to be done. Some of these are;

To preserve the African indigenous languages and prevent them from going into extinction some major steps need to be taken as mentioned below;

Government Support and Investment

African governments need to support and invest in indigenous languages.

Over the years, most governments have invested little or nothing in the resources needed to teach indigenous languages in schools hence the lack of adequate materials to teach African indigenous languages in schools. With this comes the relegation of indigenous languages.

Research has shown that learners absorb contents faster when taught in their native home language and that this improved absorption of knowledge and equips them with higher chances of success.

Therefore, investing in the development of indigenous languages and supporting the development of teachers of the language should be taken seriously by individual governments on the continent.

Using Innovative Initiatives

It's time for policymakers, stakeholders and lovers of mother tongues to be innovative in terms of preserving African Languages. Though, many innovations towards preserving Africa's Indigenous languages are already in place, Africans can do better

For instance, the Pan South African Language Board has started work on the production of a Siswati language dictionary to assist teachers of the language.

The project includes plans to create a system of mathematical notations in siSwati.

In Kenya, in supporting the growth of indigenous languages, a new television station was launched to serve the Rift Valley region, home to the Maasai, Samburu, Pokot and several other indigenous groups.

The station will air primarily Christian programs and will broadcast to local communities in 10 indigenous languages, including Kalenjin, Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo, Gusii, Pokot, and Sabot/Marakwet.

In South Africa, business software that translates many of the country's native languages has been launched.

The goal is to make it easier for local businesses to use and modify software programs, thereby removing the sometimes, unbearable necessity of learning English language to use a computer

Project planners hope that the translations will also stimulate greater pride and interest in African languages.

Build More Speakers of Africa's Indigenous Languages

It is discouraging to know that Africa's oldest and most complex languages are not in large numbers anymore.

The extremely low number of younger speakers of these and other endangered languages means it is unlikely that they will still be spoken 50 years from now

In other, for this narrative to change, programmes, where these languages are specially studied, should be put in place.

It is cheering to know that Linguists are working with the few remaining speakers of languages such as N|u in South Africa and Ongota in Ethiopia to document and preserve their structures, and to reignite interest among younger generations.

Without wasting more time, policymakers should begin to move out of their comfort zones and take cognisance of the costs of not taking swift action concerning the preservation of Africa's Indigenous language.

Due to lack of support, more African languages have faded, and with it goes the rich heritages that they represent.

The onus is on African leaders and decision-makers to provide the right contexts and ecosystems for African youths to rise to the challenge of taking the continent forward and helping Africa realise its growth potential.

Countries around the world have embraced the benefits of offering education in students' home languages. The African continent can follow suit to enjoy these benefits as well.

For the continent not to keep losing its fundamental history, this is the time for it to start developing sustainable and practical solutions to incorporating these languages into its education systems, communication and media networks, business environments and social settings.

One of Africa's greatest admirable attributes is its diverse indigenous languages as the continent boasts of more than two thousand languages