Chichewa as an official language in Malawi? Not now
Few weeks ago there has been a heated debate about which language should be used as Malawi’s official language. What triggered the debate was a video clip that went viral of one of Machinga South East Constituency legislator Fyness Magonjwa. She was being interviewed by reporters after the inauguration of a bridge by the Minister of Transport. Her switching of codes from English to Chichewa due to her incompetence in English sparked a heated debate on social media.
Many of the forums I followed, a lot of people were of the view that Malawi should adopt Chichewa as an official language. My argument is that many have been arguing on the surface without a proper linguistic knowledge and now I would like to highlight as to why Chichewa cannot be elevated to the status of a national language as at now.
Many judged the youthful Member of Parliament’s intelligence basing on her English language competence and performance. Looking closely at the clip, the lawmaker was so confident and had a message to communicate. However, those saying that we better elevate Chichewa to the status of national language had a point.
Some reached an extent of citing examples like Tanzania where they use Swahili and they have even a bit developed unlike Malawi. However, it can be no easy task to elevate Chichewa to an official language as many have been suggesting.
Firstly, let me take you back to 1968 when Chichewa was elevated to the status of national language. What was used to elevate Chichewa is what we call status planning. It was just chosen without making proper consultation within the populace. It was simply elevated at a Malawi Congress Party (MCP) convention and many up to now still view it as it was a ploy by Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda to impose Chewa identity on the people of Malawi.
Initially, before the elevation the language was called Chinyanja but upon being elevated it was named Chichewa. This made people of Malawi think that Kamuzu wanted to bring the language closer to the tribe which he was coming from and many received it with emotions.
In this case one realizes that linguistic justice was not achieved as Chichewa was just chosen without proper linguistic research. It was in a way done under political influence because the country has more than sixteen languages but the criterion used many feel was purely political.
Elevating the language today can spark a more heated debate as some people have not accepted it fully even just as a national language. Some years back there were calls that also sparked some debate as many were of the view that the name of the language should revert to Chinyanja so that it should not be inclined to a particular tribe.
Secondly, trying to elevate Chichewa to the status of official language will be costly in so many ways. Chichewa is an already established language but is not fully developed. It uses a lot of borrowed words, lengthy explanations for simple English expressions and its orthography and grammar still need some development. For this to be done it calls for an extensive linguistic research and investment in the language in question. You can verify this by just taking a closer look at science fields like Medicine, Agriculture, Accounting and others.
The question now is; we have the Centre for Language studies in the University of Malawi, yes, is it well funded as at now? Is it carrying out linguistic research as expected?
In addition to the above, elevation of Chichewa to an official language may also affect the school curriculum.
The language of instruction may also need revision as the use of Chichewa may now come in. This means publishing new books, delivering them to schools and training teachers on how to use them. All this will need financial resources. Just thinking aloud on the point of resources; where are we going to get resources for such kind of activities when as at now the government has not done well in the implementation of the new curriculum? Many a school have no enough books of the new curriculum and many teachers have not been trained on how best they can use materials that are in the user system.
Seriously, it can be an uphill task for Malawi to elevate Chichewa to the status of official language. Many do not know that elevating Chichewa to an official language can be suicidal. In today’s world we talk about the global village. For the global village to be functional and real there has to be effective communication.
English is the language that has been used mostly for this village to be there. Some may argue to say countries like China, Japan and some countries in the Middle East have developed and are connected to the world though they have been using local languages. That is where the issue of linguistic research and investment comes in now. Those countries have invested so well in their language planning policies that they have even developed software for language translation hence they are able to be in touch with the rest of the world.
The question is as a country do we have the financial resources to do that? By elevating Chichewa as an official language it means we are taking ourselves away from the global village. Chichewa can cater for 80% of the population though only 65% has a functional literacy or active command of the language. However, English may be learnt as a second language but it has been seen that in most countries where they use their own languages people have no interest to learn other languages.
My last point is that the judiciary, executive and the legislature all use English and if we are to change it means all documents need also to be translated to Chichewa. Imagine how bulky the budget document can be. It can also be so difficult to understand. Imagine the same with bills and other laws and other government business documents. They can be so bulky and so demanding and may need a lot of resources for them to be translated to make sense to donors.
