Are u Yoruba or ishan? I think you are product of single parent. No insult meant.

Just because he doesn't speak his native language at home?

This is too harsh. Calm down

eldee:

None taken . . . but I think this is what happens when English is not introduced in the formative years of childhood.

I clearly noted that I grew up in a Yoruba state . . . and then I pointed out that my mum's native language is Ishan.
I don't think there's any line from the first poster that says I have to give out personal info on my private life to put forward my point of view.
It's Mother tongue Vs Lingua Franca not 'Tell the whole of the world where your parents are from'

Did the original poster ask you to tell us where you grew up and where your mother came from. Maybe your father is English if at all you know where he came from.

damola1:

The reason why I believe most people wish to speak english is to feel among.

I must state this, what made me very strong, against all forms of peer pressure is my ability to stick be ME, one way or another I loved and still love speaking Yoruba, even in formal gatherings, that uniqueness in itself, gives me a ground to distinguish myself from the lot, and most importantly believe in myself.

No matter what, They need this language to know they are different from uncle smith, that way, they might find it as a source of strength to pull out from what they believe they do not represent.

As a Lagos boy, oh boy, you cannot do without your local language, in fact you are screwed,

Peer pressure huh? ?

I only speak English, I do not bow to peer pressure. They have nothing to do the each other.

I agree with users with "Both & Mixture" dats true, i think Mother Tongue should be done at Home while children will learn English at School.

having a sense of belonging and being true to your roots n origin is vital. . with that said;

i dont believe its compulsory to speak a native language to your kids as a primary language. in my opinion it should be at a ratio of 8:2 (english: native) . this way, they build a solid foundation in english and they still can communicate in the native language when neccesary.

lets face it; being proficient in your mother tongue is good, but definitely not at the expense of quality english skills. we need to see beyond our noses atimes. its a no-brainer for an employer to pick an eloquent candidate at an interview over a half-baked-english speaking one, even though they have equal qualifications.

always think in the context of the "world". truth be told, there are 1 too many nairalanders who will find it impossible to cope on a truly international forum, coz no one will take them seriously after consistent typing of gibberish, even after graduating college. Then when they find themselves abroad, they develop the hugest inferiority complex, owing to poor english. if thats not a handicap, tell me what is.

hiding under the cloak of patriotism, to justify the fact that you come off as semi illiterate isn't good enough, so save your kids from  feeling inferior in the future.

st-kris:

having a sense of belonging and being true to your roots n origin is vital. . with that said;

i dont believe its compulsory to speak a native language to your kids as a primary language. in my opinion it should be at a ratio of 8:2 (english: native) . this way, they build a solid foundation in english and they still can communicate in the native language when neccesary.

lets face it; being proficient in your mother tongue is good, but definitely not at the expense of quality english skills. we need to see beyond our noses atimes. its a no-brainer for an employer to pick an eloquent candidate at an interview over a half-baked-english speaking one, even though they have equal qualifications.

always think in the context of the "world". truth be told, there are 1 too many nairalanders who will find it impossible to cope on a truly international forum, coz no one will take them seriously after consistent typing of gibberish, even after graduating college. Then when they find themselves abroad, they develop the hugest inferiority complex, owing to poor english. if thats not a handicap, tell me what is.

hiding under the cloak of patriotism, to justify the fact that you come off as semi illiterate isn't good enough, so save your kids from  feeling inferior in the future.

Because someone is not fluent in english doesnt mean he/she is semi illiterate, otherwise, you should visit china sometime and see what the so-called semi illiterate are doing for themselves.

@topic

I was raised speaking Igbo and my two local dialects. My parents even went further to christen me with only Igbo names. I have never been so grateful to them for these gestures.
However, it told a little bit on me in the high school as I was constantly mocked even by my Igbo friends. But now, my american friends get angry and wonder why I would deny coming from the USA.

I now speak fluent Igbo and American english, two local dialects, a bit of yoruba and hausa, Chinese and a bit of korean. Village champion turned world champion if you ask me.
My kids must first learn Igbo before any other language.

Ara ga agba ndi ara.

@home and everywhere: Speak your Native Language.

But in a setup like Naija, will that work? How are we going to understand ourselves in public etc?

In my opinion, it should be ratio 1:1, if we can know as much of our native language and value them as we do english language then we can create a better living starting from home.

