Fellow Nairalanders, tell me this: do you think it's ever too late to learn your language? I am in the region of 30 years old and have still not learned to speak my mother tongue properly, despite having grown up in Nigeria. Admittedly, I grew up with a lot of English around me, and my parents did not try to teach me my language early in life. Sometimes I think it's too late to learn now, particularly as almost everyone with whom I interract in Nigeria knows English, and the precious few that don't may not be with us for very much longer. I can understand the language to a good extent, but can only speak very haltingly.

My people, what do you say? Is it too late for me? And how would you suggest I go about learning my native tongue now?

Contrary to what people think, it is never to late to learn your language. The only issue is that the difficulty typically increases, but that itself [how difficult it is for you to learn your language] differs from person to person.

find someone to teach you.

No, its never too late hun,

Get people to teach you,

I wasnt born and brought up in Nigeria, and my folks did there best in speaking Igbo at home in the UK,
but I learnt mostly I'd say from travelling home very often and learning by FORCE,

Ive always been able to hear igbo fluently but couldnt speak fluently,
Now I get m boyfriend to encourage me to speak more in igbo and he teaches me,

Good luck!

No.

That means say you be Ajebota be that o, wey you no sabi speak your language 
Personally, I believe it's never too late to learn a new language, especially the ones you already understand. I started learning French 7 months ago, now I can hold conversations and say whatever I need to say. Make a pact with some people or 1 person never to speak English to you but your language. Make sure you follow and stick to the pact. Speak only your language even if you don't know what to say - we learn best by making mistakes. If you can do that consistently, I guarantee that within 3 months, you'll notice a great difference. 
I'm also in the 30s region BTW

In the same situation as you, thanks guys, at least I know there's still hope for me.

shilling:

In the same situation as you, thanks guys, at least I know there's still hope for me.

Na wa o, una plenty sef! Whatever happened? In those university and secondary school days, it was cool to know "only english" especially if you had a little phoneh to it. Now y'all want to learn your languages? LMAO!!! It's not too late, refer to my previous post ,

Is never too late,
but I blame parents in this type of case.

It's never too late. A friend of mine(with a degree in Yoruba) takes an ajebutta lady that just came back from UK Yoruba, for a fee. The lady had her education in UK and is the daughter of a popular SAN in Nigeria, who I wont name. The lady, who should be in her thirties, is a lawyer as well, and felt she needed to learn her mother tongue,Yoruba. She employs my friend to be teaching her and the guy goes to their chamber in Ikoyi to take her.

So it's never too late. Face it.

understand that to learn a language may seems difficult starting, all you need is to put your best into what you want and how you want it. There is a saying that goes thus '' small minds are the first to fault your great dreams-be mindful of them.'' Friend, i am a Linguistics student if you need help contact me i will introduce you to best of Professors.08062653992

i hope not. i am in the same predicament.
unfortunately, my tribe is a minority (Egun tribe in Lagos state) and i dont live among them, thus its harder for me.
my dad bought me some books when i was younger, like 14 yrs old, but i was too young to appreciate it, i would give anything for those books now
can anyone help?

i hope not. i am in the same predicament.
unfortunately, my tribe is a minority (Egun tribe in Lagos state) and i dont live among them, thus its harder for me.
my dad bought me some books when i was younger, like 14 yrs old, but i was too young to appreciate it, i would give anything for those books now
can anyone help?

I don't think so, was never taught as a child, infact my Father insists on "No vernacular in the house" said if he wanted us to speak Itsekiri, we would have been brought up in the village, the guy wanted only "English" and he got it, my eldest Sis (29yrs) cant speak or understand, same goes for the rest of us (3). I really desire to learn it but I have got no teacher, its very difficult coming across an Itsekiri speaking person, don't even know the meaning of my name, Imagine!

Its pretty funny for a thirty year old to start learning his/her mother tongue. But can't say, because its never too late to try anything

No, it's not & it can never be.

it,z never to late,

It's never too late to learn ur language, better now than never

I feel your pain. I learnt my mother tongue as an adult, and I got so good speaking it.

Anytime a native speaker overhears me speaking the language, he/she is in awe because of my depth of the language. Most native speakers I know (who grew up the villages) don't even speak the language as eloquently as I now do.

Bottomline: Get a good teacher. Most importantly, find someone you can imitate. "People do (speak) what people see (hear)"

i sure hope not

good luck, i hope you gain the confidence and excel

It's never too late to learn but to be honest with you, the older you are the harder it is. Children learn languages like magic. Seriously, if you surround a very small child with pairs of people that speak as many different languages as possible, the child will learn all of them fluently.

But you're 30 which means that YES, it is possible, but you will have to work very hard. Your days of easy unconscious absorption of languages are over.

Am sure i some one can lean it has many has d person want i love you all[font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font]

Thanks guys,  I am really encouraged by (most of) your responses!  I'm sure the best option for me would be immersion - to get someone to speak only my language to me consistently.  It does seem rather daunting, though, to discipline myself to respond accordingly!  

move into a place where your mother tongue language is the major language.

@Poster

I have this problem too coz my parents seperated early in their marriage and i spent most of my life with my mom so as it is, i only speak my mom's native language (Igbo) and Yoruba fluently since i was raised in Lagos.My native tongue (Efik) seems like dutch to me despite the fact that i'm engaged to a lady from my father's side.I'm almost 30 myself but how and when can i start learning the language.It's pretty difficult for me.I just know a few words.

By the way, both parents are deceased.Makes it all worse.lol

Learn ur language for what? Have you made money already?

zibby:

Fellow Nairalanders, tell me this: do you think it's ever too late to learn your language? I am in the region of 30 years old and have still not learned to speak my mother tongue properly, despite having grown up in Nigeria. Admittedly, I grew up with a lot of English around me, and my parents did not try to teach me my language early in life. Sometimes I think it's too late to learn now, particularly as almost everyone with whom I interract in Nigeria knows English, and the precious few that don't may not be with us for very much longer. I can understand the language to a good extent, but can only speak very haltingly.

My people, what do you say? Is it too late for me? And how would you suggest I go about learning my native tongue now?

Zibby: It is not certain what language you wish to learn. I think you have to be specific here. I understand you leave in London. If you are Igbo and needs help in Igbo language. Then, I will recommend an Igbo organisation that has been helping Young Igbo people to learn the language. It is not too late and can never be too late to learn your language.

I think we are being overly optimistic here.

I am Urhobo and in my early 20s'.
and I don't speak my native tongue either.

Seeing as i live in Lagos and do not interact with many pple who speak the language,
I doubt i would ever learn it.

The BEST way to learn your native tongue- in my opinion,
is to spend some time at your village where everyone speaks it everyday!

A friend of mines studies psycology, and she once said that Age does interfere with the aility to learn a new language.
It determines the difficulty and the speed one is able to learn a new language.

Is it too late? For some people, yea.
It's not only the wanting to learn, memory applies too.