Have you for a moment paused to ponder over the startling rate at which our society is swiftly becoming “Americanized”? Love it or hate it, this is a reality supposed to persist until the very foundation of globalization is broken.
Today, American hip culture finds its head at every corner of the globe- urban fashion is not only seen on the streets of New York but in the corner joints in Seoul, Tehran and Cairo lately.
Ghana is no exception to this phenomenon with the entire nation being consumed by human antics and mannerisms purported to be American or Western.
Cable television is now widespread and has proven to be very influential and directly aiding in the “Americanization” campaign. The ever daring Ghanaian youth now wears whatever they see on MTV- from stage costume to winter jackets.
Make no mistake to think we have lots of Americans flooding our streets in recent times. Rather, we have more people interestingly speaking with an American accent, a phenomenon becoming more popular and catching up with almost everybody irrespective of social status and age. This is the LAFA (Locally Acquired Foreign Accent) craze which appears to have come to stay.
Radio personalities, television anchors, musicians and other famous persons are the noted champions. LAFA has become their better companion for whatever reasons best known to them.
If for nothing at all, the numerous self-styled celebrities on the streets feel noted speaking with LAFA thinking they sound foreign and different from the regular Ghanaian. Could the desire and respect for anything foreign by most Ghanaians be a factor?
In as much as people should be encouraged to strive for the best and grab the gold in life, we ought not to loose sight of who we are as people. Being unique and carving a niche shouldn’t amount to identity crises or stealing.
As Ghanaians and Africans for that matter, we have to be proud and bold to show what we have to the world. We should sell our culture including our language to the rest of the world rather than gratuitously copying.
It was a sorrowful and an embarrassing experience for a famous Accra based LAFA radio personality when questions from an inquisitive American intern on his style of presentation revealed he has no idea of any airline that connects Accra and New York.
As if that wasn’t enough humiliation, the American chap went further to advice him to stop faking his accent wondering if no one ever told him how ridiculous he sounded.
That remains the psychology of deception several souls around the nation are caught in.
To speak with a foreign accent which often than not is very fake doesn’t make anyone a better person comparatively. Rather, it reveals a persons lack of knowledge and low self esteem. Identity crisis is the worse form of ignorance, a canker intellectuals and the good old book has described as a killer. Can we be spared the LAFA craze?
Written By: Chris Koney
@Chris,u’re perfectly ryt abt LAFA cum this Low self esteem thing.wat i hav learnt abt low self esteem or inferiority complex is whnever it comes ur way …u hardly find it difficult to attain ur potentiality like de way NADIA BUARI is facing since she wanna be like BEYONCE.I wish home gail can read this nice article and come to her senses.
i have come to conclusion that u seriously need help. GC pls dont get under the illusion that osei is a normal commentator and its good for ur blog. we need to get his ip adress and try and locate him where he is so will take him to ‘ankafo’ if u ppl are not concern abt osei state of mind i am and i will do watever it takes to help him retain sanity
aa Osei ooo
Nadia lived in the States before ooo tom!
what is more annoying is the ‘R’ dem dey roll! eii asem ben ni?
i was lying on the beRRd!! herr??? waz dat??
jus sounds too stupid, am sry….
lool Goodies, sumhow u ryt oo hehe
@goodies,De truth hurts.lol
a fool always stays a fool you need some serious help dirt bag a little bit of advice get some help
GC, isn’t this hypocritical on your side? I mean, you’re part of the vassel that’s unleashing this whole Americanization on Ghanaians aren’t you? Aren’t you publishing articles and pushing anything and everything in this so called entertainment industry? Do you make a distinction and not support something because it’s americanized? no. you even bring us news of Rhiana, Lil Bow Wow, Beyonce, etc. etc. on this website. Then you turn around and wondering where Ghanaians are catching this fad from? It’s because websites like yours, the TV stations, the Radio station are all pushing the same agenda! Westernization! Why are you surprise to see the effects of your own work? Don’t be a 2 face journalist. If you don’t like the bublelicious, stupifying, wack accent, nonsense that’s taking over Ghana by storm now, then re-think your own line of work but for God sake, don’t blame the poor Ghanaians who don’t even know what is happening to them. You should know better and protect them with what you know but are you? no. You cannot be selling the people an agenda then turn around and call them stupid. That’s very insulting. You, the Media, are suppose to be the gate keepers of the society on matters as such. Remember, you wild the power to affect public perception and in this case, the Ghanaian public’s perception has been warped and twisted because of what they’re been fed by media outlets. All am saying is, don’t shit where you eat. What you’re doing now is what’s called ‘Fucking with the hand that rocks the cradle’. GC is part of the virus that has infected the country as you are helping push this westernized views/agendas on the local populous.