My kids will learn, understand and speak YORUBA @ home, let them learn their English from school. I live in America, I can't afford my kids not learning their mother tongue (I need to be able to ba won wi, and talk to them in Yoruba when they are misbehaving while with their oyinbo friends, na d koko be dat). I lived in Ilorin and yoruba was primary language @ home, never got any accent and my English is fluent and good to go. I think havin an accent depends on the environment the child grows up in.

Mother tongue my mother is edo my dad is ekiti i can communicate in both cos my mom made up her mind to learn yoruba and now she speaks very well to the extent that she knows the adages in yoruba so i had no choice but to learn both properly
I would advise everyone learn as many as possible but what ever the case is atleast learn your own mother tongue

i dont know where u got ur philosophy of changing their language to enslave them, when u use to like igbos

because they speak igbo to their children does it realy make any different now that u dont like them again becos

they dont do what u like., to hell with what u like. the most importhant thing in liife is success, fufilling ur dream in

life, if u need hausa language to be great go for it, if u need latin go for it. barak obama cannot speak kenyan

language yet kenyans are quick in telling the world that he is their own

chikeobi:

Did the original poster ask you to tell us where you grew up and where your mother came from. Maybe your father is English if at all you know where he came from.

I don't know if I explained this before . . . I don't care if you think I'm from a single-parent family
If your clearly illiterate reasoning cannot help you grasp the fact that I was talking of the two strongest agents of socialisation, then believe whichever one helps you sleep at night.
As I said before . . . Anglais is your problem, and maybe semi-illiteracy too

nuzo:

Because someone is not fluent in english doesnt mean he/she is semi illiterate, otherwise, you should visit china sometime and see what the so-called semi illiterate are doing for themselves.

In countries like the US, Nigeria and the UK, where the going through school system is based on your ability to communicate effectively in English, anything less that fluent Anglais is worse than semi-illiteracy, it's a disability.
Why not give your kids the advantage of having the most widely spoken language in the world as their basic language??

And you can't use China as your example, English is not their lingua franca
Ever wondered why they're confined to Engineering when they step out of their territory.
English is the world's business language, we're lucky the British colonised us.

My take on this.

Speak your mother tongue very fluently and speak other languages not too fluently or with heavy accent, No shame in this.
Speak other languages fluenlty and with flawless accent but speak your mother tongue not too fluently or without the proper accent/tonality, Lotta shame in that.

I'm not one who gets put off by accent or tonality. Think on it a bit.

How many French, Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian e.t.c citizens pride themselves on being able to speak proper English without tonality while LIVING or RAISED in their native country talk less of prioritising that over their handle of the local lingo. Most they do is just make sure their English is passable. And of course thats just the ones that care to be bothered. That don't make them less cultured or civilised none.

Whats more, the so called English speakers "U.k, U.S, Canada" aren't even bothered that a foreigner speaks English with alot of foreign accent. In fact they expect it. Its only in Nigeia that we choose to embarass ourselves or others by feeling superior or inferior cuz we speak English with alot of accent or poorly.

An Englishman will respect a foreigner alot if He/She can speak flawless English but the moment they realise that it took priority over efficacy in the local lingo, they automatically feel you have placed their culture and language over yours and that fuels their superiority complex which really doesn't need more fanning thereby causing them to look down on your culture and tradition.

I can only speak english. Not my fault if i do say so.I would say that it's the fault of my parents.They don't care to speak their languages to us at all.All we speak is english.Worse of all is that whenever i tell my dad to try speaking his language to us,he turns a deaf ear.The funniest thing is that if i tell my mum the same,she'll speak her own dialect for 2 minutes and then revert back to english.Personally,i'm thinking of travelling to my village for some time so that i can become acquainted with my culture and my dialect.

Mistiky:

How many French, Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian e.t.c citizens pride themselves on being able to speak proper English without tonality while LIVING or RAISED in their native country talk less of prioritising that over their handle of the local lingo. Most they do is just make sure their English is passable. And of course thats just the ones that care to be bothered. That don't make them less cultured or civilised none.

Whats more, the so called English speakers "U.k, U.S, Canada" aren't even bothered that a foreigner speaks English with alot of foreign accent. In fact they expect it. Its only in Nigeia that we choose to embarass ourselves or others by feeling superior or inferior cuz we speak English with alot of accent or poorly.

