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Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors - Politics (8) - Nairaland

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No Programme Of Event Has Been Scheduled For Osinbajo As Acting President- Today / Osinbajo’s 48 Hours As Acting President - Punch / Gbagauns: President Jonathan’s Grammatical Blunders During His Campaign Speeches (2) (3) (4)

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Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by malele(m): 8:24pm On Apr 16, 2010
@userlist pls leave those fools trying to hide there Nigerian accent because they are
been interviewed by a foreigner.
if they hear an Indian man or a German talking i wonder what they will say.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Rastamann: 8:28pm On Apr 16, 2010
who no get assent and who no dey make mistake. Must we always imitate the oyibo man? The person wey dey interview the man no complain so wetin be your own. Even professors of English language dey make mistake. Please make una allow the man do im work o. All we need now na action and not grammar.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Eluala(m): 8:33pm On Apr 16, 2010
I don't understand how a topic as silly as this should make it to the front page. Having said that, it is only such an ignorant person devoid of a sound mind in a sound body will waste such a time to judge another not on account of intelligent reasoning but on the display of good linguistic skills. When Jose Mourinho came to England, did he speak like Alex Ferguson? He simply communicated and nobody expected him to do otherwise. Why will GJ suddenly stop being a Nigerian of Ijaw extraction and become Queen Elizabeth? Some people were even saying nonsense about his attire on another thread. This is the result of inferiority complex.

For your information imposing a particular language on anybody has historically been used as a veritable weapon of enslavement and opression. Have heard of the word 'BIODIVERSITY'? It simply means nature has made us to look different in some ways, including how we communicate. Who told you English language is the only language we should all speak like the Queen?

Let me ask you, how well do you speak your native lingua? Do you speak French, Portuguese, Italia, Swahili, Fulfulde, Hausa, German very well. So how will you feel when someone sees you for instance in Spain and you are struggling to communicate and he mocks you for that?

This psyche is the reason we have a lot of people today in our nation who speak good English, yet very few actually have minds reformed by the opportunity of having been to school and interacting with the civilised world. Don't let anybody intimidate you. Learn from the Chinese, Japanese, Russians and even Indians. They have become great today because they realised the futility of trying to beat the West unless they made their own rules. And that exactly they did by propagating the best of what they have of which language is paramount.

one love.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Wallie(m): 9:08pm On Apr 16, 2010
English is a "medium" by which Jonathan must communicate. When you have situations where “certain things” detract from your message, the distractions need to be minimized or mitigated.

Usually, politicians brush up on their oration and presentation skills during the long campaign process. Obama is naturally gifted but also had about 2 years of campaigning to prefect his skills.

This should be a lesson for the next president wannabe; exuding confidence, charisma while having great orator skills goes a long way in getting your message across and might even get you more votes.

Having an accent, which shows your identity, is not a bad thing unless it detracts from your message. You probably want your accent to neutral as defined by your country or origin.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by illusion2: 9:17pm On Apr 16, 2010
All of you watch too much CNN & BBC.

You have forgotten you are from Nigeria where illiteracy level is over 40% and the minimum educational qualification for State governor in primary school leaving certificate.

NECO failure of over 80% and science labs without reagents.

Lets not forget where we really come from.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Fhemmmy: 9:28pm On Apr 16, 2010
illusion2:

All of you watch too much CNN & BBC.

You have forgotten you are from Nigeria where illiteracy level is over 40% and the minimum educational qualification for State governor in primary school leaving certificate.

NECO failure of over 80% and science labs without reagents.

Lets not forget where we really come from.

So cos we are from there made it right to elect officials that might not be able to communicate with the world?
Are you saying we need to accept our failure all cos we have failed too many times?
Common, let us wake up and see a better tomorrow.
However, i am not saying he needs to be an English major for him to rule.
Anyways, too much grammar, i just wanna see action.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by jmslimx(m): 9:53pm On Apr 16, 2010
The dude that started this topic is a mumutic fellow, dude he is okay, at least he stood firm to the lady's question . i bet it if you are on that hot sit u wouldnt say Jack . so free him now!!!!
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Fhemmmy: 9:58pm On Apr 16, 2010
jmslimx:

The dude that started this topic is a mumutic fellow, dude he is okay, at least he stood firm to the lady's question . i bet it if you are on that hot sit u wouldnt say Jack . so free him now!!!!

