Home Letters We should not promote Creolese within our education system
Dear Editor,
I want to thank Alim Hosein for the letter, “We need to teach English and other languages, but this does not preclude respect for Creolese” (SN, 22nd March 2018) in response to my letter, “What is the merit of learning Creolese at university level?” (SN, 20th March 2018).
Alim Hosein listed six points that I will debate:
Point One: Creolese is our language, and everyone speaks it.
Creolese is not our national language, nor is it our mother tongue, as the vast majority of our ancestors came from different parts of the world.
Point Two: Other countries have not abandoned their mother tongues to learn “foreign languages” (English).
On the contrary, many countries of the world have evolving languages and cultures. There are now more English speakers in the world. As I noted in point one, our national language is NOT Creolese.
Point Three: What is wrong of building national pride?
It is good to build national pride, but too much pride is arrogance.
Point Four: Why should the various dialects of Creolese be a hindrance to promoting Creolese?
I am sure that there is an opportunity cost in promoting Creolese; in that money, time and people (resources) can be better utilised elsewhere.
Point Five: The rest of the world is interested in learning Creolese.
Really? How many Creolese converts have there been in the last twenty years, in comparison to people learning English Language?
Point Six: Mr Ori’s thinking is the old, Imperialistic thinking.
Not true. We have been a colony of England, which has shaped us. No amount of rebranding will change that.
To promote Creolese because our education system (English in particular) is failing Guyanese, and promoting Creolese (in general) is a waste of time and effort.
Yours faithfully,
Sean Ori