An Englishman will respect a foreigner alot if He/She can speak flawless English but the moment they realise that it took priority over efficacy in the local lingo, they automatically feel you have placed their culture and language over yours and that fuels their superiority complex which really doesn't need more fanning thereby causing them to look down on your culture and tradition.

I'll have to disagree with you there
As I said before, you can't use Germany, Spain and China as yardsticks
These are strong nations with the same language from border to boder, Nigeria is not like that
Even the budget is handed out in Anglais, English is a unifying language in Nigeria. Ishan is useless immediately you step out of Edo state.
Why risk your kid's fluency for something as baseless as that?? Am I less Yoruba cus I don't speak the language??

I think the most comparable country to nigeria in this circumstance is india.

However this ascent thing we keep hammering about just makes me laugh.Indians at the present moment are regarded high in IT,business and medical fields around the moment.I wonder how their Hindi induced ascent affects their competency .

Most indians i knoew speak passable english.

@ Eldee

China has aloooooooottttttttttt of dialects. I have not implied that it's wrong to be fluent in English, it's even more imperative in Nigeria cuz as you rigthly pointed out, its the official lingo. What i'm sayin is, on a scale of preference, English MUST come second to the local dialect and as regards the topic, if you are financialy sufficient and you can afford to send your kids to good schools, where will they pick up the local lingo seeing as they'll be thought in English and their friends would prolly come from homes where English is the main lingo too (Ajebutas). That limits their exposure to the local lingo which is where the problem lies.

NO MATTER the circumstance, The mother tongue SHOULD NOT take a backseat to English lingo. There's no upside to that. It's a traditional Erosion.

@Mistiky and Asha
I agree with you to an extent, but you need to see where I'm coming from
Indians united and enforced a decree that makes it illegal to run important processes, like the law-making and the budget in English
Before that, they chose one, that's Hindi, to be the official language . . . this annoyed minorities but with social solidarity, they made it happen
Same with China, there's a constant effort by the government to enforce a standard Chinese

But this is not the same wiv Nigeria, Nigeria is an amalgamation of three potential nations
Choosing one as an official language will be difficult, the strenght of a language depends on where it's used
All Nigerian languages are only used in informal circles, hence the 'erosion'

Most Indians speak with an accent.

one of the greatest men in the world Nelson Mandela speaks with an accent so what is this thing about having an accent.

I saw Mutombo Speak on TV recently and I so much love his Congo accent unlike Babatunde and Sikira who form a foreign accent.

Blow your Language

dayokanu:

Most Indians speak with an accent.

one of the greatest men in the world Nelson Mandela speaks with an accent so what is this thing about having an accent.

the emphasis isnt on having an accent. its bout being eloquent in english. everybody has an accent, but its only evident with location. so if a brit, chinese, nigerian etc come over to the US, i'll say he has an accent. n likewise they'l say i have an accent if i visit these places. the point is; theres nothing wrong in having an accent as far as it does not make it difficult for one to understand what d heck u'r saying. i dont think any one has ever found it difficult comprehending nelson mandela's speech.

I grew up in a home where both English and Yoruba were being spoken. It was combined effortlessly, and now my siblings and I are fluent with both. As at the time I started learning Yoruba in school, there was almost nothing new to me. Yet I was doing excellently in English classes.

A lot of parents have the misconception that teaching their children their mother tongues will end up having a bad effect on their English. But I was never really "taught" Yoruba. I just leart it because people around me were speaking it.

As for the accent thing, it is true that everyone on this earth has an accent, but sometimes when you hear some Nigerians speak English, you can tell Nigerian language they speak, and I think that's the extreme (and maybe not so appealing) aspect of accents.

I think we should get a mixture of both. Yoruba, ibo or hausa is not a major language. You need english, french or spanish to be able do business Internationally!!

Makes sense.

@Eldee
Speaking english doesn't make one literate or otherwise. Itz just inferiority complex that drives us to try and speak english more than the english themselves.
I only asked you a question on my two previous posts, its either you answer or you skip it as a literate person. But you posts in responce to ma questions shows you are not.