What we should bear in mind is that most of our programs are donor funded hence the donors need to understand what we are doing. In a way this may put as at a disadvantage.
Taking into consideration all the above raised factors for now what we can do is for us to continue with the use of English as an official language. We simply have to make sure our education standards are raised up to the expected standard. Teachers should be well trained and motivated, schools should have enough resources so that the products from our education system should be able to read, write, comprehend and speak good English especially where they are supposed to do so.
In the media people should be free to use any language provided it is translated so that the majority can understand rather than for us to make a costly mistake of elevating Chichewa into a n official language of Malawi.
- Peter Kamzimbi Jr is a Chancellor College trained linguist but now an Assistant Lecturer in Language and Communication at the College of Medicine
Good analysis there, Peter Kamzimbi Jr.
Yours is an example of how to put forward an argument; but no wonder some of the comments reflect the fact that many of us can’t follow a proposition in English presented in more than one sentence. Eish.
The oChewa were especially pumped up when their Kamuzu, in his typical dictatorial mode, single-handedly promulgated their language, the national language. The arrogance was palpable even in secondary schools and government offices. It was as if everyone else was a second class citizen of this country, their “Malawi”. And it was something to watch, witness and document!
Even today, many oChewa think they own the place, and look down on other Malawians because their languages are severely marginalized – thanks to their fellow “superior” tribesman Kamuzu.
There is no reason Chichewa should be elevated further – your arguments well articulated.
The winner would probably be predictable if a referendum was advanced: a choice between elevating Chichewa further, or elevating other languages to the current status of Chichewa. Much like in the vein of post apartheit South Africa.
If not Chichewa, which language? Tumbuka, Tonga, Lhomwe, Yao? Let’s be honest. Travel from Chitipa to Nsanje and literally everyone will hear you.
And you are a linguist? Malawi has no shame?
Without prejudice Chichewa is another official language in Malawi bcoz we still have Chichewa literature in our syllabus at both primary and secondary schools.
Am not Chewa myself but I don’t see any problem of having Chichewa as one of official language but not to replace English wholly.
We need both languages as official as not all Malawians can speak or hear English but they always give a try to speak Chichewa much better and they can even hear it properly without going to school to learn it.
Other languages in Malawi mmmh it’s bit tough such as Lhomwe , Tonga, Nkhonde, Yao , Nsena and even Lambiya of Chitipa.
This issue is closed we can simply suggest that the honorable ready and many other so called honorable who struggle to speak English should be encouraged to sharpen their skills at least in spoken English.
We should fully understand that English will still remain the lesser evil than choosing a language to be recognized as National language.
The fact that the honorable lady struggled to communicate symbolises weaknesses in our today’s curriculum she has passed through. I remember during Dr Banda’s time Standard eight pupils were even employed as teachers with good command of English. We just need to fix what is wrong now.
I belief the author is someone who hates what other people imposed on us in 1968. Before I go further, there are things you can reverse and there are others you cannot reverse. The whole article is trying to attack the MCP and the Chewas. I am fine with that, after all we can cry and hide behind linguistic analysis. But one thing we need to accept is that we all contributed to what happened then. You need to heal from that historical sickness still running in your mind.
I wish you just mentioned Lomwe or any other language you feel should be nationalized, do not hide my friend. The Chinyanja or chichewa language is something we can never undo…same as the English language, it shall always be there. For your information, it is only Tumbuka and Chewa languages which are easier to lean. Modern Lomwes even those born in the 60s have difficulties speaking their own language. I must admit I have tried to learn Yao but I still find problems to internalize it. So sometimes it’s an issue of flexibility despite the political interference you are alluding to… The Ngwazi is gone and so is the former MCP, (we have a new MCP of course) let us dwell much on boasting our economy unlike fighting over which language we should use. America uses English but you know that the land was occupied by a Kingdom before that. So get healed my dear friend… Have you easily forgotten how the Kwacha was equivalent to the dollar and nobody minded the mode of communication then.
