Theif of hearts, you have not once heard me say, we should speak the English language incorrectly. I simply have a different view. I mentioned the English, because sometimes as Nigerians we point out our misgivings in such a way that we lose sight of the balanced view. The balanced view IMO is that we are not the only people who have English as their official language who fail to use it correctly. Neither do I feel that pidgin English is the reason, the English dont speak it, but many can't speak their language.

To say that I asserted somehow, that it should be an excuse for not speaking or writing English propery is incorrect.

Someone who speaks pidgin speaks pidgin and if that same person is taught standard English, both in written and spoken form, he/she will have no problem with the latter.


Someone who writes "thot" or "taught" instead of thought, is not doing so because of pidgin IMO because those words do not form part of pudgen English as far as I am aware.

Now if someone says "una" instead of "you" or "chop" instead of "eat" in an exam or at an interview, then we can blame pidgin.

Orignally posted by [b]FuFu King[/b]As I said, if English is to continue as the official language of Nigeria, it is a shame that her citizens cannot manage to speak and write the language clearly and intelligently.

How Nigerians were consulted when English was made da national language? I don't think it's a shame that most Nigerians don't speak "proper" English. That's only a PLUS for a country so diverse linguistly (with native languages of course) to even have people that speak English well. It's not compulsory. IMHO.

Orignally Posted by [b]FuFu King[/b]Throughout this thread people make excuses for pidgin and grasp at straws that "it's our language." No, it's not. It's a watered-down version of a European language, probably started by some illiterates who couldn't grasp English properly. The true Nigerian languages are Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa etc. Not that pidgin crap. It's a farce.

Pidgin IS the unique language of Nigerians. Not everybody has money for education in Nigeria. The majority of Nigerians who speak "proper" English are not only educated, but have also probably had post secondary education. And that's NOT your AVERAGE Nigerian. Pidgin IMO is one of the better things to happen to Nigeria. How else could people in a country with over 250 languages communicate with each other? Pidgin is unique to Nigeria like other creole/pidgins are to other countries. Now we should be worried if the people in power can't speak or comprehend "proper" english and leave our day-to-day Nigerians alone.  Your average farmer aint going to meet Koffi Annan in an Executive Meeting neither is a lady in the market tryna earn a living, ya huurrrd?

ghettochyk you completely miss the point

no one is castigating an illiterate farmer or market woman for poor English, they have not been given the opportunity to study and thus you cannot expect that much from them. The section of the population we are talking about involves people who have supposedly been going to school for 10-15 years, being taught all subjects (except for some languages) in English, and at the end of it all cannot express themselves properly in English without making egregious mistakes in spoken or written situations. that is the terrible state we are talking about - the poor SSCE performances, the horrible English that some people speak when they go for interviews, the appalling misuse of words like taught/thought, leave/live, and other basic, I repeat basic mistakes one would not expect from a good Primary 6 student.

It may not be compulsory to speak good English, but after studying the lingo for so long, is it too much to ask that a person with a university degree or even SSCE should be able to speak intelligible English with minimal mistakes?

londoner,
Did you read the thread at all? There ARE some people who ARE allowing such to affect their manner of speaking in interviews, important discussions, etc. Although I'm personally not blaming pidgin, there are some people who can speak it and still write and speak correctly. The problem still remains that English from some so called GRADUATES is in a horrifying state, pidgin aside.
I wasnt raised on pidgin myself. My parents arent fond of it at all, I only hear it when they are at the market so I barely speak it myself.

debosky:

It may not be compulsory to speak good English, but after studying the lingo for so long, is it too much to ask that a person with a university degree or even SSCE should be able to speak intelligible English with minimal mistakes?

Apparently it is a lot to ask from these people. Supposedly it means your mind has been "colonized" *rolls eyes*

Not sure what a farmer/market woman has to do with a discussion that is aimed at people who claim to have gone to higher education institutions.

i live in the UK, but majority of the welsh people in cardiff can't speak and write good english. they cant speak welsh either.

it is good for us to be able to speak good english. but if someone cant speak well we should not "criminalise" the person. we may want to encourage the person to speak well. after all 2 yrs in the UK majority of them cant even pronounce my name well, and yet we nigerians are made to understand and pronounce names like montgomery, eissenhower etc

abeg leave us joo let them come and speak efik or try to pronounce igbinovbaro

in times past our english used to be good but what changed it?

nairalanders i will like to advice us that its better to know how to speak good and correct tenses. becos i think most of the problem originates from not using the correct tense that is where the knowledge of concord is required.
lets all make efforts to keep improving our english not becos pidgin or our languages should be relegated but becos the world is a global village and for those who are pursuing international positions and international careers it is the only way you can help urself to meet world standards

just keep working on it

abeg which kind international position person fit find for nairaland wey una no go allow man pikin fire him pidgin de go. nairaland wey seun don ban all the dudes wey get intellectual contribution leaving only kids who love to quarrel when they are not discussing sex and boyfriends, na here person go find international position?

abegi

hahaha

omoge, wetindey now? is that also considered as terrible English?

omoge:

hahaha

?

hahaha, actually what toshmann wrote made me laugh .

true talk

toshmann:

abeg which kind international position person fit find for nairaland wey una no go allow man pikin fire him pidgin de go. nairaland wey seun don ban all the dudes wey get intellectual contribution leaving only kids who love to quarrel when they are not discussing sex and boyfriends, na here person go find international position?

abegi

sheesh, i was hoping someone could use some comedy to douse this heavy topic o.  well done, toshman. good to lighten things up for a change!
it is true sha, the admin has suceeded in chasing away all the intellectuals. all wey remain na topics like "I slept with 3 girls today" and "when is the right time to get married"!

the admin might have been threaten by too many intellects, so the guy dey build hin own chaotic 9ja online, if he cant be president in real life, he might as well be president virtually. na hin own, baba obj (virtually) carry go.

