Political

images-4From a logical perspective, powerful weapons and excellent battle strategies are essential for the defense and security of the nation. However, those are not enough, rather, having a handle on more than one language for communication has been found to be important in the battle. The United States defense department is now encouraging its defense operation personnel to study a foreign language so that they can be more equipped in understanding the other culture that may be involved in the battlefield as well as in negotiations (Garamone, 2010).

In some countries, multilingualism is necessary. A study by Simire (2003) found that multilingualism is a practical need in order to enhance the development and progress of Nigeria in the political, economical and sociocultural areas. There are many languages in Nigeria. 400-513 are Nigerian languages, not including dialects, of which a 100 have been reduced to writing. 51 Nigerian languages are used for administrative educational divisions, 10 used inter-regionally and 3 are national languages. Although English is the official national language, Anglo-Nigerian pidgins are used as the lingua franca. Also, statistics show that though 33% of Nigerians are literate in English, only 15% effectively use it in professional and administrative tasks. This highlights the need for multilingualism in order to reach a linguistically diverse population.

With the vast diversity of languages in Nigeria, the Nigerian government faces the problem of communicating its plans for the nation as a large proportion of the population do not speak English and still speak in their code languages. The benefits of multilingualism here is that it is the key to reach people who may be isolated because of language. This is a better alternative to attempting to change the spoken language of the people who do not speak any of the major languages to communicate in a common language such as English for instance. Although knowing English would be useful, it would not be easy to do so as it takes time for citizens to learn the language. Moreover, multilingualism grants access to connect with people (Kolb, 2012). As Nelson Mandela articulates, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart” (Interspeech 2014 Singapore, 2014). In this context, it can be seen that multilingualism is a challenge to countries in making plans for the development of the nation. However, if the benefits of multilingualism can be recognised, it should not be seen as a ‘plague’ but a resource.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart” ~Nelson Mandela

 

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