Mr. Tony Tsina Addai, President of Western North Development Association (WENDA), a Non-Governmental organization (NGO) has urged natives of Western North Region especially parents to imbibe the culture of speaking their local dialects in public in their children to preserve them for future generations.
He said language formed part of every society’s cultural heritage, thus, teaching children during their early development stages how to speak the local dialects could help develop a sense of inclusion in them as they grew up.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, he expressed worry over the emerging trend where parents from the Region preferred to introduce other languages to their children but paid less attention to the local ones like sehwi, anyi and brossa which formed part of their origin and culture.
Mr. Addai feared that if parents, traditional authorities, and opinion leaders from the area did not put in place measures to avert the growing trend, the local languages could be forgotten with time.
“It is worrying to see a native from the Western North Region that has decided not to speak our local dialects to their children and do not allow them to speak as well,” he noted.
He encouraged natives to speak these languages in public to identify who they were.
“I firmly believe that, if we speak sehwi, ayin, and brossa in public gatherings, we will help to maintain them and pass on to generations so that these languages will not fade out like other languages,” he added.
Mr. Addai quizzed: “If we do not speak and learn our own languages, who do we expect to promote them for us?”
He indicated that WENDA as a group had started advocating to religious institutions to translate the scriptures into the local languages.
He further revealed that they had started a sensitization campaign on radio stations to educate the people in the area on the need to speak the local languages to help build an inclusive society for development.
