I could speak my language "Yoruba" fluently and I also learnt how to speak Igbo very well. I still wish to learn some foreign languages like Japanese,French,spanish & dutch ! Though I av so little idea in portuguese. Am a language freak so I do learn within a short while !

Xplicit1:


Right (abi)?
Assuming I will c sombodi to teach me now.

Ur parents nko? Well tym & interest/dedicatn wil c u thru

Urhobo and a proud speaker!

Emo re urhobo wadoo!!

Solodegreat24: English is gud but knowing ur native language is largely important.

pls wot is nw the importance of native languages? Do u knw hw many languages go extinct each day? If I'm an ibo man staying in the north, wot is nw the importnce of learning my native dialect wen I can't use it to communicate with the people around? Nigerians re too tribalistic, until we realize this, no progress.

drnairalov: My broda there re plenty regrets ooo.....and it hurts when i see outsiders speaking my language fluently... I just have to push my self to d limit speaking dis yoruba dat hss refused to stay in my mouth...am not full yoruba tho...am mixed breed ..mayb daz why i cant speak it fluently...i have dis Igbo tunation when am speakin..smh smh..choi!!! na for skul i suffer pass wen i had to write WAEC!!! funny enough i carry C4 for the course...how dat magic tey happen i no sabi.

But dammit Yoruba is hard one kain sha...!! if only d tunation wasnt dere *crying..m so used to english and pidgin

. Where did u grow up?

I can communicate on a basic level with my mother tongue. But I always wish I can do better and I'm taking steps towards improving. My last visit to my home town made me feel bad...person go blast me conc Igbo and I'll be like

Chaiii...Una just wan fall my hand abi? Diaris God ooo.

It pains me alot.. As easy as My language is, I can only undastnd few. To speak kobo I no sabi #Team_ITsekiri

my language my pride.
my name my identity.
if i dont speak my language,what else will i do?
the first thing u will notice about me is my passion for my people n culture.
ikpa udo,da ndo ata eyen akwa ibom.
nkemana do,mkpon do.
then amigh nde ata aju ekid.
afia anwe mme esit urua-ekid

johndwayy: So wot is now d advantage and pride in knowing hw to speak and undastands ones mother tongue? Pls u guys shud enumerate 5 major importance and advantages of speaking and understanding your mother tongue.,if nt majorly for d purpose of favouritism, tribalism and corruption especially here in nigeria. English ,which is our official language and the mother tongue of the british pipo is spoken across Uk and the US, Are they nt progressing more than us in all areas? I'm nt trying to rubbish our native languages oh, bt I want us to see the unity in our diversity and nt trying to promote our tribes above the rest cos that will always bring resentment and hatred.

Btw...I can speak and understand 2 major languages in the south-south, bt I can't see any importance or pride in it other than tribalistic tendencies. So no regrets if u can't speak ur mother tongues.......I'm out.

I doubt very much that you can speak even English very well judging from your lazy spelling.
The main beauty in Languages lie in artistic forms; verse,poetry song and performance. Proverbs and idioms are the substance of any language and are learnt by native speakers whether literate of not with little effort.

The kind of effort required to be an expert user of English is intense and unnatural for most Nigerians. Very few Nigerians master the English language enough to understand its subtleties nuances clangs puns etc and so the usage among Nigerians is often purely technical, limited to basic communication but artistic elements are totally lost on many. Another dimension is worship but that is a debate for another day. If you observe Nigerian children under the age of 10 they have an extremely limited English vocabulary and this of course would stem from their parents' limited vocabulary.
e.g ask any Nigerian child in this group to give synonyms at least 5 for ; food,eat,seat,house,shoes,shirt, and most would struggle just like many of their parents. English then acts to disenfranchise the thinking of a whole people who lose their own language without gaining English
How many new nursery rhymes,children's songs,stories etc are developed in Nigeria. Certainly our own children's stories always have an accompanying "soundtrack". And what about our drumming are we now to start drumming to English rhythms?
There are patterns of thought that are native to a particular language,idea forms that are native and cannot be translated satisfactorily. We see some of these in "Nigerian English" but then Nigerian English has not been standardized. Expressions like "fly wey no hear word na him dey follow dead body enter ground" or "use your teeth to count your tongue" have pure resonance in their native forms and are stilted and unnatural when rendered in English. In Nigeria and other Asian culture indirect speech i.e the use of idioms proverbs is considered a very high art in contrast to the "direct" approach of English. I think these all reflect the richness of the human mind in sharp contrast to the simpleness and poverty of a mind that produced your "offering" above

i can speak hausa to some extent(i stay in zaria), and also speak yoruba fluently, i speak english but i understand words in my dialet(owe) but i just cant speak them out...though i have improved. I am learning the language to teach my children also.

