musicwriter:


Its ironic you say western education has nothing to do with our preference for English and you and I are here speaking English.

If we were colonized by France, you and I would have been speaking French right now.

Are we speaking English here on Nairaland because we want to, or because that's the language we were taught in school? Come on!.

Of course, white people don't have to be here anymore to enforce their policy of having us speak their language. They have done their job many years ago and left!. Its now up to us to free ourselves from the shackles of intellectual slavery, but it appears as you've shown, we have been brainwashed beyond repair and no longer understand English is not our language.

I told you already, Asian countries realized the dangers of making foreign languages a priority in their schools and society, so they banned foreign languages in their schools. They banned it because they wanted to be themselves. Its the right thing to do!.

I salute ur courage and intellect to speak on this subject matter, in as much our generation is gradually waking up to realize we've been chained by the colonial masters right from our subconscious making it difficult to think freely and forced us to perpetually remain in slavery, I understand we need to go back to our root and make our indigenous language priority in learning. then as a nation, a united Nigeria with diversified cultural background, what do think would be a solution to communicate effectively across different ethnic group without segregation or disintegration?

ezeagu:


There is a very large thread where Igbo speakers are writing in English, there's no white man stopping anyone here from writing in Igbo. I did not make any point about western education being or not being the reason for a preference of English, instead the discussion has been about the use of Igbo in education, but your points seem to be coming from the idea that white people told Igbo people to stop speaking their language and they just agreed or whatever. Any language you use as your main mode of communication is your language, however the majority of people in Nigeria do not speak fluent standard English.

Asian languages did not ban foreign languages in their schools, in fact today they're doing the opposite and introducing especially English so their children can compete better internationally, their people were just okay with using their main mode of communication as instructional probably because they didn't have a scattered tribal identity like the Igbo had, they had more of a unified state, and because of that and because these are sovereign nations most of the people speak one general language, unlike in Nigeria which is a federation where everybody has to accommodate each other.

Nobody has advocated that English be banned completely. Of course, English should still be studied, but not placed above our native languages. That's what I said, and that's the way its done in Asia, except Philippines and India. Over there English is not a compulsory subject in school. Only those interested in studying English do so.

And for your information, there's no country in the world as diverse as Indonesia!. Indonesia have over 6,000 islands inhabited by people speaking various Indonesian and Malay dialects!. But, their visionary leaders made the cultural revolutions I'm talking about and was able to get their people study under one language.

How about Malaysia? Malaysia has over 300 islands speaking various Malay dialects!. Still, they achieved same feat as Indonesia. They proactively reconstructed themselves and adopted a common native language for knowledge acquisition.

You also cited inability to speak English fluently; what about Pidgin English? Are we also unable to speak Pidgin widely?

As you can see, our diversity has nothing to do with stopping us study in our native languages, rather we've sunk deep in mental slavery cum intellectual slavery.

You see, I've followed this thread to end to see the best argument anybody has against making our native languages a priority in school, but your core arguments has already been disproved, not even by me, but by Asian cultures- proving clearly there's something wrong with black man in Africa. I'm just scared right now about our future. Africa will be re-colonized in the next 100 years, unless something urgent is done.

See you later. Goodbye.

bmdflo:


I salute ur courage and intellect to speak on this subject matter, in as much our generation is gradually waking up to realize we've been chained by the colonial masters right from our subconscious making it difficult to think freely and forced us to perpetually remain in slavery, I understand we need to go back to our root and make our indigenous language priority in learning. then as a nation, a united Nigeria with diversified cultural background, what do think would be a solution to communicate effectively across different ethnic group without segregation or disintegration?

Thanks for your concern my brother.

Everything we need to do has already been done by Indonesia and Malaysia- two countries that were also once colonized and are much more diveresed than Nigeria. In fact, check my last reply to @ezeagu (just above), and also read the link on my signature.

Note: We were getting there in the 80's towards making our various native languages a priority in schools, but suddenly the government changed her mind. It was the same period Malaysia and Indonesia was restructuring their system of education. In those days when we in primary school Igbo was compulsory in school. And the ministry of education used to regularly send Igbo professors to every school in the South East to monitor Igbo education. I think one Mr. Fafunwa was the education minister, but suddenly the innitiative stopped in the early 90's.

koolaid87:
Respect to the odudua, brown roof folks.. We're always accommodating and definitely not a sign of weakness

LMAO
Always accommodating ? ? ?

EpicMaurice:

ok you have proved your brain is empty, you can now get off nairaland

For saying the obvious,why u people are so allegic to the truth,get lost.

olajizz01:
For saying the obvious,why u people are so allegic to the truth,get lost.

i know whats your problem.

Its called xenophobia

Drchristian:
igbos sud b thankful to d yorubas for accommodating them this way, even at d detriments of d native people.

Soon some we say igbo people are only in Lagos and be insulting d yorubas their host inluding calling Lagos a no man's land what an arrant nonsense!

West side is the best side....is only yorubas that are uniting this country called Nigeria.

U mean calling Lagos a no man's land is an insult. Nawa for you oo. I agree that u guys are the only tribe uniting 9ja, but nothing is yet to come out from it since 100 yrs + don't you think we should separate?

I thought there are no Igbo in the West except Lagos