Why risk your kid's fluency for something as baseless as that?? Am I less Yoruba cus I don't speak the language

Being fluent in your native lang can't prevent you from being fluent in english or german unless your brain capacity is low. Can't you see it that a fellow yoruba man that is fluent in both english and yoruba is more advantaged than you in a yoruba gathering while you don't have any adv. over him in an english gathering. Maybe Yoruba gathering matters not as far as you are concerned.

It is indeed a pity that this is where we have found ourselves. Our mothertongues in this country are gradually being eroded. I wonder what will happen in the next 10 years.

I encourage parents to teach their children how to communicate in our local languages.

- Abiodun Mabadeje

@dayokanu
It is not about the accent . . . it's about fluency in communication, getting your point across
This Mandela you're talking about speaks fluent English, we cannot say that about our dear chikeobi

chikeobi: But you posts in responce to ma questions shows you are not

Is this anglais?? This is just sad . . . and to think this is only written English.

@topic
If we are going to try the 'Rebranding the Culture' thingy, risking our childrens' lives is not the best way to do it.

Why don't we start from enforcing National History and Nigerian Languages in the primary school syllabus like the UK does with Shakespeare??
Or why didn't we make a law immediately after independence to make Hausa the official language to be used in the Senate and House of Reps like India??
And yeah, basing the whole school structure on Igbo would help like China.
But nah, we're here trying to punish our children for mistakes our founding fathers made.

We're not talking bout using the two here, we're talking bout which one stands as the basic language, the one used in early cognitive processes.
We need to make English the language Junior thinks in, we might feed the rest to him as he grows up mentally.
It's simple, favouritism has to go to the one that will help him assimilate things quicker in school, get him a job and create an Obama.
It's been argued that Cockney English is more artistic and poetic that the BBC version, but the BBC one is more useful as it helps you in formal circles. . . c'est fini

The question of the poster actually has three possible angles:

1. Wanting to know what others think about which is better spoken at home or

2. Which is most spoken in homes or

3. Which should be most spoken at homes.

Perhaps the poster needs to be specific a bit.

In my own opinion, both is very important. My reasons for saying this is because for one, if one can only speak his mother tongue, it does not help communication-wise when he/she goes out of the country to other countries where where English is the mother tongue. Another point is this, in Nigeria, as well as in most countries, no one becomes educated with his/her mother tongue considering English Language is the method of instruction in our schools.

Most people, especially Americans see most Nigerians as people that can't communicate in English. When they see that we can, they're surprised and more respect is given to us. I've had an experience like that myself. Just like Eldee said, it's not the accent, it's about fluency in communication, getting your point across. But outside Nigeria, you can't get your point in our native tongue can you? No.

So y'all can make your judgments,

I am yet to see any human being that does not respect himself but yet is respected by others.

Lets face the facts, the vast majority of people that refuse to speak mother tongue to their child do so because of inferiority complex (want to seem posh, and not seen as 'bush'). The secondary one is the belief that the child will not get far if they don't come across as highly westernised.

I will speak only Yoruba to my kids at home because it is important for a human being to know and feel they belong somewhere, and being able to speak the language helps. No doubt they will learn English as they will have to go to school, so learning English is inevitable.

In regards to them not being able to speak English fluently because it was not spoken to them at home, that to me is clunking bollocks.

I spoke Yoruba at home, learnt English in school and read novels in english. I am a horibble linguist. I mean horrrrrrrrrible linguist. I can't learn another language apart from the two I already know. But yet, I have always got the highest mark for any English test, even for exams set by UK-based examination boards.

Also, I have lived in the UK for years now. I am not the type to be blowing fone to please anybody or to assume some stuuuuuuppid accent to prove I am UK-based. When I speak to non-Nigerians, they normally have absolutely no clue where I am from because I have no British (be it Queen's, cockney) accent, American accent or African accent. I speak clean english, to the point people tend to ask me "where are you from"?

I am able to communicate with the most advance white person in a business environment in such a way that it has never affected my progress career wise. So I think, I stand as evidence that the secondary reason of not speaking the mother tongue to your child is weak. I have a solid foundation in English despite speaking Yoruba at home and growing up in Yoruba state and being utterly useless in learning languages. Also, I didn't even go to posh expensive private schools in Nigeria, I went to ordinary schools.

