Language - critical element in PNG's development

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How do we think and understand concepts? Most people think through a form of self talk or having a dialogue with yourself. Therefore, using a language that gives you a lot of flexibility in disecting an idea/concept is much better than a limited language that can only. Explain an idea in one way. An example is like eating food. You eat better if you have the proper knives to cut the food into bite size chunks.

Pidgin is not a true language. It is a basic language used by early traders and colonisers who needed a language to get the natives to carry out their demands. It is not a language that can be easily used to express ideas or describe mental concepts. How do our people who can't speak English really understand the concept of democracy or nationalism? The pidgin explanation still does not fully cover the power and depth of these concepts. It is like trying to eat a chicken with an axe. It's messy with large chunks that can't be properly digested.

On the other hand, English is a language that has many nuances and it can express an idea in many different ways. English offers so many tools it is akin to having the full range of cutting instruments from axe to scalpels.

PNG need to review the national language which is critical for the populace to understand nationalism concepts and ideas. There are 3 options for us. (1) A national push through the education system to educate everyone in English.(2) carry out a critical review of Pidgin similar to what Indonesia did to develop the Bahasa language as a true national language (3)no change.

From my point of view, I believe that a focused effort should be made to educate everyone English. All education should be in English. All official communication should be in English. One a vast majority of this nation truly understand the concepts and ideas and can make these relevant to PNG, we will see more invovlement in politics and governement by the people of PNG. Once more people get involved, we will make politics and government accountable.

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