Most of the new movies are spreading Westernize propaganda. And they’re doing it bad at best ’cause those living in America knows how Ghanaians are behaving and acting is not how people are like here. Most of the churches in Ghana, TV, Radio are all geared towards a more ‘Westernize approach’ and you’re wondering why the people are starting to act like what they see on screen? Art imitates life the same way life imitates art you know. It’s one thing to copy/mimic something but to do it blindly, is just, well, blind. GC should start cleaning it’s house first before clamping down on the publics behavior. This is what GH elders called feeding someone spoiled meat, then turning around and telling them their mouth stinks. my 33centz
That Guy, you’ve brillently nailed it. Well said and could not agree with you more.
Why is Chris silent on your comment? He must be ashmed of him self.
correction
He (Chris) must be ashamed / embarrassed of himself.
Absolutely wrong and off the point. The article is not against the idea of westernization or Americanization but it is chastising the concept Americanization being seen as Supreme to anything not.
The world is a global village and everything we have today is Americanized or western oriented-from our Democracy to our mode and means of Entertainment via Education.
The internet you are using is even a western tool. So If GC brings western materials on here or is founded on the tenets of western pop culture, it is perfectly right as no one is saying everything western or Americanized is bad and should therefore not be practised in Ghana.
The point which I think you did not grab is the supremacy most of us in Ghana attached or attribute to anything Americanized whiles ours is being tagged inferior to the extent that we even think our accent is bad unless we speak like Americans/British.
GC has never said the western pop culture is better or superior to our culture or anything. The fact that we decide to sell or bring to readers a culture that was founded in the west does not have even the prima facie meaning that, ours back home is inferior.
Does the fact that you eat fried mostly mean our local fufu is inferior ? The fact that someone sells foreign products (like made in America stuffs) whiles we have products made in Ghana for the same purpose does not mean the foreign one is inferior to the seller just on the grounds that he is selling them.
The problem is the entrenched ideology that most of us hold about things from the west and America including accent, way of talking, dressing and others. That is what the article seeks to address or attack.
The article among other things says, people are Americanizating themselves in so many ways because they think it is the best and that would bring them respect in society.
The cable TV and stuff that the article mentions are ways the author envisages that America or western things are brought to us, It does not say these stuff (TV and co) are bad in doing so.
What it smashes out there is the brain-washed idea that you have to talk like LIL BOW WOW or dress like LIL BOW to be “somebody in our society”. The very idea that Americanization is superior to “Africanization” and therefore most of us are going for the former with the illusion that we will be “OGA” is what the article is against.
@Abena, you must like me a lot to be waiting for watching out for my comment. I cannot reply every comment on here. I wish i had the energy and time to do so but it is too far impossible.
I cannot even read them all left alone reply them. Your thinking that I am ashamed/embarrassed about a debate or a reader not agreeing with an article on here is a bit shallow. It is never like me. I rather prefer readers’ debate and every man having a way to say his or her mind that is why I provided the comment box on GC.
Anyway, how are you?
I’m sure it’s makes you believe so.
Hey! I’m great!
hehe
honestly, im speechless……………………well said. cudn’t say much. LAFA, wow. dey aint doing nothin’ but embarrassin’ themselves ova dat liddle poddle mafakin’ fake accent. wow, ghanaianz
nice. i didn’t knw fake has officially been given a name lol
i mean fake accent
but english is not our language ?if we tslking abt that lafa then stop speaking english cos if you do i think you are imitating ,if you want to imitate some one you need to copy the person whole from hair to toe ….this lafa will seas when we spaek our own language like how some of the westeners do i mean dutch ,italians ,germans,the arabs etc SO WE NEED TO SPEAK OUR TWI ,GA,EWE ,FANTI, ETC THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS NOT OUR MOTHER TONGUE UNLESS THE PERSON IS BEEN RAISED IN ENGLISH LAND !
Well, it is possible to communicate informally in our varous dialects but English Language is the only form of communication Ghanaians can use to express themselves to the world. Accent is different from the language itself. Kwame Nkrumah spoke “proper” English with an African accent to declare Ghana’s Independence regardless of his degrees earned from American Universities. Maybe we should all learn something from our elders. Identity crisis of a nation’s youth can lead to regression.
what are you talking about,is ther germans using english to express themselves to the world?this imitation is the reason why africans are behind ,do you think using our own languages in school compulsory wont give us more understanding ..imitating is a bad way of living africans..
Using which of the dialects in Ghanaian schools? Remember, none of the dialects are superior than the other. Germany, the nation speaks only one language and that’s German. Africans and Ghana in particular can use their local dialects as official language to communicate to the world if only we are self-sufficient. In other words, if we do not rely on any country to survive, but since we are still neo-colonized. We will still be brainwashed if allowed.
no matter what we do we can never be like the white man. using LAFA does not make one intelligent or better person, you rather make a fool of yourself.
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later