Last Saturday seemed endless as time crept by. As I organized my books and documents in order, a piece of paper with the heading signed and sealed by the translation office captured my interest. It was the Amharic rendition of an English written report which was a necessary element to an appeal made to court a while back.

The translation from the office that was recommended to me by the legal office that had been following up on my case was nothing other than one of the most baffling experiences I have had in my life. I was lucky indeed as I had managed to take a look at the translation amidst the rush to take the case to court.

It proved to me that not only would computers never take the place of human translators, as the spurious document illustrates but also signified to what degree a new awkward level our learning atrophy is warped.  Lack of emphasis on the study of the English language and the failure to appreciate and acknowledge it as the reason we go to school is now progressively exacerbated by the dependence on computers.

Engulfing thoughts kicked in from my childhood. My older sister and four of her friends from our neighbourhood had to quit school for not excelling at the sixth-grade national exam after two attempts. I was fortunate as my time coincided with a transfer of a new teacher of English to the school. It was as though only English mattered in our lives as we moved seats manifesting how articulate we were sitting from A to Z, days from Monday to Sunday, months from January to December, embarking on "The Quick Brown Fox… " as we wondered why she went so over the line.

The intensity of her emotional or personal investment paid off as flicking a switch, surly but slowly to many of us. We called her Teacher Etaferahu and it took us a little effort to understand what she and English meant in our life, as I remember that with tears today.

The subsequent prevailing mindset about language study was less of producing white-collar job-oriented citizens. Instead produce fit students for grade seven, where the instructional medium changed.