bigfrancis21:
@Bold...I've given so much thought and done some research on this topic. On the contrary, Igbo language is a living language and still very strong. The language IS NOT dying even in the next 200 years. You've failed to notice that the only subset of Igbos who don't speak the language are children who were born outside Igbo land. However, as these children grow up they pick up the language. It is very rare to find an Igbo adult who isn't an Igbo speaker. I, myself, am an example. I didn't speak Igbo as a child. Me and my siblings. But I speak it fluently now as an adult.

Visit secondary schools round Igbo land, over 95% of school children communicate in Igbo. The ones who were raised with English only by their
parents adopt the language from their friends due to peer influence.

If there's any language in Nigeria that deserves such attention being given to Igbo, it should be Bini/Ishan language. Over 50% of Binis/Ishans, both young and old alike, don't speak the language. Many are sadly unable to construct a simple sentence in Bini/Ishan.

ochallo: If those languages were useful, they would not disappear, while languages are disappearing, people are learning other languages. The best thing you can do for your child is to teach him fluent English without the hausa or igbo accent(base language), chinese (second best option) , french or spanish*( third best), german or korean or greek or hindi (fourth category).


But if you want them to become local government chairmen and councillors because your vision is extreemely limited , then go ahead and employ a teacher to teach them the thickest , toughest dialect of your village.


P.s
Zoque-Ayapaneco, an indigenous Mexican language is considered the most likely to become extinct, because the only two people in the world that speak it fluently, do not talk to each other!

And, it's not because they live in different countries, states or even villages - In fact, Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez, both in their 70's, reside within 500 yards of each other, in the village of Ayapa in the Southern Mexican State of Tabasco. They however, refuse to converse because they simply don't have much in common. Segovia is apparently a little 'brusque' in nature whilst Velazquez is described as 'stoic'.

GeneralShepherd:

If you want you language to be relevant go into production.

The chinese exported Mandarin to world when they decided to be printing the user manuals of their products in Mandarin or in combination with other languages!

As long as Igbo,Hausa,Yoruba and other ethnicities in Nigeria do not contribute meaningfullly to global development and economy our languages will always be irrelevant.

Imagine if University Of Ibadan was ranked maybe 4th in the world university ranking,do you think foreign students that come there to learn will not pick up Yoruba. Thank you. We are too arrogant, and have contributed little to the advancement of science and technology today. Do you think Americans will be learning how to speak Chinese and Japanese if they were under developed consumers? Think about this.

Stop this black man mentality of demanding undue recognition!

1 shortblackboy: a whole latin is all but extinct na our own una dey talk. its all part of civilisation. nobody speaks d language of the ancient Eyptians either

Segeggs: Yoruba language is the best in africa.

ochallo: If those languages were useful, they would not disappear, while languages are disappearing, people are learning other languages. The best thing you can do for your child is to teach him fluent English without the hausa or igbo accent(base language), chinese (second best option) , french or spanish*( third best), german or korean or greek or hindi (fourth category).


But if you want them to become local government chairmen and councillors because your vision is extreemely limited , then go ahead and employ a teacher to teach them the thickest , toughest dialect of your village.


P.s
Zoque-Ayapaneco, an indigenous Mexican language is considered the most likely to become extinct, because the only two people in the world that speak it fluently, do not talk to each other!

And, it's not because they live in different countries, states or even villages - In fact, Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez, both in their 70's, reside within 500 yards of each other, in the village of Ayapa in the Southern Mexican State of Tabasco. They however, refuse to converse because they simply don't have much in common. Segovia is apparently a little 'brusque' in nature whilst Velazquez is described as 'stoic'.

Segeggs: Yoruba language is the best in africa.

Segeggs: Yoruba language is the best in africa.

sexkillzmother: no wonder my Igbo neighour's children preferring to speak Yoruba to Igbo here in Lagos. i dnt think Yoruba lang can fade away.

sbeezy8: ^^^ I said before that tribes assimilate into hausa and yoruba majority of the time- I was right

bigfrancis21:

I wonder why nairalanders paint a different picture from reality on nairaland.

There's no yoruba language in sierra leone. The descendants of former yoruba and Igbo ex-slaves who settled in Sierra Leone have mixed and are called Krio. They speak a language called Krio which is pidgin English language.

Also, Yoruba isn't spoken in Cuba and Brazil. It is only used as a liturgical language by santeria and candombele adherents who practise the religion just as catholics recite mass in latin. This population of this ifa-related worshippers is actually small compared to catholics, protestants etc in Brazil and Cuba. Brazil is a predominantly catholic country. Latin America or South America is catholic in population. As for day-to-day speaking of Yoruba in these countries, it is non-existent.

Jamaica doesn't practice ifa-related religions. They practice Obia instead which is a mix of Igbo's 'Obia or Dibia' and Akan's 'Obeyah' beliefs.

Lilimax: It is true the children may find it difficult to see whom to converse with in Igbo but let them understand the language first. Presently my son is speaking the language which he could not speak until I forced him to be responding in Igbo whenever we're discussing.
Again I'm considering adopting my parents style of training when me and my sibblings were growing up. We all went to Primary School in Lagos but were all sent to the East for our secondary schools.
Today, all of us can write and speak Igbo fluently.

Afam4eva:
I think this is a very good model cos the reason Igbo language is dying is because a lot of Igbos migrate out of their ancestral home. If we had at leat 90% of Igbos living or having lived in Igboland then most Igbos will know how to speak the language. Most people who speak Igbo today are people who are either 25 years and above or have lived measurably in Igboland.

ngozievergreen:

u mean 90% of Igbo stay outside d east?

Segeggs: Yoruba language is the best in africa.

macof:

Statistics show that Swahili is Africa's most recognized language.

Yoruba comes second

Segeggs: Indians love their language...their movies are in punjabvi language


hausas love their language...their movies are in hausa language


yorubas love their language...their movies are in yoruba language

IGBOs love their language...their movies are in ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Cluelessness

SPEED5: Op your statistics is unacceptable. I live in the east, and presently I shuttle owerri and aba. And I go to other eastern cities a lot.
What children ages 1-5, and ages 5 and upwards speak on the street is igbo. Igbo is the predominant means of communication in the east.
Its mostly children born in lagos that have challange some times with learning igbo.
Igbos born in the east speak igbo, so in the next 50 years igbo language will still be vibrant

Afam4eva:
The person you quoted says BEST and here you're saying MOST RECOGNIZED. Why don't you ask him what he means by BEST. And btw, the most recognized languages in Africa are Swahili and Hausa before any other.

ngozievergreen:

Please help me out.
I wonder what unesco think they speak in the east.
English?
Hia, in my sec sch, ppl that speak English because they were based outside igbo land, had the fewest friends and acquaintances

macof:

Hausa is second most spoken in African territories

Yoruba is second recognized in the sense that people learn it outside Africa, just little less than Swahili

ngozievergreen:

Please help me out.
I wonder what unesco think they speak in the east.
English?
Hia, in my sec sch, ppl that speak English because they were based outside igbo land, had the fewest friends and acquaintances

Freiburger: This calls for some concern. But we 've got a federal Ministry that should be taking care of this.

venous:
i di kwa sure?

venous:
i di kwa sure?

sexkillzmother: no wonder my Igbo neighour's children preferring to speak Yoruba to Igbo here in Lagos. i dnt think Yoruba lang can fade away.

Segeggs: how come we dont see them on shelves in places like idumota, alaba and even in alaigbo dat is pronounced aleegbo?