Think about it; and think about it carefully. You were born in Botswana to Batswana parents who speak Setswana perfectly. You were raised speaking Setswana at home.
You also speak Setswana with your family and friends in social contexts.
Because of your education, your Setswana speech is peppered with English. You were educated in English, at primary, junior and senior secondary schools and even at tertiary. All subjects from primary to tertiary level were taught to you in English, with the exception of Setswana language and literature.
However, if you studied with the University of Botswana and in the African languages and literature department, then your Setswana education would have also been in English. The arguments for such a language policy which favours the ubiquity of English are easy to comprehend. English is an international language ÔÇô no; it is a universal language. It is therefore critical to master it if you want to have employment security and function at an international level. That is a given; although such a truism is riddled with peccadilloes.
The language policy has however, had the effect of alienating you from your language and impoverishing the Setswana language from developing a sophisticated terminology to deal with specific domains such as Science and Mathematics. Now for a Motswana child, it is almost impossible to KNOW Science, Mathematics, ICT, Computer Science and Engineering through any other medium, except that of English.
All these subjects have become de facto English subjects. Educationally, Setswana has become a language for teaching Setswana language and literature only ÔÇô with the exception of the perverse UB situation.
Additionally, jobs associated with the knowledge of Setswana are limited. And the lack of employment opportunities in Setswana has made our children undermine their own language and by association undermine their own identity.
Students have been driven to ask fairly simple question such as: What is Setswana good for? Even translation and interpretation skills demand translation to or from English. This sorry state of affairs shows us that what we have achieved is the systematic weakening of our language. Therefore NOT to know is identified with Setswana excellence.
The seriousness of the matter is that it has become fashionable not to know Setswana. Repeatedly you hear educated as well as semi-literate individuals claiming with dignity that “Setswana is difficult”. Such persons find great shame in confessing their inadequacy of the English tongue but find confessions of Setswana’s impossibility as socially acceptable.
Now, that is worrisome. We should be concerned. We should actually be irritated that the larger part of our education and business activities are structured in such a manner that they inadvertently undermine our language and national identity.
I need to hasten to point out that I am not arguing for a replacement of English by Setswana in all spheres since English has increasingly become indispensable in much of the execution of the business of the day. However, at a national level there is much that could be done in Setswana. For instance there is absolutely no need to have Parliamentary, Ntlo ya Dikgosi and council sitting debates in English.
All members of these houses should be eloquent and not just competent in Setswana. In most of the cases, they are extraordinarily impressive in Setswana, especially when they are out campaigning. Sadly this supreme competence somehow vanishes from some of them the moment they reach the parliament buildings.
Setswana language and culture education should be compulsory for all professions that involve an interaction of professionals with the less educated members of our community. For instance, all nursing and medical training must be accompanied by Setswana language and culture training. All expatriate nurses and doctors must all go through a compulsory 6 months “Setswana for Medical Practitioners” course.
It should be considered a horror that consultations in our hospitals and clinics are some done by people whose competence in Setswana language is suspect. All products sold within our borders; food, medicine, clothing etc should all have labelling in Setswana as well as in English. Those who seek citizenship of our country should certainly demonstrate knowledge of our language and culture.
How are they to claim that they are part of us when they neither know our tongue nor our culture?
This country is Botswana. One thing that sets it apart from other states is the uniqueness of its language: Setswana. A few things are as definitive of a people as their language. Setswana is a national heritage which needs preservation and development.
While we inherited the language from our forefathers, we must ensure that we pass it on to the next generation. Some of us have worked on Setswana spellcheckers (Open Office), dictionaries, orthographies and corpus development.
If we all did our part in the development of Setswana, regardless of how small it might be, we will one day pride ourselves with leaving behind an immeasurable heritage for our children.
