drake2005:

Lmao...lol. So you want us to stay back in countries and villages because of simple english and make hunger kill us all, habi?

if you feel strongly about accents, your best option is to stay in your country or village where you wont hear any.

if hunger has not killed the people there why would it kill you.

its really funny.
A radio presenter who has not been to the airport dey speak wonna gonna.
A southafrican returnee dey speak wonna gonna
A non english speaking european returnee like spain, italy, turkey, poland, etc go dey speak wonna gonna.
d most laughable are nollywood actors, it takes my own explanation for my room mate (white ) to understand what jim iyke says. yet all just dey form wonna gonna. smh.

ShyM-X:


I dey try, my sister.

Boi, I've got a few Ibadan folks in my family and most of the naija folks in the UK are from Ibadan. So they aren't difficult to find out here.

hahaha! okay o!!

ShyM-X:
One other thing most people don't know is that, if you're raised by Nigerian parents but born in a foreign country - the Nigerian accent will always form a percentage of your accent. And the accent will become more obvious when you're angry.

...I can only imagine what you sound likeeeee

ShyM-X:
Cowmilk,

Those Yoruba adlibs sound like love-making sounds.

Gatts look for a Yoruba chic with those adlibs. Dun noe!!

huh

Soo True OP. I live in Canada presently and I discovered I had to improve on my accent so the people here can understand what I am saying. I discovered this while living in Europe before moving here. Some people think it about form but its got nothing to do with that... at least for me.When am with my Nigeria people,of course I switch back, its natural and my hubby marvels how my accent changes based on who am talking to. Mind you he is Canadain. If I didnt work on my accent, he wont understand me well. Now he even understands my pidgin

linclon: Soo True OP. I live in Canada presently and I discovered I had to improve on my accent so the people here can understand what I am saying. I discovered this while living in Europe before moving here. Some people think it about form but its got nothing to do with that... at least for me.When am with my Nigeria people,of course I switch back, its natural and my hubby marvels how my accent changes based on who am talking to. Mind you he is Canadain. If I didnt work on my accent, he wont understand me well. Now he even understands my pidgin

It's still called faking and inferiority complex.

@Afam: Cameroon actually has 2 lingua franca-French and English. English is spoken in the western part of the country, while French is commonly spoken in the Eastern area.

CFCfan: @Afam: Cameroon actually has 2 lingua franca-French and English. English is spoken in the western part of the country, while French is commonly spoken in the Eastern area.

Of course. But French is by far the majority language spoken.

It's all about us wanting to conform. I think it has to do with psychological quirks and societal acceptance. That saying "When you are in Rome, behave like the Romans" I sure say na naija person coin am and we adhere to it strictly. Imagine! My cousin who was about travelling to US started talking to me with an accent. That's before going to the airport o. I was like "wtf". In my mother's voice "Nigeria we hail thee"

Shut UP everbody! I have learnt from you guys, but on many occassions have had conversations with American/Brit expartrates and I show off my eloquence by communicating effectively (good english). I have learnt english, the oyinbo man should also learn my accent, coz I wont change it. Scoreboard 1 - 1

i think its not faking, when u leave outside Nigeria you will try hard to make people understand what you say and with time it becomes part of you so Op its not faking but mastering, check my signature to like us on fb and visit our blog

My two kobo to this conversation, as many have said already is to be yourselves. Even here in niaja our accents varies geographically. We still manage to understand each other. It is the pronounciations that matters.if you can learn to call an A, as 'a' , and an E as'e', not as 'a'. Your pronouciations will be clearer and better understood. In other words ,master your vowels properly. Don't sound 'a' as er, or 'e' as 'a' nor pronouce 'o' as 'or'. Etc. When a vowel precedes, and follows a consunat, the consonat will be mute, or silent. As in water , the t is silent. Accent is insignificant, proper pronouciation is the key to effective communication.