Come to think of it, the Hausas rarely have this problem- speak Hausa to a small Hausa kid anywhere, however educated the parents are, u can be sure of getting a response in d same language. I have come to respect them for this & I think it's worthy of emulation. Met an Hausa guy born & living in France & d guy cld blow Hausa like mad!

oladoya: this is what OMOALE looks like.

u need to add JATI JATI to it gan sef

well,I can't really say there are regrets but it's quite embarrassing @ times. The issue now is I totally have my parents to blame for this because ever since I was born I can't remember my father ever speaking to me or any of his children in Ibo(our language) same with my Mom. The annyoing thing is My Dad speaks yoruba and Ibo very fluently den a lil hausa; and my Mom on d other hand is very fluent in both yoruba and edo language. D only one lucky amongst us siblings, is My elder sis who was born in lag & spent her early years there so she was able 2 pick d basics of d lang; so she undstnds when pple speak it bt can't communicate fluently in it.

johndwayy:
Bros abeg help me ask dem

There have been cases where "jx speaking ur mother tongue" was the advantage in securing a contract.

Where highly placed men who will nt look at ur face give u a helping hand jx because u spoke their native language.

IT HAS SO MANY ADVANTAGES OOOO

I regret it. Language is very important where I work. My husband speaks our language passably but refuses to speak it to our kids. I plan to relocate closer to home someday soon. Wont let my kids end up 'languageless' like me.

Ekiti Kete,In Okun O!
Aba ria a gbe a o!
I learnt, my kids are already learning fast.

i kinda regret not knowing how to speak my local dialect..
tho i do understand.. weird huhh?

I'd to learn other intl languages to compensate for it...i must confess..I'm not so regretting anything no more

johndwayy:
pls wot is nw the importance of native languages? Do u knw hw many languages go extinct each day? If I'm an ibo man staying in the north, wot is nw the importnce of learning my native dialect wen I can't use it to communicate with the people around? Nigerians re too tribalistic, until we realize this, no progress.

what a myopic view!

The chinese are very tribalistic too shey?

[size=16pt]YES[/size]

Charlesamino:
#Team Urhobo too, i no mind ur assistance o. U based thr? hardly c dm arnd ota region

Lol...I base in lag o. was in Delta last weekend, I felt so ashamed of myself wen I saw children as young as 5 yrs old speaking d language fluently

Cheekah212: well,I can't really say there are regrets but it's quite embarrassing @ times. The issue now is I totally have my parents to blame for this because ever since I was born I can't remember my father ever speaking to me or any of his children in Ibo(our language) same with my Mom. The annyoing thing is My Dad speaks yoruba and Ibo very fluently den a lil hausa; and my Mom on d other hand is very fluent in both yoruba and edo language. D only one lucky amongst us siblings, is My elder sis who was born in lag & spent her early years there so she was able 2 pick d basics of d lang; so she undstnds when pple speak it bt can't communicate fluently in it.

Don't blame anyone if you make an effort ( in particular spend some money) you will be surprised what you can achieve in the next 2 years.
This is a foreigner who came to Nigeria to learn Yoruba

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk1aPBazfjo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hTZ_mS7TsI

jayseehe:
my mama tell me say I be Igbo

U'r lost dude

Bros you are damn good, your use of English says it all more than the self acclaimed english grammarian you quoted.

To the topic, I am a proud Igbotic guy, no appologies.
Speak mostly Onitsha urban Igbo, though from Imo state, but flow in Orlu dialect when in the mist of my Orlu folks.

iwonbaoko: I doubt very much that you can speak even English very well judging from your lazy spelling.
The main beauty in Languages lie in artistic forms; verse,poetry song and performance. Proverbs and idioms are the substance of any language and are learnt by native speakers whether literate of not with little effort.

