I hope this hasnt been covered before but WHY DO NIGERIANS SPEAK FAKE FUNE, IM TALKING ABOUT THE ONES IN DIASPORA? it used to be an old joke back in nigeria that some people fake their accents, but to leave you fatherland and pretend to speak differently sounds strange to me. you always know the real accent from the fake ones. i wonder why, is it because they want to fit in, or they are fake, or they are not proud of their own accents?,

Maybe they want the oyinbos to understand them better.

if they speak clearly and coherently they will be understood. even with the british for example, they complain about regional accents, mancunian accent, irish, scottish, welsh, london. so speaking fake fune wont help matters. i believe in being yourself and not trying to fit in[ you can fit in other ways by dressing right, speaking effective grammar and contributing valuable work to your company]. remember that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala got to be vice-president of world bank in america, speaking with a pure nigerian accent. so it can be done, and oyinbo people respect you more when you are real. they wont say it to your face but they can tell who's real and who's fake !

I don't fake my accent for nobody!

Low Self - Esteem Period!!!

;d

Me, i dunt fake it, i speak it az it cumz.

Buh some peepz beg d accent. . . . chei!! ori mi man laa'go ni! itz not by force o!

U wnt blame dem jare,
they gast to belong now,
shee u will jst be listening 2 some person funerise and u go dey look.

its all 2 impress and flow, along.

[Low Self - Esteem Period!!!quote][quote][/quote]

Word!

I was discussing this with my friend. I've met so many Nigerians that try and speak like English or Americans, and most of the time it's like, Ummmmm, please just use your Nigerian accent NOW.


lol, I remember some dude that visited England for 3months and came back with an English accent, I was like DAMN!!! You guys are too much.lol

lol, Whats weird is when some peeps want to tell you their name and they pronounce it funny,to make it sound english, lol

@post
how else do you want them to show off?especially the ladies from the tribe we all know from uk lol

Some say Femmy some say Femiiiii

Oyinbo sha , my name is Femi, lol

Last time I checked it's the ones inside Nigeria itself that fake it the most - if you're in doubt just watch nollywood.  

ladej:

[ you can fit in other ways by dressing right, speaking effective grammar and contributing valuable work to your company].

That makes no sense, what do you mean by dressing right? Nigerians who just arrived don't dress right is what you're saying? In other words, they should start dressing like Americans. That too is inferiority complex. Nigerians like you just like to pick stuff that suits them no matter how wrong and make it seem good while criticizing the ones that don't.

What I can't stand is people who speak with the so-called accent in front of fellow Nigerians like c'mon, you don't have to force it anymore. In front of Americans, you can fake whatever you want. . .that is if you're up to the task.

We have our "official voice" at work and amongst colleagues
and an "unofficial voice " which is the the one at home and amongst your fellow Nigerians.
Is there are problem with that?

**osisi:

We have our "official voice" at work and amongst colleagues
and an "unofficial voice " which is the the one at home and amongst your fellow Nigerians.
Is there are problem with that?

Its like talking to Oyibo and u sound zim zim zim, he would not get a thing ur saying, and when ur talking to ur own personal person, u should not sound ween ween ween.

U just need to know when to walk straight and when to zig zag.

But Osisi dat ween ween ween fune got u on my side otherwise u would have thrown me of as another Okoro. Ar think? 

Because they have no confidence in themselves and what they really are. They need to put up a front.

sometimes it comes unconsciously
u know like u talking to people ur not so close to, ur speaking 'right'
when it comes to people ur close to, then u can 'jenifa-lise' about

When I first arrived BC at 16, my friends would always address me as that guy with an accent. A close friend told me buddie, u gotta work on that accent, so you can integrate as fast as you can! I was just being myself. So it started. Well then I was a kid. The accent copying started consciously but I got fed up after a while and decided to just being myself , and now I talk and you think I was born here.

So let them copy the accent if they want to especially if you are young, but if you are above a certain age, my bros, I doubt if that stuff will change. The objective should be to get along properly without people always asking where you are from. You might be a proud Nigerian but when people asked you all the time few minutes after meeting you where you are from because of your accent, it gets annoying after a while.

i cant stand people who speak with fake accent.Sounds very dumb and weird

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Lmao. . .

ThoniaSlim:

Lmao. . .

why shall u laff

inferioity complex

i was born in the US and left here when I was 3 and came back after finishing high school in naija. So, I picked up american accent b4 I left and 9ja accent b4 i came back. I therefore can speak with either accent fluently whenever the need arises.  it's so much fun. i can be in the midst of a group of americans and sound exactly like them and sound just like my ppl when i'm around them too. I don't consider myself as faking accents because both are a part of me.

for those who were not born overseas, i admire those who come over here and speak with their natural nigerian accent. it indicates self-confidence. there's this yoruba guy who i met in school who came here three years ago and starts speaking fake fune around oyinbos, but then switches to deep naija accent when he's around one ibo guy in the class. the ibo guy speaks igbotic english but i still admire him more than the by-force american yoruba guy for the fact that the ibo guy doesn't fake fune to impress anybody.

It is absolutely necessary to speak in a manner that most people will understand without straining their ears.

Most English speakers in Nigeria will understand the English spoken with US or British accent as long as the speaker speaks in a clear manner; in other words plain English or the TV English as I call it. The reverse is not the case as more Nigerians are exposed to English spoken with British or US accent than Americans and Brits exposed to Nigerian english.

Now if an American speaks only in heavy southern accent, other people will have to tune their ears into that speaking frequency to understand the speaker. The same applies to UK if someone speaks with heavy Scottish, Welsh, Irish or any of the northern accents. This brings the need to speak a common English that everyone understands.

Now, Americans, Brits and other English speakers will find it even more difficult understanding English spoken with heavy Nigerian accent.

Therefore, if anyone with Nigerian accent tries to speak in such a way that he is understood without having to repeat himself all the time, the person should be commended rather than criticized; afterall a Yoruba or Igbo Hausa-speaker does not go about saying "I am not going to make an effort to improve on my Hausa language because I prefer to speak Hausa with my Igbo or Yoruba accent, lest people say that I am speaking Hausa with a fake Hausa accent"

They are trying to dissociate themselves from a backward country. Spoken English when done slowly is clear to all that understand the language irrespective of the accent used. Those who still claim otherwise in this situation are usually prejudiced towards the accent used or just pretending not to understand for some other reason.

Nigerians with strong regional accents that can't speak English properly may be difficult to understand but that in itself is another situation. Therefore, If your English is good enough and you are proud of your roots then I do not see any reason why you should try to get a new accent.