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Friends

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Loved ones

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Brothers

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I welcome you all this Sunday

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Today, I don't want to speak too long

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But I'll talk a little about myself

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And if I have time, I'll continue

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My name is Collins Agyeman

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But my house name

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or my Fante name

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is Papa Ekow

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My family calls me Ekow

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I am 18 years old

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and I am a Fante

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I was born in America

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in a city called New Orleans

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But I lived in Ghana for about 8 years

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So that's where I learned the Fante language

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Right now, I go to Vanderbilt University

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In the American city of Nashville

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And I am majoring in History

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or how we say in Fante

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Abakosem

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And I'm also studying the Arabic Language

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I am very fascinated by all the languages in the world

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So one day, I decided that I would record a video

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And upload it to WikiTongues

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So that the people will see that

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The Fante are also here

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What many people don't know about the Fante language is

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No matter what

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English is part of it

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Even someone who has never been educated

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You will hear that

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When he's speaking Fante

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There is a little English mixed in

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Because if you look at the history of Ghana

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You will see that

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In the olden days, where the Fante lived

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was near the sea

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And that's also where the British came from

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And while we're on the topic of the English

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You will notice that many Fante

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have English lastnames

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It's not everyone

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But many have English lastnames

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My own uncle is called Thompson

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And before my mother got married

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she was called Ghartey

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So you see that there are many English names

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And also, there isn't just one Fante language

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The people of Cape Coast speak their Fante

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The people of Swedru speak their Fante

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The people of Gomoa speak their Fante

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The Fante I'm speaking right now is known as Takoradi Fante

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This is the dialect spoken in the Secondi-Takoradi area

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Everything I'm saying comes down to this

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If you know your native langauge

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Never stop speaking it

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Those of us who were born overseas

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There are so many who can't even speak with their own extended family

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Because they never learned the langauge

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Nobody taught them

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So let's keep on teaching our culture

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Our history

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and our language

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So that in the future

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It remains

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Peace be unto you all