Language, Communication, Different Styles

Language is key because that is the way a lot of us communicate. Can we call sign language a language? It is the way the deaf communicate with each other.

For most of the world, English is the language we use to communicate. I have no statistics to back this but I just believe most of the world communicates in English. A lot of the other parts of the world communicates in Spanish while others communicate in French, and Japanese.

Me personally, I do not speak a lot of languages. Unlike my mother who understands a lot of Ghanaian local dialects, I speak only 1 fluently and that is Dagbani. It's quite funny because I should be able to at least speak and understand Ewe. I do understand Twi but a lot of my Twi speaking friends have said when they speak proper twi I wouldn't understand.

I grew up in the Volta region where the local dialect is Ewe. I even had to study it in school and write it in BECE exams. While I was in the Volta region, I did understand the language and it was an interesting one. It is not an easy language to speak I must admit.

Once I left the Volta Region to continue my education in the Ashanti Region, I traded the Ewe for Twi. Frankly speaking, Twi has been the easiest dialect I have had to learn. I always tell people that Dagbani is very hard to speak and understand. It is no surprise a lot of Ghanaians are of the view that Ghana should change its official language to Twi because everywhere you go in Ghana, at least one or two people can speak and understand Twi. But I do not agree we should change our official language to one local dialect. It probably wouldn't ever happen unless one Government comes out, completely ignores everyone and make one local dialect our official language.

Language is very important because it is absolutely necessary to hold a very good conversation. Some things get lost in translation no matter how exceptional that translator is. There are some statements that just translating. You understand some things better when you understand what the other person and the expressions they are making. Expressions are a big part of communication and in some instances they make it better. Why are say expressions are important is because of my language, Dabgani.

Naturally, we are a loud tribe and if you look in from the outside and base solely on translation, you will think we insult each other and fight all the time. With Dagombas, you need to look at our expressions and be involved in our conversation to really understand.

Languages I really want to learn to speak include Hausa, Spanish, French and Arabic. I want Arabic because it would help me understand my religion better, French because I like the accent and Spanish because the language pleases me and I have Spanish movies I would love to watch without subtitles or translation.

I have always liked Hausa and worried some of my friends to teach me but we are all never serious haha. I do hope in some point in my life, I get the chance to learn some of these languages. This reminds me of 2-3 years ago when I really went on a Spanish learning journey. I joined a whatsapp group during the covid era and was serious with it. Then, covid was over, school resumed and my busy school schedule got in the way.

This is my response to day 4 of the April InLeo monthly calender. I encourage you to join.