The kind of effort required to be an expert user of English is intense and unnatural for most Nigerians. Very few Nigerians master the English language enough to understand its subtleties nuances clangs puns etc and so the usage among Nigerians is often purely technical, limited to basic communication but artistic elements are totally lost on many. Another dimension is worship but that is a debate for another day. If you observe Nigerian children under the age of 10 they have an extremely limited English vocabulary and this of course would stem from their parents' limited vocabulary.
There are patterns of thought that are native to a particular language,idea forms that are native and cannot be translated satisfactorily. We see some of these in "Nigerian English" but then Nigerian English has not been standardized. Expressions like "fly wey no hear word na him dey follow dead body enter ground" or "use your teeth to count your tongue" have pure resonance in their native forms and are stilted and unnatural when rendered in English. In Nigeria and other Asian culture indirect speech i.e the use of idioms proverbs is considered a very high art in contrast to the "direct" approach of English. I think these all reflect the richness of the human mind in sharp contrast to the simpleness and poverty of a mind that produced your "offering" above

No regrets really, bc I can communicate and hear everything damn thing any1 would say in igbo - though am not fluent. Thanks to my aunt that brought me up, that woman can speak English o, e get d 1 she would speak then as a child...I would blackout briefly, trying to get the meaning. She come chook me for boarding sch, in a Yoruba land...and I hate not being able to hear what peeps around are saying- so I learnt Yoruba by force, coupled with all my yoruba bfs way back.

Titiluvly: [size=16pt]YES[/size]

Are u from Edo?

Brymo: I know how to 4 languages, but can't speak mine, funny.... I understands it though.

na which kain english be dis na?

iwonbaoko: I doubt very much that you can speak even English very well judging from your lazy spelling.
The main beauty in Languages lie in artistic forms; verse,poetry song and performance. Proverbs and idioms are the substance of any language and are learnt by native speakers whether literate of not with little effort.

The kind of effort required to be an expert user of English is intense and unnatural for most Nigerians. Very few Nigerians master the English language enough to understand its subtleties nuances clangs puns etc and so the usage among Nigerians is often purely technical, limited to basic communication but artistic elements are totally lost on many. Another dimension is worship but that is a debate for another day. If you observe Nigerian children under the age of 10 they have an extremely limited English vocabulary and this of course would stem from their parents' limited vocabulary.
e.g ask any Nigerian child in this group to give synonyms at least 5 for ; food,eat,seat,house,shoes,shirt, and most would struggle just like many of their parents. English then acts to disenfranchise the thinking of a whole people who lose their own language without gaining English
How many new nursery rhymes,children's songs,stories etc are developed in Nigeria. Certainly our own children's stories always have an accompanying "soundtrack". And what about our drumming are we now to start drumming to English rhythms?
There are patterns of thought that are native to a particular language,idea forms that are native and cannot be translated satisfactorily. We see some of these in "Nigerian English" but then Nigerian English has not been standardized. Expressions like "fly wey no hear word na him dey follow dead body enter ground" or "use your teeth to count your tongue" have pure resonance in their native forms and are stilted and unnatural when rendered in English. In Nigeria and other Asian culture indirect speech i.e the use of idioms proverbs is considered a very high art in contrast to the "direct" approach of English. I think these all reflect the richness of the human mind in sharp contrast to the simpleness and poverty of a mind that produced your "offering" above

All these pattern of thoughts, asian culture indirect speech and the others you mentioned above, if not understood by your listener or audience, makes communication defeated. A particular language or dialect is only peculiar to the people of that race and not to everybody, for you to communicate and interact with people, you have to speak what they understand. Why didn't you post your comment in your native dialect, cos you know I might not understand it- that's what I'm saying.
Have you noticed that pidgin english has gained widespread popularity and relevance in nigeria? What do you think is the reason?

An Ika boy, I used to speak it fluently though, but since I left home when I was barely 7.. I got to speak English most of the time and now I can hardly speak my dialect because my accent doesn't match with those that speaks it, though I still understand it really, but I speak English most of the time, & Pidgin periodically yeah, & been learning French for quite a while now been good, I hope to add spanish soon, but Hausa is a Cinch. All I need is to arrange it properly.

I am fluent in my mother tongue - Yoruba. I wish to learn Hausa and French. I am very happy that my two year old daughter can speak some words too, few weeks back I was at home and looking for my car key, I called to my wife - Kokoro moto yen da ( where is the key to the car ? ) and my daughter pointing to a place said - kokoro o ti jabo (the key fell there), I was surprised but my wife wasn't.
Secondly I have friends that are Igbo and they are both fluent in Igbo and Yoruba ( fluent as in when speaking any of the two, they don't mix it with English). Sometimes when we are in the cafeteria and conversing in Yoruba language some of our other friends who only speak Igbo and English would join us on the table and expect the language to switch to Igbo but I always insist we discuss in English that everyone understand. Sometimes also I might be discussing with someone who doesn't understand Yoruba and my folks would come flying Yoruba but I always reply them in English so that the person I am discussing or chatting with would not think we are insulting him/her.