greatgod2012: In my own opinion, i think not allowing your children speak your indigeneus language is like telling them, indirectly, that, you are not proud of your tribe and its language, atleast, if you are proud of a thing, you will want people to identify you with that thing, and i notice that its mostly common with we yorubas, you can hardly find an igbo or hausa kids, who will not be proud to speak their indigenous languages, even, in public places, but, we yorubas,......hhhhmmmmm, may God help us.

Well, in my own house, we (hubby and i) ensure that our children understand our language very well, infact, its a rule that........
1. You must know the yoruba meaning of whatever you are talking about, so anytime they see a new thing, which they know its english name, i tell them the yoruba meaning and ask them to address the thing in yoruba for a whole week, except in school.
2. Once i speak to you in yoruba, you must respond in yoruba, and it has helped them a great deal to speak the language fluently.


The mistake our people makes is that, once a child speaks totally in English, it makes the child a brilliant child, which is not true sometimes, or even most times, i remember one of my secondary school mates, who could speak english like mad, but repeated S.S1 three time, and the fourth time, she was advised to withdraw, because it was a laid down rule in my school then, that, once a student repeat a class three times, and she also repeat the fourth time, she would be advised to withdraw, but, you need to know this girl, then, even, oyinbo man could not speak english fluently as she used to, but, gbogbo e.....odo ni.
@all, lets all embrace our indigenous languages, and also encourage our kids to embrace it. teni n teni, takisa ni t'aatan.
May God help us.

Siena:

That's where you're wrong. English is our first language, our native languages come second.

TheCongo: Some people here may stone me to death. But, let’s look at some of the facts.

The English language is the official language of Nigeria. Given this fact, it overrides any of the local dialect. If people don’t like it this way, then the Nigeria constitution should be changed to elect a local dialect as official language.

In my opinion, children should be comfortable with the language that they would be using in school. Therefore, it is better to train a Nigeria child to feel more comfortable with the English language when the child is still very young. It would be unfair for that child to start his schooling in Nigeria without the proper command of the English language.

Also, the English language is the language that will carry the Nigeria Child into his professinal life. What type of job can someone do in Nigeria without any knowledge of English?

This has nothing to do with inferiority complex.

honeychild: well, as for me, my children speak English first. I cannot stand people who speak English with a very pronounced accent. I also agree with the poster who said It slows you down when you think in your native language and have to translate it into English.

Languages have different structures. Constantly translating from our various native tongues to English is what is responsible for the way a lot of Nigerians 'murder' the English language- mixing up our tenses and generally speaking atrocious English. Since my kids need to speak good English to excel at school, work and business, that is the language they will have to think in.

honeychild: well, as for me, my children speak English first. I cannot stand people who speak English with a very pronounced accent. I also agree with the poster who said It slows you down when you think in your native language and have to translate it into English.

Languages have different structures. Constantly translating from our various native tongues to English is what is responsible for the way a lot of Nigerians 'murder' the English language- mixing up our tenses and generally speaking atrocious English. Since my kids need to speak good English to excel at school, work and business, that is the language they will have to think in.

OCTAVO: Personally, I was raised by my parents to speak our local dialect from childhood, now I'm an adult and I'm not doing bad at all when it comes to speaking good English.
I wonder what the stress of these new generation parents is all about.
It's now like a competition amongst the Elites to raise their children to speak English thereby preventing these little kids from learning how to speak their local language fluently and efficiently.
This has become a general disease in our present generation and it's spreading too fast!
If we the oldies never learnt our local languages, our local languages would have gone extinct.
Must we now allow our own local languages to fade off just because of modernization?
Now my question is this:
Is there any special importance attached to raising a child to speak English language in Nigeria?

Acidosis: It haff do

come and be going

shebi i ask you not to take it

NEPA have bring light...




All these jargons are products of these I-must-teach-my-child-english @ home..
Nowadays, parents who never learnt the rudiments of english in toto now wants to teach the language by fire, by force...

Some of my yoruba friends back then at school who couldn't speak yoruba language didn't excel beyond those who speak.. Infact they often feel cheated.

Some people found help via these languages..

Even the languages you speak matters when applying for certain jobs.

