Tiko : Bilingual Gateway To South West

Visitors to the South West Region would recognize four major entry points to the area. Clock-wise, access to the region includes the Bamanda-Mamfe, Dschang-Fontem, Loum-Tombel, Mbanga-Kumba and Douala-Tiko. The last four links to the Anglophone South West Region enjoy a high level of bilingualism being the liaison from French speaking West and Littoral Regions. In the case of Douala – Tiko, there are many more reasons to celebrate bilingualism banking on the traffic flow, proximity and the employment drive by Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), custom ports, military base that make Tiko a melting pot of bilingualism.
Tiko as gateway to the South West offers a magnificent bilingual practice as most authorities from the central administration of Yaounde are welcomed at the Mungo side of Tiko Sub-Division before they can find their way to other Divisions of the Region. On welcoming the visitors, both French and English are spoken to each other. Remarkably, successive Mayors of Tiko have had to make their welcome speeches in both languages to symbolize Cameroon.  Either the speech is opened in English and closed in French or the other way round.
Otherwise, in the Tiko market, in the various leisure locations and other meeting points, it is common to hear both French and English spoken aloud. The heavy presence of trad...