Terrible State Of The English Language In Nigeria

ol boy, now u making me to want to open the refrigirator and have a drink be4 i go to bed, u sure a bad influence.

I am a citizen of the world o, my brother. the original Gulliver, er I mean Ajala travels anyways, have a good night y'all. to be continued tomorrow.
@debosky, what makes u think oga's bed needs warming. i be warming it all by meself o.   g'night y'alls!

Nigerians in my opinion are not at all backward in english language compared to people here.Years back,_{I was new here then} I walked up to a young man at the bus stop asking if he has the idea of when the next bus arrives but all he could tell me was 'no English' I almost jumped out of my skin but now I know good Englsh is not very common here.You see, both pidgin and english has their own value it's just a matter of knowing where and when to draw the line .For instance, when I'm in a gathering that calls for speaking the real language I do but when I'm with my Naija pals speaking pidgin is a good way of unwinding, we speak it to the envy of the oyibos and I tell you they seem to like listening to us .There is this particular oyibo friend each time she come visiting, she spend time watching and listening to these episodes of 'night of a thosand laughs'_{I have a couple of them} and she confessed pidgin is nice to listen to.The other day she came in and ask 'wetin dey happen' my sister was like, 

But with the rate people fail the English language in exams, I thought Pidgin Version should have been approved by now. It's just when you are too lazy that u make excuses. A married woman or man never worries about their education until they start receiving insults from their children's teachers.

 This thread is very interesting, kudos to Debosky& Fufu for the classic analysis not forgetting Rhino for yours. Though we must accept the fact that English is our OFFICIAL language and accurate use of it, is very essential. Big up friends!

Even  george bush can't make a complete statement in english that is suppose to be his first language without making mistakes,the leader of the suppose first world and an english descendant.  We africans are just busy bothering about things that doesn't count,suppose we are the japanese and the chinese,that advance technologically and mentally in their own languages.Education sense pass education book.Common sense.

LOL, redsun that's not fair. George Bush is an abberation, and to be fair, almost everyone in the US makes fun of George Bush for his poor English. So it's definitely not "accepted" as the norm.

Has anyone noticed how Nigerian journalists in the tabloid magazines(i.e city people and encomium)have evolved their own brand of english? if you are a regular reader as i am, you will notice what i'm talking bout.their english is so horrible you sometimes wonder if these guys went to school at all.then check out the lousy sets of questions they usually ask during interviews; "why are you not married?", who's the lucky man/woman?", when are you going to get married?", how do you handle women/men who are attracted to you?"

it seems all of a sudden in Nigeria, the key questions to ask in interviews is why and when and who are you getting married to?Sad thing is, this sick display of utter illiteracy is not limited to just the tabloid magazines.you find this menace too in the so-called serious newspapers and magazines.Our journalists, both print and broadcast, display such ignorance of english language, it is disheartening.

Prior too leaving the shores of NIgeria, the state of English Language in najia was deplorable, I guess it has taking a dive for the worse since then.Not trying to compare Nigeria to the USA but quite a significant number of Americans can't either express themselves properly in a formal conversation and even more alarming that they are not able to write it.

Back to topic, Yes English is our lingua franca,even though imposed but it sure has served a useful role in bridging the communication gap that existed between the myriad ethnic groups nigeria is made up of.  
Pigin english was devised by those that had a difficult time learning formal english pronounciation and grammar etc. which again has bridged the gap between those can speak it fluently and those that lack that ability [which is not negative at all,as humans are endowed with different capabilities].

What I think Debosky and FuFu Kin are after is this, Nigeria has accepted english as their official language and thus, we should expect more from nigerians in terms of their fluency in english in a conversation,at least for those that have been exposed to the four walls of education.

I think there is a very high probability that pigin english undermines the ability to speak english fluently [ an opinion ]. If some one carries out a research on that ,there might a high correlation between those two variables.

I think we need to do something about the state of speaking english fluently in naija though.It sure deserves attention. I am not saying pigin is bad, it is here to stay and will always be a great resource when you are trying to communicate with those that aren't literate [ for lack of better words ] and who do not speak your ethnic lanuage. Communication would have been terribly difficult[dare i say impossible] without it.

Is there a feasible way to improve english fluency in nigeria without obliterating pigin??? I hope.

I think we are confusing things here, someone who is speaking pidgin is under no illusion that they are  speaking the Queens English. The problem is actually those who mistake bad English as the Queens English.

These types and pidgin speakers are not the same thing IMO.

The problem with nigerian movies like every other thing is concept not language,of what relevance  is the movie you are watching to the real world,it is more of religion and fetish practices which reflects the real backward concepts that is part of everyday life of a typical african.Apart from the above you have thieving politicians and corrupt officials and rogue traders.

i think i have to agree with redsun here.
the problem with the nigerian movies is not the language. because lets face it, i am sure the foreign actors make such mistakes when filming. now the problem is lack to good direction, scriptwritting, editting etc need i go on. i am sure you get my drift.
i mean how had is it to say cut and take it again. i don't think the nigerian directors fully grasp the concept of cut

Keep using that as an excuse, ok?

All these lame excuses that you are people are bringing up have already been tackled by both debo and FuFu_King.

between, the whole "well the french, Spanish, Chinese blah blah don't speak correct English" is the DUMBEST excuse ever. Has it ever occurred to you that the reason why some of them don't speak English that well might have to do with the fact that it's not their official language? Why is that so hard for some of you to understand? Seriously?


Threads on Nairaland alone shows how horrid the state of English is in Nigeria especially coming from so called university graduates. It's depressing really,

colonized minds

People keep shouting about colonized minds and colonization, but Nigeria is a sovereign state.  If Nigeria no longer wants the "colonized" language as its official language, THEN GET RID OF IT. Make pidgin the official language and be on your merry way.

But if English is going to be your official language, don't shout that people who advocate the correct and proper use of the language have "colonized minds."

Naija, if you don't want to speak English, you don't have to!!