Veektour Stober: Mst tymz I feel vry bad dt I ws nt brut up wif ma own nativ lang. 'Igbo'.. Nw as an adult, 'm tryn hrd 2 put ma plac in ma nativ dialect. $ itz a promiz dt ma own childrn wil b brut up wif d igbo lang 1st b4 any oda lang. ...

icnsystem: It's widely believed in the west that sub-sahara African lack strong sense of identity.Though as a black African i found this analysis very insulting and repulsive.But a carefully reflection and study of our society will attest to the authenticity of this claim.Nowhere across the world where kids are forced to speak foreign languages and culture at the expense of mother's at home.
[b]Even ex-British colonies of India,pakistan,west-indies,e.t.c, children learn are raised with mothers language and culture their them very strong sense of identity.But Today in sub-sahara Africa,we these backward mentality that equate fluency in English as measure of intelligent quotient.That is the biggest lie and propaganda.A sub-Sahara African child raised at home with native language and culture are fare better in life intellectually & morally than the kids raised entirely with western values.Conduct your study before antagonising me.
Back in my days in school, we were told that speaking our native language was vernacular and we pay fine if anyone is caught speaking native language in class.That's the greatest fraud and blackmail accepted by our parents because they lack sense of identity.Most values we have are fast vanishing because our parents denied us values (not written)that reflect our heritage through our language which our identity.We know that written tradition is easier to pass to next generation than oral tradition.
Even if you have FIRST CLASS PHD in English or other foreign language there are still core socio-cultural values you cannot decipher from these foreign language.[/b] Not until i travelled to Europe,i never knew that the white man blackmailed us by telling us our language was vernacular and speaking queens English is sign of intelligence and accomplishments.What a fraud

Siena:

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

icnsystem: It's widely believed in the west that sub-sahara African lack strong sense of identity.Though as a black African i found this analysis very insulting and repulsive.But a carefully reflection and study of our society will attest to the authenticity of this claim.Nowhere across the world where kids are forced to speak foreign languages and culture at the expense of mother's at home.
[b]Even ex-British colonies of India,pakistan,west-indies,e.t.c, children learn are raised with mothers language and culture their them very strong sense of identity.But Today in sub-sahara Africa,we these backward mentality that equate fluency in English as measure of intelligent quotient.That is the biggest lie and propaganda.A sub-Sahara African child raised at home with native language and culture are fare better in life intellectually & morally than the kids raised entirely with western values.Conduct your study before antagonising me.
Back in my days in school, we were told that speaking our native language was vernacular and we pay fine if anyone is caught speaking native language in class.That's the greatest fraud and blackmail accepted by our parents because they lack sense of identity.Most values we have are fast vanishing because our parents denied us values (not written)that reflect our heritage through our language which our identity.We know that written tradition is easier to pass to next generation than oral tradition.
Even if you have FIRST CLASS PHD in English or other foreign language there are still core socio-cultural values you cannot decipher from these foreign language.[/b] Not until i travelled to Europe,i never knew that the white man blackmailed us by telling us our language was vernacular and speaking queens English is sign of intelligence and accomplishments.What a fraud

niyimat:

on point.

once upon a time in the the cradle town of ile ife, Osun state. The education stake holders decided to build a primary school with the objective of using the local language Yoruba to teach all subjects except during English language classes from classes 1-6.

Only few academias obliged to enroll their children. I was one of the first set of pupils that were enrolled, we were about 30 in class.

The result was phenomena. Yoruba language was used to perform wonders. mathematics, integrated science, social studies, physical education name them were taught with the Yoruba language. we can recite numbers 1-1000 in yoruba, read, write and understand essays in yoruba. It was so much fun, learning was easy.
many of my colleagues did excellently well in their various secondary schools. The SP in the secondary school that I attended was one of my primary school colleagues.

Even though the school still exist, am not sure if the method really last for a long time in the wake of Englishspeaking syndrome, and private schools springing up everywhere.

in a nutshell, am a proponent of using the mother tougue to start with an infant @least 60%. This will develop the child intellectually, more of the mother tougue and any other ones can follow.

safarigirl: Is it proper? No
Is it popular? Yes

The only thing I have against local language is that accent it could leave some kids with, so that even when such person is making an intelligent statement, it sounds like it's coming from an illiterate. So I guess a balance of both is better...teach the language, not the strong intonation that affects one's eloquence

naijababe:

I have never read anything more ludicrous on this forum. The sooner we begin to understand the importance of being secure in one's identity the better for us all.

