# FOREWORD
Coming at the heels of celebrations marking Cameroon’s Independence and Reunification, this publication, “A Bilingual Glossary of Public Service Terms” is an eloquent reflection of Cameroon’s bicultural heritage, expressed in the policy of bilingualism in the country.
As enshrined in the national Constitution, the official languages of Cameroon are English and French and it is in keeping with this provision that the Ministry of the Public Service and Administrative Reform, in its quest to better serve users by improving on the communication challenge, that this document has been published to make Public Service users feel more comfortable with and interpret with relative ease the various administrative correspondences and other documents put at their disposal.
Apart from promoting bilingualism and facilitating communication in English and French within the Cameroon Public Administration, the document primarily targets modern day State employees for whom it should be an indispensable working tool since it provides them with a wide range of choices of appropriate expressions in administrative drafting and empowering them to better serve the public in the two official languages.
By publishing this glossary, the Ministry of the Public Service and Administrative Reform is equally submitting to the various instructions from the President of the Republic requesting that all official documents must be produced in our two official languages. In fact, the Head of State, His Excellency Paul BIYA has always cherished the asset of bilingualism as can be discerned from his declaration on 15 April 1983 in Buea where he stated inter alia that “Bilingualism is not only a vehicle of culture; it is also a unifying force at home, the stamp of our national unity... so let us continue to maintain and improve our bilingualism.”
Michel Ange ANGOUING MINFOPRA
# PREFACE
Official documents in Cameroon are supposed to be published in the two official languages – English and French. Unfortunately, despite the task performed by the various Translation services in ministries and government services in trying to translate the documents churned out by the administration on a daily basis in both languages, this objective remains a challenge.
It is in consideration of the foregoing that the experts in the field of Translation in the Ministry of the Public Service and Administrative Reform, technically assisted by their colleagues of the Presidency of the Republic and the Prime Minister's Office, undertook to produce a glossary of terms and expressions commonly used in the Ministry.
The principal aim of the production of “A Bilingual Glossary of Public Service Terms” is to provide the staff of the Ministry with an appropriate tool to enable them conveniently serve public service users, their linguistic backgrounds notwithstanding.
The document is equally invaluable in informing public service users who, for the most part, receive official instruments in only one of the official languages and most especially, demystifying the complex and abstruse universe of administrative jargon.