Is English a prestigious language? Is Setswana worthless and inferior? We have a beautiful language that rivals any in the excelling beauty of its idioms, character and complexion. Think about phrases such as; Tlhotsa pele ga se e swa pele, Gatwe go sha kae, A ko o bone bomabina go tsholwa. How would you begin to translate these expressions without watering down the dynamism captured in their flavour!
In 1892, Richard Pratt, an American general said, “Kill the Indian and save the man….. He is born a blank like the rest of us. Left in the surroundings of savagery, he grows to possess a savage language, superstition and life.” Pratt advocated for the Americanisation of native Americans. In his view they were savages and could benefit from being civilised. Pratt appreciated that an effective tool for denying a sense of identity to people with a common heritage is to deprive them the right to speak their language. Languages die. This is not always driven by the desire of speakers of such languages to associate themselves with a major language. Undue pressure is often imposed by an aggressive dominant language. Sadly, in the case of Setswana, some of us gloat in contributing to the throwing of our language down the cliff.
