It is very important for families to read together – and even more important when the reading is done in the mother-tongue; that is, when reading is done in the first language or indigenous language. Reading books written in the indigenous language or mother-tongue has social, cultural and economic value. Thus, it is important for families that read together, parents and guardians to ensure premium is put on reading books written in indigenous languages, especially for those who use the indigenous language as their first language (L1).
The importance of reading cannot be overemphasised. Reading, among others, serves as a source of information, entertainment, vocabulary and relaxation. Reading brings additional value to a society or nation when it is done in the local or indigenous language. Reading books written in the local languages of a society has valuable benefits. The benefits, as earlier stated, are social, cultural and economic. The paragraphs below will explain some of the benefits from encouraging the reading of books written in the mother-tongue or local language.
The first benefit to look at is the cultural value of reading books written in the local language. The culture of a people is basically defined as the way of life of that people – in which their language plays a significant role. The culture of a people also includes their food, way of greeting, dancing, speaking, etc. Inherent in local languages are the cultural practices, beliefs and history of the people, as the language is used to communicate the experiences of the people. In effect, when children have access to indigenous books written in indigenous languages they are introduced to their culture – and this helps them to appreciate what and how they eat, how they dance, how they greet, and why they behave like they do. Books written in the local languages have such information, and rich history that is of enormous importance to many schoolchildren.
In terms of the social significance of reading indigenously written and produced books, a society, especially children, have a chance to acquaint themselves with the rich vocabulary of their mother-tongue. As a society is defined by its language of use, it is imperative that people who hail from that society get a good grasp of the language. Whether that society is properly in tune with its practices and relates well in terms of its use of language depends on the appreciation of their own language. The language of the people gives them identity. It is therefore troubling to find out that a lot of children in our society have very little knowledge of their indigenous language. These children may have a good grasp of the English language, which is foreign – but not the local language.
There are children who do not have knowledge of the local names of fruit and vegetables that grow in their own environment, but can mention the English names of same. They struggle to mention the local names of vegetables such as pepper, tomatoes, onion, ginger etc. We can also talk of children who cannot name parts of their bodies in the local language.
Apart from all these, there are so many words that are becoming extinct in society because of their lack of use. There are both adults and children who do not know the local names for president, minister, parliamentarian, region, district etc. This problem of lacking knowledge of certain words and expressions results from a lack of patronage for the local language.
Reading books that are written in local languages have good stores of such vocabularies. We can acquire such vocabularies when we read such books. Parents therefore ought to make conscious efforts to help their wards include books written in the mother-tongue in their reading list. Such books carry their history and cultural heritage. Where is a society whose history and cultural heritage, including language, are lost?
The last benefit in terms of reading books written in local languages is the economic value. There are people who have special skills in writing the local language, as well as a rich store of folklore that is best articulated in the local language. There are publishing companies that are ready to publish such books. However, the interest in writing and publishing such reading material will be fulfilled only when there are consumers of such reading material.
It is like the demand and supply issue: many writers of the local reading materials will be realised, as well as publishers of same, if the patronage is high. By doing so, employment is generated for many people when we take an interest in reading what is our own. Thus, even as parents buy books for their wards they should not forget to include reading material that is written in the local language.
In conclusion, after learning the socio-cultural benefits of reading books written in local languages, it is important that parents, guardians and the whole society ensure the economic value of patronising such books is realised by creating the necessary environment for their wards to access them. In doing so, children will have good knowledge of their environment. They will have a good appreciation of their cultural heritage and be able to interact properly with their environment through their knowledge and use of the available language resources.
Good use of such resources will automatically lead to economic benefits for society even as consumption of such reading material increases. At the end of the day, we will not only be seen as relating internationally with the English language, but also, first of all, relating as nationals of our society of origin.
For our family reading, let us put emphasis on reading books written in indigenous languages.
The writer is the Literacy Promotion Manager of the Ghana Book Development Council
The post Daniel Ofosu-Asamoah’s thoughts ….Family Reading: Benefits of reading in the mother-tongue appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
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