African Language, Essay Example

The African Language: First Text Reading Analysis

Language specifically serves as an element of direction especially for cultures of human individuals surrounded upon the manner of communication and understanding between members of the community. This fact surrounds most communities today. In the first text, it was pointed out by the author that in Africa, language is a vital part not only for the sake of keeping the members of the community together, but also for setting a single culture that would best identify the people living in it.

The narrative further points out that telling stories, being one of the most important past times among African communities, served as a determining point of connection that the people of the community had among themselves. With the stories told in Gikuyu language, they are able to define themselves, define their lives and become a part of others’ lives as well. While pointing out about the importance of storytelling in her language and her culture, she also defines language’s role in identifying the importance of message-sending among her peers and the elders of the community. To this matter, she mentions that language intends to create a bridge, if not a string, that connects people to one another. With the way one uses language, he is able to provide information and insist on the value of his message based on what he actually wants to send out to his listeners.

On the other end, she also points out that language distinctively creates a great foundation for the development of the people and the development of their communities as well.  She mentioned how Gikuyu, their mother tongue served as the determining factor that creates a connection between people of all ages and all backgrounds thus making it easier for them to take the relative role they ought to handle as part of their communities. They are identified along with their language. They are united because of their language, it define their lives and their whole being as a community.

However, in 1952, things changed, the people began to embrace the English language after they were colonized by the Americans. English became the primary language spoken in schools and later on, in the homes and fields where the people used to clam together and tells stories among themselves. The whole culture changed, the whole vision about the Gikuyu language and other native languages in Africa have specifically failed; the solidity of the communities in the past have been lost and people in the nation were considered to have bowed relatively to the controls of the foreign invaders in their land.

Overall, based from this particular reading, it could be realized how Ng?g?waThiong’o tried to point out how important it was to have a common language that made it easier for them to be considered differently compared to other nations or other races of the world. The identity that their native language provides them is far more important than being progressive or being accepted as part of the global camaraderie that the American nation and other English speaking nations want to perceive. Through the use of a personal narrative that mirrors the actual experiences of the narrator, she is able to bring about a sense of realization on the part of her readers as she remembers the role that a common language played in her history and that of her community. She brings in a sense of understanding among the readers, especially in connection to how important language is in social building. Comparing the past to the present situation in Africa, she considers bringing her readers into a conditional understanding of how disappointing it is to see her own people neglecting their own language, their own identity for the sake of progress; a picture so common among developing nations at present.