National Bilingualism Week launched

The Nationalism Bilingualism Week has kicked-off in Yaounde under the theme: Bilingualism, essential tool to face the challenges of globalisation.

The week which is in its 13th commemoration was launched this 2nd February 2015 in the Centre region by the Regional Delegate for Basic Education, Theodore Ngwa Bassi.

Activities marking the bilingualism week will run till Friday 7th February 2015 which is the National Bilingualism Day.

During the one-week event, educationalists and other Cameroonians will be discussing and promoting the use of English and French as tools of globalisation.

There has been an age-old question on how bilingual Cameroonians are. Reports have it that while some are making efforts to speak English and French, others are yet to realise the importance of both languages.

Several reasons account for the failure to speak both English and French. Some people complain of a one-language dominant environment which hampers their decision to learn a new language. In the meantime, others fear the embarrassment that comes with making a grammatical error and therefore avoid speaking a second language.

As some Cameroonians speak or refuse to speak both English and French, the million dollar question to reflect on is: Is bilingualism just a statutory provision or a patriotic responsibility?