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