It’s sad that after I enjoyed myself reading few paragraphs & I was like where has this writer been hiding then I was disappointed that it seams( is it me) when articulations & differentiations of Chichewa should be an official language or not & the writer flip flops if it should be a National language. I thought & the way we fill form is that Malawi official languages are English & Chichewa. National languages might be confirmed by department of languages at the “College Which God Loves Most” & verified by the Ministry responsible.
It would be suicidal to make Chichewa an official language. Each time I go to Tanzania and begin speaking English, Tanzanians run away from me one by one because they were fooled by the poor teacher (mwalimu) Julius Nyerere to ignore English. Today in Malawi if you take a standard 8 pupil let alone a form 4 pupil and a standard 1 or 2 pupil who is at a private school, you will be strong enough to tell me that you are related to the standard 8 or secondary school pupil when you engage them in English. The difficiency will grow even at the level of employment. Some candidates fail job interviews because they cannot express themselves clearly in English even after presenting their beautiful papers to the panel. If one thinks it is a bad idea to have English as an official language, Americans would have introduced “American” as an official language, or they would have opted Spanish having been closer to South America where Spanish is dominant. They weighed the value of English from England and made it their language. English is a language of influence.
tell me any local language that is widely spoken in Malawi.
chichewa was first suggested by atsamunda to be a national language
Tikamati Malawi sazatheka, this is what we mean. A Linguist without a cause. Kungofuna kupanga argue for the sake of arguing. If Chichewa can not be a national language then what else? Are you suggesting that we should not have any? Or are you suggesting that we should have several? Your numbers clearly favors the language and yet you are arguing against it. How Kamuzu is caught into the mix, I have no idea. What are you doing at College of Medicine again???
Inutu mukuyenera kukhala unnecessary noise. He is not saying chichewa can’t be a national language. He says it can’t be an official language of communication on official business matters
za ziii
blaming Kamuzu till when?
Point of correction. When you speak well understood English is not an indication that one is intelligent, but rather people will judge you as educated. Indeed this is true the girl went to a DEC and never passed MSCE and that tells it all. If you want to conclude that she is not intelligent, that purely your choice by my point is on her level of education as too low or to be frank, she is JC holder.
I think your arguments are mixed up. Are you arguing on the basis of the language not being fit to be a national language or cost implications about adopting it as a national language? Which language will be cheaper to adopt? Is it the name of the language Chichewa/Chinyanja? If it will be chinyanja not Chichewa what will the language sound like?
I am disappointed with the above article it seems the writer did a poor research .
The example of Tanzania and the use of Swahili is not a good example the writer should know that Tanzania abandoned the use of Swahili as mode of communication in offices and parliament because of the many problems and set backs it caused ,The first President of Tanzania Mwalimu Julius Nyerere acknowledged the mistake and he even apologized to the citizens for the mistake .
Well said & I totally agree with the author of this article. Some of us we learned Chichewa in our days in school as a subject, one it was not pleasant at all, two it was difficult cos most of the things were still had basis in English like Chichewa Galamala or Chichewa Litiretcha what is that? We cant solve a problem by running away from it. Whether we want or not but English is the Global Language & we are living in a Global Village now. Can we develop Chichewa to the extent of learning Maths, Science Subjects or Geography in Chichewa? The answer is NO. We are not China or Japan or France or Germany those are big economies that’s why they can manage to do their education in their own languages. We cant even compare Chichewa & Swahili. Swahili is spoken in so many countries in Eastern Africa. So let us just try to improve our education system so that when kids finish school must be fluent in English simple. Which parent will be happy after spending lots of money then your child comes back with Chichewa not me.
Akuti National language NOT Business language. So you are saying we should be a country without a national language???
And even the name Malawi was imposed by Malawi Congress Party, the best name would have been Nyasaland with all languages from Ngonde, Tumbuka, Yao and Chewa, but English as an official language
I get you man,you’ve posted a super suggestion
Is the quality of lecturers at public universities? He should have shared his draft with senior lecturers or his his dean at Chancellor College. It’s shame to read such immaterial from a prestigious College. He seems not to know what to write. is he a Rwandan migrant who changed his name and status? I just wish he was my postgraduate student.
I totally agree with you Peter. Such calls to make chichewa the official language are baseless and senseless. Imagine even now when there is high prevalent use of English as the official language in Malawi, those azungus subject prospective Malawian students wanting to study abroad to English proficiency tests. What if there would be no English taught or used in Malawian schools?
