Entertainment of Sunday, 8 April 2018
Source: www.Ghanaweb.com
2018-04-08
Maame Serwaa, actress
Kumawood young actress Clara Benson known on screens as Maame Serwaa finally has a response to critics who troll her for speaking ‘terrible English’.
The award-winning actress in an interview with Delay said she’s saddened by the way Ghanaians measure success.
To the young actress speaking good English does not put huge sums of money in one’s bank account.
“Ghanaians have a perception that if you can’t speak English it means you are unwise or if can’t speak English you can’t be successful but I can cite so many people who without school have made it in life and have huge figures in their bank accounts”.
Maame Serwaa was trolled on social media a day after her press briefing contract signing with Silvanus Records for speaking very bad English.
But she says she is not bothered by such things because critics and trolling comes with being a star.
“As a celebrity, you would have to ignore most of the things that you hear. At the press conference, the critics didn’t know what I was going through that particular moment. My mother who shaped and pushed me to who I am today and where I have reached today was no more. She was absent at my biggest contract signing event and that had already made me sad”.
“Maame Serwaa, can you speak good English?” pushed further by Delay, she answered, “I speak fairly good English”.
She added that she’s doing her possible best to improve her English language by furthering her education at NAFTI.
“If after my NAFTI education, I don’t see any improvement, then I can say the witches in my family have a hand in that” she jokingly told Delay.
Her comments support colleague actor Kwaku Manu’s point of view that Ghana is wallowing in underdevelopment because the country has failed to pride its local languages over the Queen’s.
He believes that the English language has become a hindrance to the progress of some individuals who are talented yet, cannot express themselves in the Queen’s language.
“The Akan language consists of Asante, Fante, Akyim, Akuapem, Brong etc. At the same time, there are Ewes, Frafras who can speak any of these languages. About 80% of Ghanaians cannot speak and write English well. Just 20% can. 10% out of that 20 speak the Akan language… Look, we are underdeveloped because we don’t speak good English. We can’t speak better than the whites.
Every country speaks its language so why is Ghana the exception? Why do we say English is our first language? I can clearly say I can’t speak English, I dropped out of school, but how many people can boldly say same? Most parliamentarians cannot communicate in English. Because of that, they never contribute to discussions on the floor of parliament,” he said on ‘The Profiler’ on Hitz FM.