A good leader must be well informed to be able to answer any question at any time, so there is nothing that Jonathan has done that is a big deal.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Nija4Life(m): 9:59pm On Apr 16, 2010
The problem he had in the interview wasn't his accent or grammatical errors. I felt he struggled with his ability to articulate his responses to the questions put forward to him. He didn't come across as Presidential in his body language and at times appeared timid. I've got nothing personal against the man but if this is all we can get for a country of over 150 million people then we've got serious issues.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by illusion2: 10:21pm On Apr 16, 2010
Fhemmmy:

So cos we are from there made it right to elect officials that might not be able to communicate with the world?
Are you saying we need to accept our failure all cos we have failed too many times?
Common, let us wake up and see a better tomorrow.
However, i am not saying he needs to be an English major for him to rule.
Anyways, too much grammar, i just wanna see action.
Well,the ideal thing would have been for him to answer the questions in Ijaw language & get an interpreter for Amanpour tongue
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Fhemmmy: 10:22pm On Apr 16, 2010
Nija4Life:

The problem he had in the interview wasn't his accent or grammatical errors. I felt he struggled with his ability to articulate his responses to the questions put forward to him. He didn't come across as Presidential in his body language and at times appeared timid. I've got nothing personal against the man but if this is all we can get for a country of over 150 million people then we've got serious issues.

I am sure the guy will improve.
let us give him a chance
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Acidosis(m): 10:25pm On Apr 16, 2010
The Grammatical constructn was bad, too much fallacy & blunder.

He needs 2 be trained by a Rhetorician. U guyz should stop rhapsodizing his performance.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Sunofgod(m): 10:47pm On Apr 16, 2010
Acidosis,

I pray you never go on CNN representing Nigeria.

Sort out your own grammar. (or just type pidgin - anything we can understand)
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by farolee(m): 11:01pm On Apr 16, 2010
there can never be a better representation of any language than the language itself.we don't need queens english to rule a country.all we need are wise men and women.the official language in Japan isjapanies yet they have a graet nation with less natural resourses.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Beaf: 11:01pm On Apr 16, 2010
Acidosis:

The Grammatical constructn was bad, too much fallacy & blunder.

He needs 2 be trained by a Rhetorician. U guyz should stop rhapsodizing his performance.

How can you write such crap language (like something from the bin or communication for half-wits) and criticise someone elses English? I find that truly incredible.

English will not solve our problems and the fact that none of our past presidents has had even a passing command of the language makes me quite suspicious of some of the motives of some here.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by kelao: 11:20pm On Apr 16, 2010
even the British has accents and make grammatical errors
so whats the big deal hissssssssssssssssssssss
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by suprted(m): 11:23pm On Apr 16, 2010
He didn't make any massive grammatical errors else I would have noticed them, granted if you were looking for them you'd probably find them, but how many people noticed them first time?    His accent was ok.  

However, his body language could stand to be better.  He was slouching, then he would catch himself and shift to sit up straight.  It made him look fidgety and timid.  

There are some stupid comments on this board.  English is our official language.  If it's not, what should be our official language, your own?  Go to blazes!!!  Some idiot up there was saying that we should all speak one of the major ones,  why?  Just as English isn't my native language, Yoruba isn't my native language either.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by rabosh(m): 11:54pm On Apr 16, 2010
very sad that an adult would take out time to watch an interview as important as the one being discussed and at the end focus on the nonsense and leave out the essence of the interview. Sad.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by lawyer(m): 11:59pm On Apr 16, 2010
This is the daftest post i have seen in a very long time on Nairaland and i hardly comment on these political threads or disparge people but this is just uncalled for and extremely unintelligent to say the least. I watched the interview and i was very impressed with Jonathan Goodluck. He was honest, Articulate and straight to the point and Christana Amanpor understood him the whole way. What is the poster talking about? Have you heard the Russian President Speak or the Afghanistanese president speak English? Even Presidents or prime ministers from the commonwealth apart from the U.K, Australia and New zealand do have funny accents and commit a lot of grammatical Blunders. Even George Bush committed a host of grammatical Blunders but was still regarded as a very strong president. What has grammar got to do with it, when governace requires action and Did they subtitle his words to make it clearer or what? Why do we like belittling our own? So what if the man committed grammatical blunders if any? He was given a very high pass mark for his attitude, professionalism and humility for his trip that has brought Nigeria some semblance of respect internationally since that Mutallab rubbish. Abeg cut the guy some slacks jare! I doubt if you speak to me for 5 minutes i wont collapse from the barrage of grammatical innuendos or blunders you would throw directly into my face. I am proud of Jonathan so far and so far so good he has shown to be intelligent. Instead of Encouraging the man, your here discussing his grammatical errors? Even perennial grammatical blunder specialists like Raji Rasaki or Major General Abdulkareem Adisa, still communicated to the people talkless of Jonathan that was very understandable. How bored are you? Go get a job jor
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by moremi2008(m): 12:23am On Apr 17, 2010
God, I could only get through the first few minutes,  he sounds god-awful! Why can't we have leaders that are presentable to the international community? How can we call ourselves the giant of Africa and our President sounds like a village headmaster! Have you heard the presidents of South Africa or Ghana speak on tv? Go look them up on Youtube and you would be ashamed!

The issue here is not the accent. It's the poor enunciation, incoherence and poor body language. He clearly hasn't had any decent media training. At one point, it looked like he was afraid of Amanpour - he couldn't even sustain eye contact!!!! We Nigerians need to stop burying our heads in sand and then demanding that the world respect us. Leaders in the developed world (political or corporate) are routinely given solid media training before they resume duties. Those that don't have adequate public speaking skills hire professionals and undergo months of private tutoring. Are our leaders too big to learn to do things properly? Or are they too distracted by all the money there is to steal to even care?!

