Friends
Loved ones
Brothers
I welcome you all this Sunday
Today, I don't want to speak too long
But I'll talk a little about myself
And if I have time, I'll continue
My name is Collins Agyeman
But my house name
or my Fante name
is Papa Ekow
My family calls me Ekow
I am 18 years old
and I am a Fante
I was born in America
in a city called New Orleans
But I lived in Ghana for about 8 years
So that's where I learned the Fante language
Right now, I go to Vanderbilt University
In the American city of Nashville
And I am majoring in History
or how we say in Fante
Abakosem
And I'm also studying the Arabic Language
I am very fascinated by all the languages in the world
So one day, I decided that I would record a video
And upload it to WikiTongues
So that the people will see that
The Fante are also here
What many people don't know about the Fante language is
No matter what
English is part of it
Even someone who has never been educated
You will hear that
When he's speaking Fante
There is a little English mixed in
Because if you look at the history of Ghana
You will see that
In the olden days, where the Fante lived
was near the sea
And that's also where the British came from
And while we're on the topic of the English
You will notice that many Fante
have English lastnames
It's not everyone
But many have English lastnames
My own uncle is called Thompson
And before my mother got married
she was called Ghartey
So you see that there are many English names
And also, there isn't just one Fante language
The people of Cape Coast speak their Fante
The people of Swedru speak their Fante
The people of Gomoa speak their Fante
The Fante I'm speaking right now is known as Takoradi Fante
This is the dialect spoken in the Secondi-Takoradi area
Everything I'm saying comes down to this
If you know your native langauge
Never stop speaking it
Those of us who were born overseas
There are so many who can't even speak with their own extended family
Because they never learned the langauge
Nobody taught them
So let's keep on teaching our culture
Our history
and our language
So that in the future
It remains
Peace be unto you all