Senegalese Government To Consider English As Official Language

The usability of the English language in the world is prompting the Senegalese government to take a second look at its present official language which is French.

The international news website, www.silicoafrica.com has reported that for France, French language is a matter of international prestige, but Africans do not have anymore the luxury of satisfying the salon caprice of grandeur of France by sticking to a dying language.

In the United States of America, more than 300.000 new book titles and editions are published every year. In the United Kingdom this number is 206.0000. Where does France stand?

In France only 63.000 new book titles and editions are published every year. This is five times less than the United States and three times less that the United Kingdom. This means a person who is only literate in French would have eight times less access to information and knowledge than a person who is literate in English, the website stated.

On Wikipedia, there are more than 4 million articles in English, with more than 600 million edits. 1.447 administrations and more than 18 million users. Wikipedia in French is 3 times less, comprising 1.2 million articles, 93 million edits, 181 administrations, and only 1.5 million users.

The Internet has about 634 million website pages, and 54% of the content is in English and only 4% in French. French is in fact marginal on the Internet, which is now the collective brain of humanity.

Only 3% of films and video contents in French. Only 2% of newspapers and magazines are in French; less than Hindi.

Slowly, French would be classified as an indigenous language spoken by only 60 million people in a small country in Europe and few other micro–countries or regions like Belgium, Quebec, Switzerland. What an Irony!

Some French colonies in Africa still speak that language, but recent there is a huge agitation to move away from that colonial heritage to embrace English. Rwanda was the first African country to replace the French language with English. The reason is simple, Rwanda doesn’t export perfume, cosmetics and fashion clothes, and therefore the country doesn’t need such a sophisticated and rich language.

Gabon has also made it clear to steer the country to English language, as the President Ali Bongo is amazed by what Rwanda has accomplished in so little time. France itself, has just taken notice of the huge shift, and will introduce English into all its schools and universities. In the face of this, Senegal has decided to adopt English as its official language and discard French.