Monday, April 18, 2011

Help promote Swahili language, experts urged

SOME Intellectuals and Swahili experts have called on the prompt development of the Swahili language and insisted on its use for the national interests in order to promote the country’s social and cultural developments. They made this observation recently in Dar es Salaam during the inauguration of a 32 paged booklet that describes the life of their fellow Swahili language expert Professor Tigiti Mnyagatwa Sengo, in a colourful ceremony which was held at the temporary headquarter of the Open University of Tanzania. They have said that, time has come for Tanzanians to use their resources wherever possible in order to promote Swahili as a national language and use it more widely as a means of production so as to promote what the lord God had given to Tanzanians as a moral gift. According to them, “Swahili language must be preserved and honoured as an intellectual property for Tanzanians who best speaks the language more than any other country in the world. Promotion of local language is a self empowerment of a nation whereas to know other foreign languages is a slavery.” “Tanzanians must be proud of that” says Dr. Aldin Mutembei of the Institute of the Department of Swahili at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). In view of this, therefore it should be used and put in the forefront in every matters pertaining to the country’s cultural and social superiority. “You would be amazed to see that about five leading languages in the world is for Europeans and these have dominated most intellectual properties because of the fact that, foreign intervention has absorbed the minds of most African idealism”. He said

An Assistant dean of the faculty of FASS Professor Ngwiliza opens up the ceremony by introductory remarks.

Mzee Yusuf Halimoja, who compiled the a book that describes the life of Professor Tigiti Sengo leads a a band of choir team that entertained the guests during the occasion.

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