EddyWorld: I found some posts a little bit amazing. Is it a crime in a country where English is the official language if one decides to raise his kids in English? I'm happy at least the poster said this is more common among the elites of the Nigerian society. That speaks volumes; maybe they know better and the more reason they are destined to rule. They understand the rule of the game and what it takes to be at the helm.

naijababe:

I take back my previous post. This is even more ludicrous

Siena: The age old debate again...

There's nothing wrong in teaching one's children to speak English in Nigeria. My parents actively encouraged it, and spoke English to myself and my siblings whilst we were growing up, my grandparents spoke to us in a native-pidgin mix.

The point remains parents are free to bring their children up the way they deem fit, there's no right or wrong. Native or English, everyone has a choice.

Afam4eva: There are so many slave wannabees on the thread. It's really sickening.

My grouse is not even that a lot of parents teach their kids English but the fact that they make a deliberate attempt to not make them speak their local language. Even when the kids go out of their way, the parents will puish their kid cos in their slave mind, learning a local language will spoil their English. This is ludicrous.

I think the government has to do something to nip this stupidity in the bud. They have to make it a must for you to be able to speak your language in order to gain admission into the university or to get a job.


Say NO to slavery.

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.

Even we Igbos think likewise
We use Yorubas and Hausas as example of people who value their cultures, and here's another Yoruba being wary, and making examples with Igbo and Hausa. And i'm sure that some Hausa peeps will also be thinking same.
This is one reason why neither of these languages will go into extinction even in the next 1000 years. Everyone is wary of the other. Noone wants his/her own to die while others live with theirs.

EddyWorld:


This is the most ridiculous thing and I bet you that such a bill will not even get a single vote in the House of Representatives. What has learning your local dialect got to do with academic performance in the university? This is 21st century and not the Stone Age. Please wake up!

EddyWorld:


This is the most ridiculous thing and I bet you that such a bill will not even get a single vote in the House of Representatives. What has learning your local dialect got to do with academic performance in the university? This is 21st century and not the Stone Age. Please wake up!

dayokanu:

Almost every Hispanic kid born in the US speak Spanish in addition to English

So what Stone age mentality are we talking about here?

Every Indian speaks their local language

So tell us what advantage a Nigerian born kid who speaks only English have over those who speak both English and their local language

EddyWorld:

Some of us are yet to embrace the diversity that Nigeria is made up. You forgot that these countries you mentioned have their national language or a common language. Do we have such? We are so different in different ways culturally in Nigeria that English as a common or 'so called foreign' language has found a natural acceptance. If you think some Yorubas are not encouraging their kids to communicate in their local language, go to PH where there are close to 20 different indigenous languages and see what go on in families and even in the work place. I worked in a top financial institution years back in PH that even banned the use of local dialects for very good reasons. So, would you call that slavery?

i-smoke-weed:


why do you think so? or are you also one of those people that write 'HAVE' and pronounce it as 'HAFF' ?

honeychild:

We are all entitled to our own opinions. I was raised speaking English as my first language. Around 7 or 8 my folks started to speak my native language to us. Today I speak both Yoruba (my native language) and Hausa fluently. (I grew up in the north). Sometimes I have to struggle for the Yoruba or Hausa equivalent of an English word but that has not detracted in any way from my academic or professional achievement.

I would rather stumble over a word in my native tongue than find myself in an exam hall or at a job interview struggling to find the right English word to express my Yoruba thoughts!

bebe2: Fact the nigerian languages is dying n, it will die! There are too many of them. If it was just 1 for the 160 million or even 10 then it might survive but "one kilometre meets another language??" Never, give it two more generation max n it will be extinct. The yoruba might survive a bit longer.

jidegirl12: @gabby you better start doing it on your own rather than waiting for grandparents before its too late.

I speak Yoruba to my kids even in school, wetin I wan say e do me when other parents ( mostly Indians and chincos) speak their native language to their Nationwide Spelling Bee champions.

Me: Bata eh da ( where are your shoes ?)
Kid: My shoe?
Me : en lo mu wa ( go get it in your cubby)
Kid: okay mom
Mom: ki lo fe je? ( what'd you guys want for supper?)
Kid: Pizza & salad

Can't speak yet but we will get there baby steps.

To each and his owns blah blah

Ish!

jidegirl12: Naijababe I will follow your footsteps on that one now, bribe abi, we are on they kneel down to greet everybody now , just unbearable hearing those knees clucking on hard surfaces but it's okay they'll learn.

Come see Chinese and East Indians toodlers speak their language at gymnastics changing room, I feel like knocking myself on the head sometimes.