The following excerpt of an article from the Ghanaian Chronicle highlights an interesting topic: the use or non-use of African languages in legal systems. From what little I know on the subject, it seems that the rules differ by country. In Niger, for instance, the legal system permits use of any national language but the court records are in French (so translation is necessary); classical Arabic is also permitted for written arguments (this reflects the fact many people have Koranic school training; there is only a tiny percentage of the population that has a dialect of Arabic as a maternal language).
Are there examples from other countries? Don Osborn I can express myself better in Ewe - Transport Ministry's PR consultant tells CHRAJ By Phyllis D. Osabutey | Posted: Monday, June 12, 2006 THE PUBLIC Relations Consultant of the Transportation Ministry, Mr. Ken S.K.N. Anku, last Thursday told the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) that he could better express himself in Ewe, his native language, than in English. Mr. Anku started with "enye", meaning "I", when he was being taken through affirmation to testify before the Commission in the investigations of allegations of corruption, conflict of interest and abuse of office against his boss, Dr. Richard Anane. He then continued with a mixture of the Ewe and English languages in response to questions from lead counsel for the Commission, Dr. Bondzie Simpson. It was at that point that the panel drew his attention to the fact that he ought to answer the question in the English language. His reply that no one indicated to him in what language he should answer questions and that it was in the Ewe language that he could express himself very well, prompted chairperson of the panel, Ms. Anna Bossman, to ask whether in his capacity as the public relations consultant to the transportation ministry, he transacted business in his native language to which he replied, "No, but I don't do it under oath." ... [the full article, which deals mainly with details of the hearing and the case and not the language issue, can be read at http://www.ghanaian-chronicle.com/thestory.asp?id=10276 ] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
