THE EDITOR, Sir:
AS A Jamaican living abroad, I try to keep abreast of current events in the island by reading The Gleaner online. I nearly fainted when I read the headline of Petrina Francis' article about a UWI survey which found that "the majority of Jamaicans think parliamentarians should deliver their speeches ... in the local dialect, patois, in order to communicate better with the public."
Though this has long been debated (making patois a national language), it is time to finally settle the score.
Don't get me wrong - it does not matter who you are in this island, patois does not discriminate. We all speak it. However, beyond Jamaica, is patois truly a recognised language? Can we survive without grasping the fundamentals of the English language?
It can be argued that the dialect is simply 'ungrammatical English'. So as Jamaicans harp on implementing patois as a language and "recognising the bilingual nature of the language situation in the country", people everywhere around the world are acquiring an important life goal of learning and speaking the language of international prestige - English. In fact, even in countries where English has never been traditionally spoken, people are attaining this goal.
If Jamaicans are to move ahead, advancing politically and economically in the international sphere, we must educate our people and sharpen our communication skills. In the working world, people typically spend over 75 per cent of their time in an interpersonal situation. It is therefore no surprise to find that, at the root of a large number of organisational problems is poor communication.
Effective communication is an essential component of organisational success, whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organisational, or external levels. So if Jamaicans struggle to speak English, a universal tongue, we essentially struggle to communicate and flourish globally. We need to emphasise the importance of not only learning to write standard English, but also speaking it. We set no example if, at every level, we speak patois.
I am, etc.,
ALICIA B.
lisieboo2@aol.com
Fort Lauderdale
Florida, USA
Via Go-Jamaica