Its always good when you can adjust to a change or changes in an environment. What is important is, only make changes when needed. It won't be nice, when you are doing your very best to make an Oyibo man to understand what you are saying, and when you return home (Nigeria) make yourself imporssible for your own people to understand. My advice is, do it when needed. Although, English as already taken over most Nigerian languages, we have people who only watched some 1:30 of American movies, and in the process got their inspiration. We have those born and brought up in the country, that can't even prononce their Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa names without bein corrected. Nigerian languages or accent is gradually dying.

drake2005: [b]It's easy to detect fake if you are a Nigerian who has lived in America for a while and probably went to school there and understand the language a lot better. When a Nigerian is faking it, we can tell. You can fake British but can never fake American to native speakers. Here is why? American english is built on jaw, mouth; tongue movement and their distinctive vowel and consonant sounds. The tongue is the most noticeable part of the mouth that American utilize often. Here is why? If a Nigerian is not sticking out his/her tongue out in saying voiced and unvoiced "th" sounds as in the, three, thought, think, with, and many others; RIGHT THERE, He/She doesn't know the language enough well and is just faking it. Why? 99% of the time, American native speakers will never understand what he/she is saying. Here is an example...those faking it will pronounce "thought" and "taught" the same leaving us native speakers wondering what he or she is saying. You must stick out your tongue to say the "th" sound. And understanding the difference between voiced and unvoiced also.

They are many instances as in "h" sound. Nigerians don't pronounce "h" until they get to learn that american; stress "h" in all their words. Another, which is perhaps the overarching of all American sounds besides "th" is "r". Americans stress "r" in every word. Nigerian faking it will pronounce car as in "ca" but native speakers and nigerians who are genuinely speaking it correctly, will say "carrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr".....you must roll that tongue back to pronounce the "r".

To Nigerians faking it particularly American English, it's the "pronunciation" and not the "voice" that changes your accent. I have encountered some Nigerians speaking with pinched nose or talking like a pidgin bird to imitate whites but forgetting that it is the pronunciation that matters and not the voice. Blacks; black men in particular have coarse voice than any other races of men...yes we do. So speak proud with that masculine voice but pronounce correctly. Obama speaks with African/black voice if you listen to him carefully but his pronunciation is what separates him and makes him an American native speaker. Actually native speakers do think he has a distinctive accent because of his african-like voice. [/b]

i so love dis ur write up. Honestly i learn frm it. U are so so on point

The problem here is not the accent but correct pronunciation of words, 80% of Nigerians living in Nigeria do not pronounce words the right way.
We allow the L1( our mother tongue) to influence and affect the L2 (English) negatively and that makes the users and speakers of grammar from other countries not to understand when we speak.
Somebody mentioned Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and let me add Ngozi Iweala. They speak and pronounce words the right way.
How can you pronounce :
Third as Tod, as in Tod mainland bridge
First as fost
Father as fada
Mother as muda
Excellent as exzellent
Chicken as shicken
South as sout
THE ABOVE IS FOR SOUTH WEST REGION

Rice as lice(Igbo)
Fresh as flesh(igbo)
Router as louter(Igbo)
Etc

U need to develop yourself and learn to pronounce words the right way, maybe using the online dictionary that pronounces word.
All the tribes in Nigeria lack certain vowels and consonants which invariably affect the english words.
Yorubas especially if you grew up in Ibadan, Osun etc- do not have H that's y they will pronounce house as ouse.
Eg: Tell aa(her) to see me in my ouse(House)

Ibibio/Efik- they don't have J and that is y they replace Junction/John with Yunction/Yohn
Etc

Hausa- don't have F n P, replacing People with feofle and friend with priend

Igbo- L is lacking in Igbo and they replace rice with lice.
Other tribes too.

Bottom line is pronounce words the british way

joeydozzy: The bestu acenti you can get anywiere nwanne m is the Ibo accent
Notu justi Ibo, the thicky one nu ooo

Babies and oyoyo m na adabekes all feeli lovudu by me and ha ncha orluways wanna geti down withi me

.

linclon: Soo True OP. I live in Canada presently and I discovered I had to improve on my accent so the people here can understand what I am saying. I discovered this while living in Europe before moving here. Some people think it about form but its got nothing to do with that... at least for me.When am with my Nigeria people,of course I switch back, its natural and my hubby marvels how my accent changes based on who am talking to. Mind you he is Canadain. If I didnt work on my accent, he wont understand me well. Now he even understands my pidgin

Ur oyibo hubby siddon 4 one chance, so he gats adjust everythin 2 protocol ni, shebi?

