The Benefits of French-English Bilingual Competence in Cameroon

Abstract

Cameroon is said to be an officially French-English bilingual country. This paper explores the possible benefits of French-English bilingual competence to the individual working citizen in the country. The data are the returns of a 16-item questionnaire devised to check the possible advantages that working Cameroonian French-English bilinguals have and that “officially monolingual” workers do not. The informants are some 408 competent French-English bilinguals working in both the public and private sectors in the city of Yaounde and a few other towns. The findings revealed that, compared to “officially monolingual” workers, “officially bilingual” workers have no advantage in entering the labour market, in salary increase, in being promoted within a job or receiving any distinction in the work place. The paper establishes that bilingualism has no labour market value in Cameroon and that this policy is a mere slogan, no one caring about its implementation. As a result, the bulk of the working force of the nation has remained officially monolingual over the years. With the advent of globalisation, there is a reversal of the situation. Francophone parents have understood that English language skills are likely to give their children a critical advantage in the global marketplace. To prepare for it, a greater number of urban francophone parents are registering their children in English-medium schools where these children acquire formal English in the classroom and oral/informal French around school premises and in the neighbourhood.