French Africa: The last open air jail ?

This is a piece published on the blog of The Africa Report on May 3rd 2010

As English became the global language, several countries in Africa found themselves cut off from the rest of the world. Today, the vast majority of the countries in the world teach English from the early levels of public education and use it extensively in all the important fields of life: business, technology, science, higher education, diplomacy, international trade, international cooperation and international communication.

Speaking English has become a basic skill for individuals and a necessary ability for any country. It is so widespread that not speaking English has become a handicap and a major cause of isolation and underdevelopment.

There are only about 40 countries in the world, out of a total of 203, that still do not use English as a first foreign language. With the exception of Luxembourg, all these countries are developing countries, mainly located in Northern, Western and Central Africa, also known as 'French Africa'. Western and Central Africa, in particular, are among the poorest regions in the world. Joining the rest of the international community has become a vital issue for these countries today.

Speaking English would help bring more development and international connections to those countries. To begin with, it would help improve the level of education because of the number of educational resources available in English and the additional possibilities of international cooperation in education that would be made possible, both on state and institutional levels. In particular, the universities would profit from joining the global network of research and higher education, which would improve the training of teachers and therefore improve the whole educational system. Besides, the teaching of English alone would give students an essential skill for their professional careers.

A second important point is that speaking English would help those countries access technology, which is the motor of any development. Being dependent on another country’s translations on the matter excludes them from a number of very important resources and innovations that may prove crucial for their development, besides the negative consequences of dependency itself. Among these resources are the experiences of other developing countries like India or Brazil.

Another important point is that speaking English would help make better businesses by helping them access management and technical resources, therefore helping train a more skilled workforce. Furthermore, it would dramatically increase the number of business opportunities and markets for exports worldwide. Another important consideration is that speaking English would help attract much more foreign investment to these countries which would constitute an immediate improvement in their economic situation and help bring an important additional economical resource in the long term. This is besides the fact that foreign investment is a major economic instrument that enables the transfer and dissemination of knowledge, technology and skills.

On a cultural level, English would help countries access other cultures in the world and, more importantly, promote their own culture to the rest of the world, in addition to the number of cultural exchanges made possible by using English. Another important point is that it would help them access media from all over the world, enabling them to consult news and opinions from many diverse sources. This would empower them to form their own opinions and contribute to the global debate.

Last, but not least, speaking English would help those countries be a more integral part of the international community and be more independent as they diversify their international cooperation and build new relationships with more countries around the world.

To sum it up, speaking English in these countries would help create more jobs and reduce poverty. If present economic activity was done in English instead of in any another language, it would create important leverage and boost the local economy just by the networking effect of the English language, besides the gains acquired from the volume of resources available.

Politically, it would help those countries exit a monolithic and monopolistic relationship which keeps them in the backyard of France. This constitutes their only horizon, keeping them looking at the world from a very limited perspective – without counting the isolating effect of the language barrier which acts like a open-air jail!

French-Africa: The last open air jail ?

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