Aringon: The problem here is not the accent but correct pronunciation of words, 80% of Nigerians living in Nigeria do not pronounce words the right way.
We allow the L1( our mother tongue) to influence and affect the L2 (English) negatively and that makes the users and speakers of grammar from other countries not to understand when we speak.
Somebody mentioned Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and let me add Ngozi Iweala. They speak and pronounce words the right way.
How can you pronounce :
Third as Tod, as in Tod mainland bridge
First as fost
Father as fada
Mother as muda
Excellent as exzellent
Chicken as shicken
South as sout
THE ABOVE IS FOR SOUTH WEST REGION

Rice as lice(Igbo)
Fresh as flesh(igbo)
Router as louter(Igbo)
Etc

U need to develop yourself and learn to pronounce words the right way, maybe using the online dictionary that pronounces word.
All the tribes in Nigeria lack certain vowels and consonants which invariably affect the english words.
Yorubas especially if you grew up in Ibadan, Osun etc- do not have H that's y they will pronounce house as ouse.
Eg: Tell aa(her) to see me in my ouse(House)

Ibibio/Efik- they don't have J and that is y they replace Junction/John with Yunction/Yohn
Etc

Hausa- don't have F n P, replacing People with feofle and friend with priend

Igbo- L is lacking in Igbo and they replace rice with lice.
Other tribes too.

Bottom line is pronounce words the british way

i can't stop laughing at the hausa man pronunciation of Friend as Priend, they sometimes call it Huriend
but on the igbo side, only uneducated igbos replace the (r) with (L) e.g 'i leceived the money' (ning) for (ni) e.g 'gudu moni sir'
ur advice to speak english the british way isn't bad but sometimes one sounds funny in public while pronouncing things like 'am wiff you'

Bullcrap, How many foreigners change their accents for us to understand them when they come here?
No matter how long I stay abroad, I'd proudly speak my Nigerian English, any one who doesnt like it can enter sewer.
They are not feeding me

language should be spoken Like the owners speak it, I think people trying to speak English with British or american accent are only trying to be right..... imagine an English man speaking yoruba with British accent no one will get what he's trying to say, so in other for an English man to be able to communicate on yoruba it has to be in yoruba accent........ the problem is in people mixing American English with British English, mixing north American english with southern English ...... another problem is a lot of our presenters especially don't realise that a vast majority of their listeners will understand them better if they speak it with a local accent

Aringon: The problem here is not the accent but correct pronunciation of words, 80% of Nigerians living in Nigeria do not pronounce words the right way.
We allow the L1( our mother tongue) to influence and affect the L2 (English) negatively and that makes the users and speakers of grammar from other countries not to understand when we speak.
Somebody mentioned Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and let me add Ngozi Iweala. They speak and pronounce words the right way.
How can you pronounce :
Third as Tod, as in Tod mainland bridge
First as fost
Father as fada
Mother as muda
Excellent as exzellent
Chicken as shicken
South as sout
THE ABOVE IS FOR SOUTH WEST REGION

Rice as lice(Igbo)
Fresh as flesh(igbo)
Router as louter(Igbo)
Etc

U need to develop yourself and learn to pronounce words the right way, maybe using the online dictionary that pronounces word.
All the tribes in Nigeria lack certain vowels and consonants which invariably affect the english words.
Yorubas especially if you grew up in Ibadan, Osun etc- do not have H that's y they will pronounce house as ouse.
Eg: Tell aa(her) to see me in my ouse(House)

Ibibio/Efik- they don't have J and that is y they replace Junction/John with Yunction/Yohn
Etc

Hausa- don't have F n P, replacing People with feofle and friend with priend

Igbo- L is lacking in Igbo and they replace rice with lice.
Other tribes too.

Bottom line is pronounce words the british way

Do you know even in the United Kingdom various regions have different accents?

So which would be the right?

lookooman: language should be spoken Like the owners speak it, I think people trying to speak English with British or american accent are only trying to be right..... imagine an English man speaking yoruba with British accent no one will get what he's trying to say, so in other for an English man to be able to communicate on yoruba it has to be in yoruba accent........ the problem is in people mixing American English with British English, mixing north American english with southern English ...... another problem is a lot of our presenters especially don't realise that a vast majority of their listeners will understand them better if they speak it with a local accent

That is where the likes of AIT and NTA have the advantage. The accents of their presenters mirrors that of the average Nigerian living in Nigeria.

Mr knowitall.:
are you advocating for Nigerians to fake American accent? do you have any idea of what Nigerians sound like trying to fake American accent? they sound like jackazz...no need to be faking accents just speak normal..

Those Radio and TV presenters are the worse!!!!

