Cameroon Translators & the Double-edged Sword Called Native Speaker

As nationals of a country where French and English are official languages, Cameroon translators enjoyed, over the years, special consideration for in-house translator positions. However, recent insistence on “native speakerhood” for some online freelance jobs is closing the curtains on this era, raising questions about discrimination, racism, colonialism, & access to the international market among others.

Cameroon: A Linguistic Overview

A quick Google search will give you political, economic, geographic and demographic information about Cameroon as a country. And you will have to dig a little further to know it linguistically. Further digging will tell you the country is home to over 200 indigenous languages. It will also inform you that the country is officially bilingual, with French and English having equal standing. This is as per Section 1(3) of the country’s 1996 constitution.

From a linguistic perspective, the country is therefore similar to Canada where French and English are also official languages. Preservation of this bilingual heritage has been possible with the maintenance of two subsystems of education: one for French speakers and another for English speakers — there nevertheless exists bilingual programmes in some government and private schools.

Over the years, this environment created a huge number of individuals highly proficient in both English and French. These are the people who were recruited and trained as translators and interpreters at the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters at the University Centre as from 1985. Their training entailed immersion programmes in France, & Britain. Graduates later went on to become translators and interpreters in government ministries, continental and international organisations, never wondering whether they were native speakers of French or English.

However, modern-day Cameroon translators and interpreters have been born into different circumstances. In fact, the internet is the work station of the majority and for several opportunities here, they face the arduous task of proving that they are native speaker. In such a situation, the main issue becomes defining who a native speaker is.

Who a native speaker is

Extensive literature has been devoted to defining the term: native speaker. Prominent early definitions considered a native speaker to be whoever learnt a language from their mother, highlighting circumstance as a key criterion. Such a definition seemed to withstand the repeated assaults of scientific — and even logical — inquiry only in the highly-monolingual family and country settings that prevailed in the pre-global village world marked by huge, almost impenetrable walls built around language communities and monolingualism.

But in a world marked by increased cultural cross-pollination, multilingualism and heterogenous language communities, this definition seems to develop legs of clay, shrinking noticeably in relevance under the weight of repeated scrutiny with the realisation that it discriminates against speakers who didn’t learn the language from their mothers. The latter speakers are the so-called non-native speakers.

Cultural cross-pollination, multilingualism, and heterogenous language communities constitute the context in which the Cameroon translator exists and operates. As such, the current re-conscription of the term native speaker raises the question of whether this isn’t a subtle attempt to exclude some translators from the increasingly competitive international freelance market and favour other translators. Simply put, isn’t this an attempt to kill the competition?

This question is all the more relevant as the discriminatory feature of native speakerhood was found to exist more predominantly in employment settings such as teaching and lexicography. This is no affirmation that there is an exclusionary or even racial motivation to the resurgence of this concept. It is rather an attempt to start understanding why a racially-charged consideration like native speakerhood should have such prominence in the international freelance labour market that should be dominated by only one criterion: competence. A labour market equivalent of Martin Luther’s famous quote of not judging people by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

Even more questions arise from the acceptance that every language is characterized by variation, which may be regional, national or otherwise. To which variant of UK English is a Cameroon translator supposed to pay homage when they are tasked with translating into UK English when we know there exist several variants of English just within the UK alone?

The vestigial and lingering definition of native speaker puts many Cameroon translators in between the devil and the deep blue sea. Some of them fit the vestigial definition of native speakers as they learnt English or French at their mother’s knee. It is the language that informs their world view and in which they can express every nuance of their being. Others don’t fit the bill but studied entirely in French or English, building a mastery of the language that would match a native speaker’s. Unfortunately, native speaker requirements do not seem to consider or reflect this diversity, de facto ostracising all regardless. “Native speaker” becomes a double-edged sword.

Another possible thought that comes to mind in the midst of this conversation is whether recruiter insistence on native speakers isn’t a manifestation of existing colonial paradigms in the language service industry. History suggests that prior to independence, all English-speaking Cameroons were British subjects and all their French-speaking compatriots French citizens. The next question therefore is whether they were native speakers for language service purposes because most of them learnt the English or French language from their colonial “mothers” i.e. native speakers such as white missionaries and civil servants from mainland France and Britain.

Another question, did being a British subject or French citizen come with a presumption of native speakerhood? If yes, was this presumption lost with independence although Cameroon and other former British and French colonies built their educational and wider societal systems around the strong foundations built by people from the mother culture? This is where we find the colonial undertones of this conversation.

Once again, these are just questions asked in an attempt to understand a complex issue. Nobody is playing the race card. Or trying to stir up any form of racial strife. Maybe native speaker-seeking organisations are simply looking for a way to reduce their workload by insisting on a criterion that will disenfranchise potentially hundreds and even thousands of applicants. Maybe. Just maybe. But why would any forward-thinking organisation go down a path that reeks of software discrimination and racism?

The complex nature of this issue demands an exploration of realities — native speakerhood — that rotate close to the language service industry and other realities — like the Commonwealth/ La Francophonie — located a little further beyond.

The Cameroon Translator and Commonwealth/ La Francophonie

Maybe this is pushing the envelope a little too far but would you blame a drowning man for hanging on to a crocodile in an attempt not to drown? You should not. Trying to understand something complex can take you to strange places like here.

Cameroon’s unique bilingual status gives it natural entitlement to membership in two distinct organisations: the Commonwealth and La Francophonie. Membership in the former organisation is premised on acceptance of the use of the English language as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations, while membership in the latter means greater exposure to measures for the advancement of the French language.

As cultural embodiments of these languages and, by extension the source cultures, Cameroon translators do not get any benefit whatsoever from their unique position when the native speaker narrative emerges and takes root in the language service ecosystem of the mother countries of these organisations. The question then becomes what are the counter benefits — for language service professions — of membership in these organisations if even they are ruled out of opportunities.

Naturally, Cameroon’s membership in La Francophonie should mean easy mobility for French-speaking Cameroon doctors for opportunities in France. By the same token, Cameroon translators should expect easy access to language service opportunities that arise in France and Canada but the insistence on native speakers makes this impossible, not just challenging.


To conclude

That the concept of native speaker shows up strongly only in employment begs one critical question: what has happened to competence in the global labour market. This question acquires acute importance because competence should normally be paramount. It therefore becomes hard not to think that native speakerhood isn’t an unnamed work permit that is being demanded of Cameroon translators and others like them.

The best way to answer all these questions conclusively and dispel the growing cloud of doubt is to level the playing field with the removal of the “native speaker” criterion in job requirements. Until then, this requirement will always sound like discrimination. Luckily, some organisations have removed the criterion, replacing it with a test administered to EVERYONE, whether native speaker or not. May this approach become standard practice for all!