And when I come across an English word I have a problem pronouncing perfectly, do you know what I do? . . . . . . . . . . . . I ask my white colleagues what the right pronounciation is. No shame, I am a super confident human being! They respect me even more! The way you carry yourself and speak sense is what will get you respect, not your tonality. Mandela, Achebe, Ban ki Moon, Aung San Suu Kyi, Yunus, Lashkmi Mittal all have an accent but they are globally respected.

Most white people are comfortable with people not being fluent in English as long as they understand them because they know it is not the mother tongue. The only time they might be uncomfortable is when it involves a job that is client-facing, there is a threshold they will look for whether you are African, Spanish or Chinese.

Can you guess the people that have a problem with non-fluency and will laugh at a black man for not being fluent in English but will not laugh at a Chinese, Turkish or Italian? . . . . . . . . You guessed it, the inferiority complexed race people.

I am even reading someone here advocating not speaking mother tongue to your child is globalisation.  

You know what, why don't we even change the names of our town's and cities to English names to know we are adapting to globalisation.  

Let my hometown Sagamu (or Sagamu-ewa if you want to be conc) be changed to Sagasville, Sagingham or Sagahampton to satisfy this dude's interpretation of globalisation. 

100% local language to my child at home except non-yorubas are present. School will take care of English sufficiently.

I still hate til this day that I cannot speak any of the conc Yoruba dialects like Ijebu, I speak only clean Yoruba.

mactao: As for the accent thing, it is true that everyone on this earth has an accent, but sometimes when you hear some Nigerians speak English, you can tell Nigerian language they speak, and I think that's the extreme (and maybe not so appealing) aspect of accents.

Inferiority complex at its worst.

I didn't know I should be ashamed of where I am from.

But I bet, if I spoke with Queen's English, you will be grinning from left to right and become servile.

Honestly, I can't believe someone typed this.

Dr. Lorenz:

Just like Eldee said, it's not the accent, it's about fluency in communication, getting your point across.

And being nurtured in your mother tongue will affect your fluency in communication with English?

I believe Mandela was nurtured in his mother tongue, so was Wole Soyinka, so was Nuhu Ribadu, so was Kofi Annan, so was Bayo Ogunlesi (Bayosphere).

lol at sagamite.the level of inferiority complex of nigerians is alarming  

eldee:

this anglais?? This is just sad . . . and to think this is only written English.

Lol stop cluching at straws. Did i tell you am an English man? Yes i can make mistakes likewise every other person including Queen herself.
Get over the complex that is eating your confidence dude. Am not the type that digs out typographic errors so keep on.
You can as well change your family name to McDonald and bleech yourself itz all globalization.

i really think it's better to be fluent at speaking English than at any Nigerian language. whether we like it or not, our languages are gradually going extinct with inter tribal marriages, modernization etc. In USA and the UK most persons speak only English, yet these are two of the most developed and powerful nations in the world. who needs igbo or yoruba or efik anyway??

Ekychiz:

i really think it's better to be fluent at speaking English than at any Nigerian language. whether we like it or not, our languages are gradually going extinct with inter tribal marriages, modernization etc. In USA and the UK most persons speak only English, yet these are two of the most developed and powerful nations in the world. who needs igbo or yoruba or efik anyway??

Erm . . . . . . . . . sorry, you are wrong.

Latinos are burning up there Spanish in USA. I went to Maimi once and right from the airport anyone that I approached started with Spanish when speaking until I have to tell them I did not understand.

In the UK, the Scottish are trying their very best to retain/revive Gaellic, whilst the Welsh are doing the same with Welsh.

They are white and are not giving up on their language and adopting the language of their neighbours. Do we have to get to where they are before we realise our mistake.

No doubt it might be more beneficial financially to be fluent at speaking English than at any Nigerian language but it is possible to be fluent at both just like German kids, Arab kids, Greek kids, Italian kids, Spanish kids, Urdu kids, Hindi kids, Chinese kids that are in the UK are fluent in English and their mother tongue.

The main way these groups achieve this bilinguality is by ensuring the kids picked up the mother tongue throw conversations at home as the schools and society forced them to pick up English anyway.

Only the inferiority complexed race (Black, especially Africans) decides that they need to dump their languages and adopt another before they feel good about themselves and you see their kids blowing fone in the UK and might even speak Spanish/French (to the glee of the parents) but knows nothing about his mother tongue.