I have a feeling all these people saying that the white man don't understand them when they talk have very heavy Igbo/Yoruba/Hausa accent cos like I said before, while I was studying in UK, I never had communication difficulties with the brits whatsoever and I was born and bred in Nigeria.

apache77: I always hear people say Nigerians who travel abroad always come back with a fake accent, even if its only one month they spend in London or America. Is this true? Do Nigerians try to speak like foreigners?

What i think is that the biggest problem you face the minute you step into obodo oyinbo apart from the cold is your accent. Our accent is so thick foreigners cant make out head or tail what we are trying to say. So from immigration right to your next door neigbour, you struggle to communicate- nobody hears's your type of English. Our slow drawl is a big problem, not just to Americans or british but even to arabs and asians.

The quickest way to be heard is trying to speak like these people (americans or Brits) who cant hear you. Asians and arabs ahve grown up watching american movies and mingling with the Brits, so their ( Brits or American) type of accent is hearable and hence universal-much like the dollar is the globally accepted currency everywhere. So for you to be heard, you a naija boy or girl just stepping into America must speak like them.

Over time, if you stay there long enough, you start speaking like these people and substitute your Naija accent for theirs. Some people manage to retain their naiaja accent and use that when home only to switch to their americana accent when they go back.

Do you agree with me? or there is a more profound reason? Share your thoughts

There is nothing faking here as some people expressed.OP, for real we have a very thick accent of which we have to meet up globally by following with what is acceptable. Even people from the Northern parts of 9ija blend easily than southerners who got very thick accent.

We should understand that we have to grow up and that should not take away who you are. When you are back to Nigeria, you can try to communicate with your folks with the language they will understand.
To me, I speak the accent and cannot go back speaking with the kind of thick accent we got back home.
When you go to the 9ija market, speak the language the common trader will understand.

The truth of the matter is if you were born outside Nigeria to Nigerian parents, and you haven't come back to Nigeria to live (not visit) at some point in life, it means your people were poor in Nigeria.

It's only poor people who pack their family, bags and baggages and relocate to a different country, because what it means is that they have no stake, business or investments in Nigeria to protect, maybe not even a house.

Rich people being their children to Nigeria to come and see how life is, because someday, the onus will fall on them.

And if you are a Nigerian and you haven't lived in Lagos at some point, you haven't started life, it's like an Israelite who hasn't been to Jerusalem.

So my conclusion on the topic -- Only poor people fake accents, because of inferiority complex, if you are rich, no matter where you go on earth, people will make effort to understand your accent, because when they see you live better than they do, the tables will be turned.

andyanders:

There is nothing faking here as some people expressed.OP, for real we have a very thick accent of which we have to meet up globally. Even people from the Northern parts blend easily than southerners.

We should understand that we have to grow up and that should not take away who you are. When you are back to Nigeria, you can try to communicate with your folks with the language they will understand.
To me, I speak the accent and cannot go back speaking with the kind of thick accent we got back home.
When you go to the 9ija market, speak the language the common trader will understand.

Na soo my broda! I swore 2 myself dat I would neva form any americana english but who send me message wen a Danish lady came 2 my NGO office. In d midst of d Danish lady & my madam, I was d only odd one there cos my madam travels d US as if it's her backyard, & I can't afford 2 be carryin last. B4 I would engage d Danish lady in any communication, I would inside my mind type wateva I want 2 say, feed it upstairs(brain), process then send it 2 d mouth wit d appropriate diction & accent 2 avoid displayin my locality. Yes oo, as a proper Ajegunle boi who lived most of his life in d ghetto, it wasn't easy

There's no need to form guys. The naija accent is segzy.

When they come here, do they try to 'fake' or 'master' our own accent, so as to blend in? Chief Keith Richards, MD. Promasidor Nigeria Limited has lived in Nigeria for over 30 years and even has three Nigerian chieftaincy titles, yet, he still speaks like the Brit he is. So?

lookooman: language should be spoken Like the owners speak it, I think people trying to speak English with British or american accent are only trying to be right..... imagine an English man speaking yoruba with British accent no one will get what he's trying to say, so in other for an English man to be able to communicate on yoruba it has to be in yoruba accent........ the problem is in people mixing American English with British English, mixing north American english with southern English ...... another problem is a lot of our presenters especially don't realise that a vast majority of their listeners will understand them better if they speak it with a local accent

Who owns English? The British or Americans? Why are Americans not speaking like the British?