Some people think the Swahilis are developed!
Aaaaa
Why CheMussa? It is you who is failing to understand the issues in this article.
I also did linguistics in the university and I fully support what Kamzimbi is saying here.
NDIWE AUTHORYO IWEYO!!
The article is just too long and empty. Nice trying though. By the way, tell COM to stick to teaching medicine.
To teach in English for the sake of foreign students … kkkk
FYI, communication is a very important part in the medical sciences and practices!
Useless
No. Usefulness.
Za ziiii. It is an open secret that if you find a Tumbuka in Mulanje, a yawo in Mzimba and a sense in chitipa they will all avoid their languages and try very hard but atleast be able to get each other inChichewa. This is not political and we shud tey as much as possible to politicised everything. Useless writing
True true true
Ndikugwirizana ndi CheMussa.
English has always been the official language in Malawi so let it be. To be a member of parliament, one has to be able to speak and write English effectively. Not sure how people like Chimulilenji get elevated to VP when no one has ever heard them speak English. How do they conversate with the so called “donors?” Fyness is just the tip of the iceberg, plenty of people who work in government can’t hold a conversation in English. Have you ever seen the police stopping Mzungu or Mmwenye on our roads? Nope! They are scared of speaking English. Ntchito kuzunza Malawi citizens whose taxes pay for their salaries! Malawi is behind in chitukuko because of these people who oppress their own brethren. Until we change our mindset!
amalawi tiyeni tizinyadila chiyakhula chathu osamakamila za azuguzi , ndipo ndizotheka kukoza
yes
THIS WHOLE ESSAY IS A SUMMARY OF JUST THREE POINTS (NOTHING NEW IN IT).
1. The author’s belief that the youg legislator was ‘personally’ attacked for her failure to articulate her facts in English. I think that’s too cheap and inconsiderate of the ffact that she’s an MSCE Holder and and in absence of her MSCE ‘paper in her closet’ she must’ve passed the English proficiiency Test to vie for a Parliamentary Seat. So personal attacks here.
2. Reminding us that Chichewa was imposed in our school curriculum. That’s very true, however it beg’s the question (s), are we still going to be a Nation that doen’s have an Identity (tell me if you one can identify oneself without a Language of any sort). How about a deliberate option of allowing Malawians to express themselves in langiages they’re proefficient in and then devise translation mechanisms?
3. Lack of acceptance by the General Populace that some Languages (Both Local & International) have more influence than others and that stems from many avenues ie Religion, Politics, Social etc (Malawi is currently enjoying some funny abeit no so popular words in Public circles).
I’d lean more on my point no.2 above if i’ve to support the TIMING (only) of this essay!!
This is a poorly written and argued article from someone who claims to be a university trained linguist and is an assistant lecturer.
Mmmm muli ndivuto inu…Mtima wankhwizi..Why can’t you appreciate his arguments and make your own if you have the brains…
can’t agree more
Inuyo amzeru chabwino talembani zomveka bwino.
For avoidance of doubt, I do not subscribe to the idea of making Chichewa or any of our languages official language or a language of instruction in schools. The case against chichewa or any of our languages as is true with most African languages being elevated to the status of official language is simple: Our languages are not developed enough to be useful beyond basis communicative value. The making of Swahiri, the official language in Tanzania was a disaster , the negative consequences of which, the country will continue to reap for many years.
While I am not a linguist, it is my view that an official language is a transactional language. It must therefore be capable of expressing terms, figures, numbers etc which are part of the modern life. It must be capable of being used in science or commerce for example…
So we will have to a nation without a language? Wow
Can’t it be that you are not a linguist and you are not getting anything from the article? You may be in different worlds with the author.
THEN THE AUTHOR IS IN MARS!!
Eti, eti! Komanso zoona zake ndi zakuti palibe dziko lolemera kwinakulikonse lomwe limagwiritsa ntchito chilankhulo chobwera.
The writer should do more research to find convincing reasons not what has been written here.
Iwe osapanga research beanji…Fwefwe ngati ungslembe nkomwe APA sharewolrd material