naijacentric:
u guys should stop dis nonsense what about the other tribes who grew up in the east who prefer igbo language to theirs make una calm down o

OyinO:


Nope!
Pidgin English can be defined as a mixture of rotten English and local language. It is not African. It's the language of colonial master called Great Britain and England. French for Francophone Africa and what have you. It's a reminder of the sad and bitter past of brutal colonialism.

samwash:


I get ur agurement, it boils down to our parents refusing to speak our local dialect to the children.
Another factor is inter-marriage, wereby both parents don't understand each other language, which one will the child learn.
Another factor is our environment. If they leave in an environment predominant with other tribe.

Redman44:



Most Nigerians understand the three main languages- Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa. Well, the damage has been done from the foundation of Nigeria. However, we can create our destiny towards a better future. Rwanda is actively promoting local languages as the languages of teaching in Rwandan secondary schools.

Redman44:



Hmn. Says who? In the Netherlands, they have more than one national language. They speak flemish and frisian in the Netherlands too. What happened is that the government promoted dutch as the main national language. Same thing can happen in Nigeria with 3 major languages being promoted as the national language- Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. With government support and mutual understanding, this policy will work. We need to start from somewhere.

Brandonx:
If you want to speak igbo go to your parents.

Premiumwriter:
was it in the four walls of the classroom you learnt pidgin English and your mother language?

danvon:
What of those people that were not born with ur upbringing, from what you just stated you didn't put much effort in learning languages it came naturally or luckily

dumodust:

We learnt it in and out of classrooms... And yes, I write my mother tongue too. English is also not a classroom affair, it's all around us.
The English in our classrooms is a colonial creation and only serves the purpose of bridging people with diverse cultures and languages not to subdue our own into oblivion. The Chinese speak Chinese, the Germans German, even English in the UK is diverse, the Scottish and Irish accents are incredible but they wear it proudly.
English is our vernacular, nobody said you should not know English but my mother tongue is not beneath it.
I consider myself trilingual- Igbo, pidgin, English in that order

Premiumwriter:
you guys keep making points that does not correlate with the situations in Nigeria.

How many of the countries you mentioned above have as many languages as Nigeria?

In Benue State alone we have more than 10 languages. In just a state. Should a child be taught all of these languages in order to be able to communicate with others or be allowed to master a single language with which he can communicate with not only those in his immediate surroundings but also with the world?

Look at the internet today, a lot of friction makes it almost impossible for Indians and Chinese to do business because of they don't understand English.

Any freelancer here can tell you this.

Just because you're good on English, your local language and pidgin doesn't mean everyone will be.

And how about the igbo man leaving in Lagos? Should special igbo curriculum be made for the kids?

Language is not our only culture. If you want your kids to be able to speak your mother tongue, make special arrangements for it. Speak it to them, teach them while they are at home. Or even enroll them in igbo schools (if anyone ever comes up with such ideas)

Let it be that you promote the language you love. It shouldn't be a national problem or a formal school problem because that will create more friction than you can imagine.

Let your mother tongue be something your kids picks up from you at home. (how often do you personally prompt your kids to speak your local dialect at home or even speak it to them?). This is where the language get lost. It's not in school that they lose the language.

I've seen many parents encourage their kids to speak English or even speak English with their kids at home. This is good but if you are concerned about your mother tongue then it's bad.

It's however very bad if we want the government to encourage local dialect as much as they encourage the teaching of English. It'll bring more disunity, poor bonding and lack of communication, confidence and opportunity

MrEDUCATION:





Hmmmm....

You are a rare gem in Igbo land. Many people can't do it especially in this present generation. I mostly find it among old men and women or those who lived in the villages for a long time.

edoairways:

Who told pidgin is combination of rotten English and local language? Are you aware that there are some pidgin words that were borrowed from Portuguese? For example, "you sabi do am?" means "do you know how to do it?". "Sabi" means "to know" or "to know how to", just as "to know" is "saber" in Portuguese

BigSarah:
Very Good development, it's terrible being unable to speak ones local dialect.. I hate that about me, hopefully nysc will take me to the east finally....
Meanwhile check my signature!

edoairways:

Pidgin language is for the poor ? . Instead of advocating for an African language you are supporting English as a lingual franca?

melodyogonna:
My Igbo language is a language for the poor? Sense is far from you.

tobstarizhia:


Pidgin English is not an indigenous language. It is a corruption of our "Lingua Franca." If you're advocating for our Lingual franca, then speak your mother tongue, else you're still speaking a borrowed language, albeit poorly.

tobstarizhia:


Pidgin English is not an indigenous language. It is a corruption of our "Lingua Franca." If you're advocating for our Lingual franca, then speak your mother tongue, else you're still speaking a borrowed language, albeit poorly.

OyinO:


Sabi is not Portuguese. And don't pick sabi out of many other words with Naija roots. Besides, you're not are not responding to my comment. There is pidgin English in all the countries colonised by Britain but it's only your people's own you see as bad. Stop the inferiority complex. All the powerful countries of the earth are countries or nations who USES THEIR OWN LANGUAGE IN WRITING AND SPEAKING. Go and research. But let me mention a few; China, India, Korea, etc.

tobstarizhia:

Comprehension is far from you. I said Pidgin English is a language of the poor

edoairways:

Sabi" means "to know" or "to know how to", just as "to know" is "saber" in Portuguese. (According to the monogenetic theory of pidgins, sabir was a basic word in Mediterranean Lingua Franca, brought to West Africa through Portuguese pidgin. An English cognate is savvy.) Also, "pikin" or "pickaninny" comes from the Portuguese words "pequeno" and "pequeninho", which mean "small" and "small child" respectively see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Pidgin for more information.
The aforementioned countries you highlighted were multi ethnic and they choose to adopt a unified language however Nigeria hasn't or may find it difficult because of the perception of one tribe dominating the country. As it stand, the so called bad language is spoken more than the major tribes in Nigeria. By the way shouldn't we borrow a leaf from countries like Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania who are unified by Swahili language?