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French vs Swahili usefulness in Africa? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6895 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 33 13 July 2007 at 8:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
Africa is a geographical concept to begin with so it makes little sense to apply any other criteria to it. As a matter of fact the countries you would like to exclude here are especially relevant to the original question due to their traditional connections with France. On what continent would you place them "culturally" then, if you think they are out of place in their physical location ? Edited by Hencke on 13 July 2007 at 8:54pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6551 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 10 of 33 13 July 2007 at 11:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes. Swahili is useful in several countries, but English, French and Arabic are much more widely spoken overall.
No. The Africans living in Africa generally aren't descendants of slaves, and don't hold a grudge. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Zorndyke Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6959 days ago 374 posts - 382 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Czech | Message 11 of 33 14 July 2007 at 3:42am | IP Logged | |||||
These countries are rather Muslim-Arabic than African. I wouldn't advise orion to learn the languages spoken in these countries for the same reason I wouldn't advise someone to learn Russian because he wants to travel widely through Asia... If one intends to visit Africa I suppose one wants to see something that's not just part of the continent of Africa, but also of its culture. Edited by Zorndyke on 14 July 2007 at 3:46am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6666 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 12 of 33 14 July 2007 at 7:14am | IP Logged | |||||
I don't know if French is really a danger for African languages. On the contrary: it's probably safer to use a 'neutral' (at least nowadays) language like French for official or educational purposes. Otherwise, one of the local languages might impose itself as lingua franca and be promoted much more aggressively than French. Sub-Saharan Africa is extremely diverse linguistically and that might just be because most of the states were created by some exterior force (the colonial powers), while in Europe the creation of nations is the result of a brutal competition between different ethnic/linguistic groups which lead to the extermination of the vast majority of indigenous languages.
There are no clear-cut cultural borders between 'Arabian Africa' and 'African Africa'. Niger is more similar to Algeria than to Madagascar, for example. And I don't see how one could seriously speak of one African culture, it's too diverse. What do Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Namibia have in common after all (except the similar skin color of their inhabitants)? It's not like Europe, where everyone's culturally very close because of the same cultural heritage (Roman and Greek). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Zorndyke Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6959 days ago 374 posts - 382 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Czech | Message 13 of 33 14 July 2007 at 8:09am | IP Logged | |||||
There is an English phrase - I don't fully remember it any more, but it had something to do with "killing the spirit". It is used when someone examines something (e.g. a text) too literally and draws conclusions where there are none. Yes, of course there is not just one single African culture, but in contrast to the North African countries these cultures are African although they were surely often influenced by colonialism. And I consider the areas with intersections between these Arabic and non-Arabic parts of Africa being rather small. Okay, these countries where both ones are prevalent are most Sahel countries and maybe Nigeria as well as Somalia. Did I forget Djibouti? Oh, I'm terribly sorry -.- Edited by Zorndyke on 14 July 2007 at 8:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6666 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 14 of 33 14 July 2007 at 9:01am | IP Logged | |||||
That's paradoxical. I really don't understand what you mean by African. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Zorndyke Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6959 days ago 374 posts - 382 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Czech | Message 15 of 33 14 July 2007 at 9:33am | IP Logged | |||||
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No, it's not.
The North African culture is basically Muslim-Arabic and therefore not from Africa, but from the Arabian Peninsula. Therefore, there is - except for the culture of some Berber minorities maybe - no African culture in North Africa. So, geographically speaking North Africa is African, but not so culturally! In the rest of Africa there are native, autochthon cultures which originated there. And there are some places were both - the Muslim-Arabic and the conglomerate African cultures - are prevalent. I don't understand what's so difficult about this. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| lloydkirk Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6414 days ago 429 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 16 of 33 14 July 2007 at 9:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think what zorndyke means is that arabic, islam, french, english,etc.. are not indigenous to the african continent. They were brought by conquest.This is particularly the case in north africa. The indigenous religions/cultures were wiped out there. Today, north africa is effectively an extension of the middle east. A man from mali would have a lot more in common with a guy from syria than someone from lesotho. I don't think this is as much the case in the french or english african colonies. Almost everyone still speaks a local language, but uses french or english as the lingua franca. In my oppinion, this is necessary. Some african countries have hundreds of indigenous language. How else are they suppose to communicate with each other?
you posted before me lol... Edited by lloydkirk on 14 July 2007 at 9:46am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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