In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, language is a sign of cultural difference. The Igbo language cannot be easily translated to English, although Achebe tries to convey the essence of the Igbo language as to be read by western people as a way to demonstrate that Africans where neither savages nor uncivilized or uneducated people.
English is the mean used by Achebe to speak out the truth about African culture, not the one that it has been believed for many years.
As
prospective teachers of English we may understand and see the important of
English as the language that let us communicate internationally, which is
widely believed as a door opener in regards to all professional careers. We are
going to teach English to school kids as to let them discover this importance
on their own, to show them how useful the English language can be, and to
encourage them to make use of it on daily basis as to be prepared for
unexpected moments in which they may need to speak, write, listen or read in
English to fulfill a communicative purpose.
I
want you to give some thought to the following:
- Can language actually be a barrier to express culture?
- After reading the Achebe’s novel, did you feel language was an important topic throughout the whole book?
- Related to the reason that pushed you to enroll in this English teaching program, did you see English as a tool for professional purposes that every single person deserves to learn? Did it motivate you to be the one who can make that possible?
I think that nowadays the boundaries of language have changed due to the globalization issue; however, we have to admit that English has been working as the link that many countries have in order to establish economical relationships . As we can see in Achebe's novel, language is importante and something you have to deal with some factors in order to show up your disagreements.
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