On any given day in the Bahamas, the English language will be used in every sphere of life. Read on to learn more about English in politics, education, media, and tourism.
Politics
The political model of the Bahamas is a product of the nation's close historical relationship with the United Kingdom. A British colony until 1973, the Bahamas now has its freedom but is still an English Commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth is an important figurehead, her official title being "Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth" (The Queen's role, n.d.). The queen is represented in the country by the Governor General.
The Bahamas follows the British style of governance, with a prime minister and a bicameral congress. All official proceedings are conducted in English, and have been since the first House of Assembly meeting on the islands in 1729.
Figure 2: Queen Elizabeth chats with Bahamian children. Retrieved from https://www.royal.uk/bahamas
Education
Education in the Bahamas is entirely conducted in English. Haitian Creole, the only other language represented on the islands, is not taught in primary and secondary schools, but it is offered at universities as a foreign language (Leger, 2009).
British influence on the Bahamian education system is highly apparent, particularly because of their use of the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE), modeled after the United Kingdom's GCSE. This examination, which varies depending on the particular discipline each student is taking it for, is optional for students, but many universities require it before acceptance (Chambers, 2018).
Figure 3: Bahamian students. Retrieved from https://www.borgenmagazine.com/changing-education-in-the-bahamas/
Media
Music has played an important part in Bahamian life for centuries. The main types of music native to the country include Goombay, Junkanoo, and Rake & Scrape, which all center around the use of drums and rakes to create unique sounds (Bahamian Music, n.d.). The lyrics to Bahamian songs are written in English, but many of them contain seemingly unusual phonology and lexicon, which is of course because they are sung in the Bahamian English dialect. Just one example of this can be seen in the song "Sloop John B," which most people know as a Beach Boys hit from 1966; in actuality, it is an old folk tune from Nassau. The Beach Boys sing an Americanized version of the lyrics ("I feel so broke up"), while the original song was sung "I feel so brake up." This is because of the lack of importance placed on the past tense in Bahamian English.
Broadcasting was born in the Bahamas in 1930, with the introduction of an experimental radio station called V1-BAX; the first government-owned radio station, ZNS, was started by England in 1937, and to this day is still a huge radio and television provider on the islands. Its motto is "only the sun covers the Bahamas better" (ZNS Bahamas, 2019). One issue that has historically run deep in Bahamian media is that of employment inequality: black Bahamians were not allowed to announce news stories until the 1960s, women until the 1990s (Storr, 2003). All televised and online news is conducted in English, and so are the many other television shows that Bahamians enjoy--which are nearly identical to the ones watched in the United States (Bahamas TV Guide, 2019). The same channels and TV shows are watched in the Bahamas every day.
The staggering beauty of the islands makes it unsurprising that so many famous movies have been partially or completely filmed there. The Bahamian government greatly supports the production of films in their country and actually offer incentives to do so (The Bahamas Film Studios, n.d.). Just a few of the well-known titles shot in the Bahamas include 1954's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1965's Beatles flick Help!, 1996's Flipper, two Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and four James Bond films (Nassau Paradise Island, n.d.).
Figure 4: The Beatles shooting Help! in the Bahamas. Retrieved from https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/photographs/CLt5R9/The-Beatles-Filming-Help--Bahamas--1965
Tourism
The Bahamas is one of the few countries in the world whose annual number of tourists exceeds its population. Over four million people visit each year, generating 1.5 billion dollars annually. It is hardly surprising, then, that tourism is the biggest source of revenue in this scenic country. The earliest wave of tourism in the late 19th century was brought about by the idea that the climate promoted good health, but in subsequent years the islands have come to be seen as a pleasure destination (Ramsaran, 1979). This type of tourism exploded after World War II, and became even more widespread in the 1990s, with the first huge resorts beginning to open--most notably Atlantis in 1995.
The English language is the language of tourism in the Bahamas. Because most visitors come from North America, and English is the country's official language, advertising for travel predominantly appears in English. However, the last years have seen the tourism industry in the Bahamas make an effort to become more universal; for example, a recent partnership with Copa Airlines now connects Nassau to such Latin American countries as Brazil, Argentina, and Panama. To accommodate these visitors, there are special tour groups which operate entirely in Spanish (Smith, n.d.).
Figure 5:Taking the plunge at Atlantis Resorts. Retrieved from https://www.atlantisbahamas.com/thingstodo/waterpark/waterslides