There is no way we can survive as a nation in the world without finding unity.

For me, being in prison writing in an African language was a way of saying: "Even if you put me in prison, I will keep on writing in the language which made you put me in prison."

Through the act of translation we break out of linguistic confinement and reach many other communities.

You get another person who operates only in an African language and there are many persons who operate only in African languages; he or she is excluded from all the goodies that come with English. And even in terms of justice, law codes, the legal system. A person who does not know English in Africa is excluded from that system because he can only operate through acts of translation.

We can appreciate each other's languages. And the question of being uncomfortable about our languages would go away.

A person who acquires English has access to all the things that that language makes possible.

There is no way we can survive as a nation in the world without finding unity.