To all those making stupid arguments that English is not our native language, I pray you continue speaking terrible English until you see the light. Good communication has NOTHING to do with language. The presidents of non-English speaking nations give interviews in other languages routinely (the media house just hires a translator). However, we as a nation cannot hold on to English as our official language and then have our national leaders bastardize it at every opportunity they get. You don't like English? Ask your leaders to change our official language but that is still no excuse for poor communication skills. It's no excuse for poor enunciation, inability to present complex ideas in brief but structured coherent sentences, lack of presidential body language and demeanor and certainly no excuse for terrible grammar!

The problem with Nigerian leaders is that they aren't elected. I can't imagine a leader who has to campaign and convince an intelligent population to vote for him/her succeeding with poor communication skills. That Acting President Jonathan and many of our highest leaders sound barely articulate should be cause of concern and a source of national disgrace.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Benniewank(m): 12:44am On Apr 17, 2010
Let us not be quick to put people down, especially our own. GJ seems to be a peoples' man and I think he deserves all our support. It's high time we put frivolities behind and pursue serious matters. I mean, all we really care about is a leader with purpose and vision regardless of his manner of speech. Lend your strenght to the support of his govt, that's the least required of us.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by chelseabmw(m): 1:37am On Apr 17, 2010
[size=18pt]@poster
abeg leave am.We like am like that.Atleast he is more better than ur yaradua
[/size]
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by STOPOVER(f): 1:54am On Apr 17, 2010
The problem of finding fault is easy, but that of doing better is difficult!

I sorry for the poster.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by STOPOVER(f): 2:22am On Apr 17, 2010
@ Sun of god.

For ur information, theres nothing like so therefore in english language.

It is very wrong to use SO THEREFORE together becos they mean the same thing. Is either therefor or so. Not so therefore please take note.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by ficoram(m): 4:39am On Apr 17, 2010
eluala has said it all.i am of the opinium that people should pay less attention to english language,so as to carry majority along in developing the nation.look at nations like CHINA,JAPAN,IRAN and korea(N and S).this are country that knows what they want and has stop fooling themselves with who understand d queen's language d most.they have most thing in their languages and as so has being able to carry majority along.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Nobody: 4:50am On Apr 17, 2010
ficoram:

eluala has said it all.i am of the opinium that people should pay less attention to english language,so as to carry majority along in developing the nation.look at nations like CHINA,JAPAN,IRAN and korea(N and S).this are country that knows what they want and has stop fooling themselves with who understand d queen's language d most.they have most thing in their languages and as so has being able to carry majority along.

@ ficoram

@ ficoram

It appears there are so many dull peeps on this thread, its just so sad. sad sad
I wonder if Japan and Korea you just mentioned were ever colonised by the British, or if they ever had English as their official language?

What you just wrote has no basis and makes no sense. Nigerian official language is English, therefore we should learn to use it well.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by seanlaw(m): 4:53am On Apr 17, 2010
Not only was his English below the standard expected of a Phd holder. Did anyone notice how he sat down, like he was in his village sqaure ready to drink palm wine (same with the interview with President Obama). All I can say is, this is the first interview he would be granting to an international media. He needs to trained on that.
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Nobody: 4:53am On Apr 17, 2010
chelseabmw:

[size=18pt]@poster
  abeg leave am.We like am like that.Atleast he is more better than your yaradua
[/size]

@ chelseabmw


I wonder if this person ever passed English at the primary school level. The statement above is a sad commentary on the current state of education in Nigeria.
It is just so sad. sad sad sad
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Acidosis(m): 5:22am On Apr 17, 2010
TO: SON OF GOD & BEAF

Are u 'guyz' comparing me with a PhD. holder?

The fact is that, our a.g president lacks oral composition.
He reacted like someone suffering from minor halitosis.

(Halitosis: bad breath)
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Voned(f): 5:34am On Apr 17, 2010
People just look for ways to castigate other people as if there are better of
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Nobody: 5:38am On Apr 17, 2010
Acidosis:

TO: SON OF GOD & BEAF

Are u 'guyz' comparing me with a PhD. holder?

The fact is that, our a.g president lacks oral composition.
He reacted like someone suffering from minor halitosis.

(Halitosis: bad breath)




you should also add epilepsy, the guy acted like an epileptic patient, when he was asked about his political ambitions and about the issue of IBB
Re: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors by Jakumo(m): 6:14am On Apr 17, 2010
Jonathan Goodluck is the ONLY Nigerian president who has been successful in providing Nigeria with uninterrupted mains electricity, and therefore his conversational skills are of ZERO importance to 99.99% of Nigerians who are currently enjoying government-provided electrical power for the first time in 30 years.

With this MAJOR accomplishment alone, President Goodluck has assured his place in the history books, AND as a future president, duly elected in 2011.

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