FYI: i cant fit call u yar' adua, u neva reach dat level yet

even this forum is full of people that "ta bon" its not even funny. i come across some bad grammers and spelling errors i just shake my head in wonder. the Admin needs to take time in seriously editing these things. and there are some topics that shouldn't even see the light of day (ok yeah i believe in freedom of speech or whatever), but DAMN! some topics have got to go! you read some posts, and for a second you think it's a completely different language! my belle o!

abeg me i no go sukulu o,so make una leave oyinbo matter,abi na english i go chop,abeg leave english give me dollars or pounds.

Thief of hearts, this is just a discussion, and yes, I did read the thread. Even though some may know how to speak and write English adequately, manners also go a long way.

If people are being churned out of the Nigerian education system not knowing how to spell and speak correct English, isn't that a sign of a failed system, or one which fails to either teach or test correctly? That is no fault of the pidgin speaker IMO, but the English teacher.

how about these:
still yet (used in one sentence!)
severally
Travvic (instead of traffic)
Christover (instead of Christopher)
Sliver board (instead of Silver bird)
We abuse english too much. is it a function of how much u spent in learning the thing!!!!!

@ThiefofHearts
I totally agree with you. It is absurd to think that just because some Americans speak English badly
it is ok for a Nigerian graduate to find it impossible to construct a simple sentence. We should face reality and stop making excuses for our inadequacies.

There is also absolutely nothing wrong with speaking pidgin in the right place at the right time or whenever it is appropriate. Speaking pidgin has nothing to do with good English. We seem to have misunderstood that its not about speaking pidgin.

una don start again abi? wetin dey wrong for inside pidgin. my first language na YORUBA, 2nd na 9JA PIDGIN, 3rd na ENGLISH. abeg speak ur "correct" english when in ur boardroom meeting, but outside, PIDGIN 4 LIFE.

The problems of black world seems unending,because we don't realize the core causes,some people just think that the english who have always been our tormentor is worthy be emulate,let's emulate their wittiness and beat them in the game,not their morals because it stinks.It beats my heart when i listen to some black people with their colonial and indoctrinated mentallity wish they can see the need and beauty of originality.Loose your language and your spiritual view of the world,you loose yourself.

Dem dey go school for Naija? Yes oh! "How's tins"-----------

I'll spread "good manners" when I dont see people who dont write stark illiterates being referred to as "enslaved minds"

If people are being churned out of the Nigerian education system not knowing how to spell and speak correct English, isn't that a sign of a failed system, or one which fails to either teach or test correctly? That is no fault of the pidgin speaker IMO, but the English teacher.

Not sure how many times you expect me to say that Im not blaming pidgin.  
Know quite a few pidgin fiends that write and speak well.
I blame it on the school system cos most of these people "teaching" English probably failed it themselves while in school. Im bothered that many people who write as horribly as they do on this board were even allowed to graduate. Diplomas shouldnt even be given unless the person gets at least a C5 in English for WAEC/SSCE and in university, no less than a C. sheesh.
Nigeria should be one of the countries exempt from TOEFL if they had their head on their shoulders.

Lol when they are busy wearing fake gucci and versace at Nigerian events they don't remember lame speeches about "losing culture and colonized mentality"

Wasnt a thread made a few months back about how Yardua should be wearing suit and tie at international functions, what happened to the "colonial mind" crap then? Not sure who you guys are fooling, sure as hell isnt me.

redsun:

The problems of black world seems unending,because we don't realize the core causes,some people just think that the english who have always been our tormentor is worthy be emulate,let's emulate their wittiness and beat them in the game,not their morals because it stinks.It beats my heart when i listen to some black people with their colonial and indoctrinated mentallity wish they can see the need and beauty of originality.Loose your language and your spiritual view of the world,you loose yourself.

And yet, there you sit posting from the "tormentor's land" (England) so really, who's the colonized one?

And please, loose and lose are two different words with two different meanings. You don't loose your language, you lose it.

fufu king, thanks for pointing out that last bit. i've seen even the most educated people use those words incorrectly - there's a huge difference between "lose" and "loose". it drives me crazy when i see it being misused over and over again. this one has nothing to do with spelling mistakes, some just don't know the difference!

as long as u know how to speak the two and diffrenciate them both - i don't see any thing bad or wrong in speaking pidgin English!
N u should also know the situation\when in which to speak it.
it's just a way of talking - nothing else - what's d big deal!!?

Amazing small timers,you've got a long way to go before you realize what's important,unfortunately,you may never do in your life time,what a pity.

I think knowing the difference between "lose" and "loose" is important actually.

maybe it needs to used in a sentence for people to actually grasp the difference between "lose" and "loose".

Loosen up,yamheads.English language is not an issue to a blackman,rather it is detrimental,it's part and parcel of our nemesis,same with adopted religions,blind faith.No original initiatives,not even the Masais of east africa can compared with us.

keep spewing rubbish there while living in ENGLAND

lol soul_patrol, please give these delusional people examples of sentences that show the differences.

redsun:

Amazing small timers,you've got a long way to go before you realize what's important,unfortunately,you may never do in your life time,what a pity.

LOL, sidestepping and deflecting from your lack of knowledge does not make it not important. Please, go back to school and try to improve your English. I beg you. You're living in England so you have all the resources at your disposal.