If you must teach your child the british language (leaving the mother tongue for the 'old schools') please stop giving/calling/identifying them with indigenous/local names e.g Bolanle, Chukwuka, Emeka, Akpos, Osaze, Musa, etc.. It will only make you a dunce, hypocrite.,

greatgod2012: In my own opinion, i think not allowing your children speak your indigeneus language is like telling them, indirectly, that, you are not proud of your tribe and its language, atleast, if you are proud of a thing, you will want people to identify you with that thing, and i notice that its mostly common with we yorubas, you can hardly find an igbo or hausa kids, who will not be proud to speak their indigenous languages, even, in public places, but, we yorubas,......hhhhmmmmm, may God help us.

Well, in my own house, we (hubby and i) ensure that our children understand our language very well, infact, its a rule that........
1. You must know the yoruba meaning of whatever you are talking about, so anytime they see a new thing, which they know its english name, i tell them the yoruba meaning and ask them to address the thing in yoruba for a whole week, except in school.
2. Once i speak to you in yoruba, you must respond in yoruba, and it has helped them a great deal to speak the language fluently.


The mistake our people makes is that, once a child speaks totally in English, it makes the child a brilliant child, which is not true sometimes, or even most times, i remember one of my secondary school mates, who could speak english like mad, but repeated S.S1 three time, and the fourth time, she was advised to withdraw, because it was a laid down rule in my school then, that, once a student repeat a class three times, and she also repeat the fourth time, she would be advised to withdraw, but, you need to know this girl, then, even, oyinbo man could not speak english fluently as she used to, but, gbogbo e.....odo ni.
@all, lets all embrace our indigenous languages, and also encourage our kids to embrace it. teni n teni, takisa ni t'aatan.
May God help us.

i-smoke-weed:


this is a very delicate matter. But in reality its quite simple.

IF YOU LIVE IN A RURAL ENVIRONMENT AND HAVE VARIOUS TIES TO TRADITIONAL MATTERS then it is wise to teach your children to speak their native language more fluently than english but IF YOU LIVE IN THE CITY OR ABROAD then you will need to make them more fluent in english that their native languaga.

some children can be very fluent in both classes but they are the SPECIAL ONES and this can only be realized when they have achieved maturity.

these days people make use of the english language in everything official. Even before an individual is accorded an audience the factors of looks, intelligence & diction are very important.

you being a parent are supposed to lead the child, so it is safe to say that you will mould that child to be what he will be tomorrow.

so the question is this . . . WHAT LANGUAGE DO YOU BELIEVE WILL BENEFIT YOUR CHILD MORE IN FUTURE ?

as for me, i just cant imagine myself raising an 'MGBÈKÈ' (as the ibo's call them) and call him/her my child in this day and age

dhrey: olodo,english is our 2nd language.

Acidosis: If you must teach your child the british language (leaving the mother tongue for the 'old schools') please stop giving/calling/identifying them with indigenous/local names e.g Bolanle, Chukwuka, Emeka, Akpos, Osaze, Musa, etc.. It will only make you a dunce, hypocrite.,

nuelnuel: Urdu is not common language in India.it is common in Pakistan not India

nene1: Hello all,

I think it is equally important for the child to learn both languages. Like another poster said, English is the commercial language of the world and most popular with French 2nd. For almost any job, unless you live in a country where English is not the official language, you need to know English. It is very useful worldwide. What I plan on doing when I get married and start a family is teach my child both. Maybe my husband will speak English to our children when they are young and I will speak to them in our native language. When they begin school and get a chance to speak English everyday with their peers, then we will transition to speaking our native language completely in our home. If my husband happens to be from another ethnic group, we will begin with English until the child begins school. Then we will both begin to speak in our diff native languages to the kids. I think when they are very young is the best time to each them English and their native language. They absorb everything better then.

One can be very well versed in your language and culture while at the same time being modern. You can be fluent in many languages. As the world is becoming more globalized, it helps to learn many languages. I think for international use, knowing both English and French is very helpful.

naijababe:


Gimme a high five man!

Siena:

As long as the parents that choose to teach their children English first and foremost are happy, their children are happy, why should you worry?

sansan13: its really sad, me and my siblings that were born in america ( still live in us) can speak our native language my parents make sure we speak it at home and we can also speak english pretty well. I was surprise that most of my cousins back in nigeria dont know how to speak our native language, whenever i talk to them i always speak my native language mix with english but they can never speak it. i was so embarrassed for them.

OCTAVO: Personally, I was raised by my parents to speak our local dialect from childhood, now I'm an adult and I'm not doing bad at all when it comes to speaking good English.
Is there any special importance attached to raising a child to speak English language in Nigeria?