Communication

Originally a British Colony, the official language of Ghana is English. But while many Ghanaians speak it to some degree, some even eloquently, a significant number are inarticulate. The majority once you leave the capital city of Accra prefer to speak their native dialects. Often the dialects are sprinkled here and there with English words, not unlike the Spanglish encountered among Latinos at home. Most religious, music, sports and news broadcasts (with the exception of CNN and BBC) on radio and television are spoken in native
dialect.

The Church requires that the ordinances be performed in English, but otherwise the dialects may and more often than not are spoken in Church services. English literacy is being stressed by the Area Presidency and by local leaders at the highest level. Stake Presidents encourage members to speak English to their children at home and to use it more in Church meetings. They ask the members to compare the sizes of the Book of Mormon as published in English, Fante, and Tre. The latter two are smaller in size because the languages do not contain sufficient vocabulary to translate the English fully.

A wonderful new English literacy course has been developed at the Area office. It is complete with various learning tools and strategies, and is easy to teach. We provided what we thought was good inservice training to the teachers in a number of branches. Subsequent results have been a mixed bag. We have seen inspired teachers at work and others who either failed to grasp what we tried to teach or chose to discount it and rely upon time honored methods of teaching in school, characterized by rote memorization. Sister Turner observed a teacher demanding that a student read the first page of the Book of Mormon over and over again, making stern correction of mispronunciation but no translation of vocabulary. This is an extreme example, but because many of the teachers have failed to follow the prescribed instructions, too many students have soon tired of the course and stopped attending.

In speaking to the Ghanaians one is not always sure that you are communicating accurately. Often I have had to ask them to repeat themselves and to even spell some of the words that they are using. Beyond the difficulty of understanding their accents, you must take into account that they desire to make you happy and will, therefore, tell you what they
think you want to hear. And then, of course, you can never be certain that they have understood you entirely. It is common to ask them if they have said one thing or if they have said another which is different, to which they reply simply: "Yes." When misunderstandings occur, they may stare at you with noncomprehending eyes, leaving you to wonder if they truly do not understand or if they just want you to think that they do not.

I have on occasion taught temple preparation seminars in some of the remote branches. Communication in those instances has been interesting. I always carefully instruct the branch presidents to call eight to ten people to take the class and to be certain that these people are temple worthy and otherwise qualified to take the course. Legal marriage, for example, is a requirement before a couple can be sealed in the temple in Ghana. Nonetheless, in one branch the president told his congregation at the conclusion of sacrament meeting that anyone who wished to take the temple prep course could take it. Fifty-seven people showed up, including young men and women, couples who were living together without benefit of marriage, and even one man who had two wives.

In another branch, four wonderfully responsive couples arrived at my first class. They knew all the answers to my questions and seemed ready to take out their endowments the very next day. I was thrilled but then at the end of the class discovered that three of the couples had already been to the temple and only one was a candidate for first time attendance.

In both situations I needed an interpreter as only a few spoke good English. This can be a challenging situation when your interpreter does not fully understand your English or is unable to translate the English in the scriptures to the local dialect. You just have to smile and rely upon the Spirit as the members of the class cheerfully attempt to help communicate the lessons to each other.

The active members of the Church in Ghana live close to the Spirit, closer indeed than many of us do at home. There is no communication more effective.