The African Languages Week (ALW) celebrations are here. The African Language Week provides an opportunity to showcase and promote African languages and cultures across the continent of Africa. Africa is known to be the most linguistically diverse continent in the world. Our language diversity should serve as our strength – a factor for unification and development.
The African Language Week was made possible by ACALAN, the specialized linguistic arm of the African Union charged with the development and promotion of African languages. The language body made the proposal for African Language Week, which was endorsed by the Ministers of Culture in AU member states. ACALAN officially launched the African Languages Week in Ouagadougou, in collaboration with the government of Burkina Faso, in July 2021.
What a great way to promote African languages! African languages will be under the spotlight throughout this period – from February 21 to 28, and deservedly so. Various activities will be designed around different countries celebrating our diverse languages. ACALAN’s working structures in the AU member states will be expected to play a leading role in this regard.
The African Language Week is a window to celebrate and reflect on our languages. It is also a time to reflect on our cultures in which our languages exist. A time to take stock of how our languages are faring in comparison to others. This will help us objectively see where we stand in our language development endeavors – where we have succeeded and where we still have work to do.
Without a doubt, African language development has made huge strides in recent years, and credit must be given to ACALAN for that. Language development is, however, a continuous process. Therefore, ACALAN cannot afford to rest on its laurels as more still needs to be done in preserving endangered languages and promoting seemingly safe languages.