I know a couple of people who have gone abroad for a month or two and came back speaking like an American even when the trip was to russia...Wasup with that???
Im just trying to understand is there something wrong with our african accents...
once I told a friend of mine that its sad that as africans we are not proud of our cultures.It only brings us pride to be African when you watch say a music video of Kanye West doing an African theme on his song Love lockdown or when Orprah and the rest of the African Americans in Hollywood decide to trace their DNA back to Africa. We forget that they are just trying to find Identity as they have not been accepted as equals in the White dominated continents.
Anyway I dont entirely blame us as Africans because for the past century we have been defined as A dark continent...bla bla boo hoo
But before I digress and make this a neo-politically correct forum, let me get back to my original topic.
I was listening to the radio yesterday stuck in crazy traffic when it hit me.Why on earth do our radio presenters sound like they are Americans???If it was your first time in Kenya and you turned your dial from station to station you would think only african americans make it to become radio presenters.
when one of our local rock radio stations was starting out they advertised for radio presenters and one of the qualifications was : ENGLISH ACCENT.
English Accent????Please pardon my french but WTF??? that is ridiculous.If only 10% of the population has studied abroad,how on earth do you expect to get people with english accents..in Kenya??
Does that mean that if radio presenters actually spoke like a Kenyan,(note: MOST Kenyans speak VERY good english)that they would not have listenership???again pardon my french,but thats a load of bull...
When I read that ad in the paper,I felt that it was racist for lack of a better word.Am I saying that ad was discriminating against Africans who have what it takes to be on raido including myself?You damn right I am.
Anyway,If we want to progress as a continent and ask for the other continents to appreciate us a force to reckon with, we need to check ourselves...
Thats all Im saying.
this reminds me of a posting a buddy of mine made a few days ago. His family had relocated to the states a good 7 years ago and this december will be his first visit back to his homeland.....so his posting was:"gosh, my visit to the dark continent......blb..bla...." how can u term your own homeland as dark continent! fakes i say, we ghast to be proud of Africa!! i hope he was joking!!
ReplyDeletei surely hope soo too or tell your boy he aint welcome here no more...
ReplyDeletejust read this and its spot on! its same even here in 9ja, or even worse, especially with the radio presenters thing...i just wonder. u were right abt thinking all radio presenters were African Americans from the USA, i thought so too bcos we have one really famous top-notch one, so i assumed all the others i heard (especially with the pseudo-names, u cant tell) were the same. then i started to see them in magazines etc, and i'm like eish! they'r like me.
ReplyDeleteAnother annoying one...i currently work with an int'l organisation who support several sectors like education n health, so there are a lot of int'l consultants coming and going, esp from the UK. 2 scenarios...
(1) when my 9ja colleagues talk to the 'oyibo people' (white folks, i understand they'r called 'muzungu' in kenya?) they actually change their accent to sound more british...i think they even do it unconsciously.
(2) when some of the oyibo's, especially those who have been living here for some time, talk to us they try as much as possible to change their accent to the local 9ja pidgin english accent...somehow i find it a bit condescending.
I have a problem with Westernization and i wonder if we were not ok b4 the white man came. its all relative to me, what makes electricity and the TV better than moonlight and folktales under the moonlight??