Passing by Koye Feche and saw big roadside signage “Shaggar the Future City”, this is the new hip trend cities are hopping on. Saw similar signage on my social in Adama and Harar. The similarity? They are all in English!
One time I was talking with an international NGO employee who travels a lot around Africa and he was telling me, that basically every signage you see on the streets of sub-saharan countries is either in French or English and you can tell if that nation was a product of French or English colony the moment you arrive at the airport.
With that logic, our cities are becoming Anglophone cities and for someone who doesn’t know our history, the moment they step foot in our cities, it feels like we are a country that was previously colonized by the Brits. Every fucking signage is in English, from small shops, restaurants, and corporations to public squares and govt institutions, you see English in bold and shiny fonts sometimes on the top, before the local language.
The funny thing is, the new trend of having fancy signage in town squares and roadsides is nonsense, not only because they are in English, but their meaning itself is hypocritical. What fuck does that even mean future city? An excuse to hide the shitty present? A wishful prophecy that means nothing to your constituency? What did you do and show that will align with anything futuristic? መብራት እና ውሀ በአግባቡ ሳይኖር future city? Who is that message for? I have so many questions, and my conclusion is, that it just really means nothing other than for a “cool” effect! It's just there because! What a waste of my taxes!
Moreover, “Shaggar” in english is pronounced as “ሻገር” (check google translate and let it pronounce it for you) shagger is something I aspired to in my adolescence, but surely not something I wish a municipality would spend millions on and put on the roadside with a straight face. It would have been much easier and more inspiring if you stick to our language. The need to preserve your own identity in someone else language is a sign of an identity crisis and political circus. It shows how dumbfuck you are!
ወዳጅነት ፓርክ is marketed as “Friendship Park”, and the other one “Unity Park” and so on. ያሳፍራል! There is another one in Adama that I saw, it says “I Love Adama”, a cheap knockoff from the one we have at the “Wedajinet” Park, which is also a water down copy of the iconic “I love Amsterdam” street sign. “Adama Ko” or “ Adama nan Jaladha” is not cool enough or what?
እና ምን ለማለት ነው፤ የእንግሊዝ ቀኝ ተገዥ ሀገር መስለናል፤ እየመሰልን ነው.።
One time I was talking with an international NGO employee who travels a lot around Africa and he was telling me, that basically every signage you see on the streets of sub-saharan countries is either in French or English and you can tell if that nation was a product of French or English colony the moment you arrive at the airport.
With that logic, our cities are becoming Anglophone cities and for someone who doesn’t know our history, the moment they step foot in our cities, it feels like we are a country that was previously colonized by the Brits. Every fucking signage is in English, from small shops, restaurants, and corporations to public squares and govt institutions, you see English in bold and shiny fonts sometimes on the top, before the local language.
The funny thing is, the new trend of having fancy signage in town squares and roadsides is nonsense, not only because they are in English, but their meaning itself is hypocritical. What fuck does that even mean future city? An excuse to hide the shitty present? A wishful prophecy that means nothing to your constituency? What did you do and show that will align with anything futuristic? መብራት እና ውሀ በአግባቡ ሳይኖር future city? Who is that message for? I have so many questions, and my conclusion is, that it just really means nothing other than for a “cool” effect! It's just there because! What a waste of my taxes!
Moreover, “Shaggar” in english is pronounced as “ሻገር” (check google translate and let it pronounce it for you) shagger is something I aspired to in my adolescence, but surely not something I wish a municipality would spend millions on and put on the roadside with a straight face. It would have been much easier and more inspiring if you stick to our language. The need to preserve your own identity in someone else language is a sign of an identity crisis and political circus. It shows how dumbfuck you are!
ወዳጅነት ፓርክ is marketed as “Friendship Park”, and the other one “Unity Park” and so on. ያሳፍራል! There is another one in Adama that I saw, it says “I Love Adama”, a cheap knockoff from the one we have at the “Wedajinet” Park, which is also a water down copy of the iconic “I love Amsterdam” street sign. “Adama Ko” or “ Adama nan Jaladha” is not cool enough or what?
እና ምን ለማለት ነው፤ የእንግሊዝ ቀኝ ተገዥ ሀገር መስለናል፤ እየመሰልን ነው.።