eldav:
Doesn't apply to the northerners. These guys value their Hausa language more than English. They prefer to communicate using Hausa to the point that if you don't understand their language you become the illiterate in their eyes, not the other way round.

Even some lecturers will rather use Hausa than English to teach. I feel so much pity for other tribes, especially Igbos cos I'm one, who feel speaking their dialect is a let down.

Come to the north and see clean and pretty northern girls who feel very proud to speak their language, then go to the east and see if you can, even by mistakes, see a good number of ladies conversing using Igbo,not even in their dreams.

Parents ought to teach their kids their dialect FIRST before any foreign language.

northerners have a healthy complex. They are an extremely proud people. They genuinely don't believe that any language is superior to theirs.

eldav:
Doesn't apply to the northerners. These guys value their Hausa language more than English. They prefer to communicate using Hausa to the point that if you don't understand their language you become the illiterate in their eyes, not the other way round.

Even some lecturers will rather use Hausa than English to teach. I feel so much pity for other tribes, especially Igbos cos I'm one, who feel speaking their dialect is a let down.

Come to the north and see clean and pretty northern girls who feel very proud to speak their language, then go to the east and see if you can, even by mistakes, see a good number of ladies conversing using Igbo,not even in their dreams.

Parents ought to teach their kids their dialect FIRST before any foreign language.

thats y hausa is the most recognised nigerian laguage worldwide...its growing faster,alonside swahili....

my kids speaks Igbo fluently at home, its in school they learn and speak Igbo. am not among some women who feels inferior when their kids speak native language. we speak Igbo and am happy they have learnt it.

How many of these children can speak good English? Our English is battered with pidgin and slang.

For a parent to deny their children the opportunity to speak their language amounts to denial of their right to effective communication. Most of issues we now experience in our country today is not unconnected with this misplacement of values by parents.

How do you teach a child our African values like greetings,respect for elders, communal relationship, morals etc in English language? It will be ineffective.

Countries like China and Korea are developing and exporting their languages to the globe. These countries now teach difficult subjects like Quantum Physics in their languages.

If you love your child, allow him/her to speak your dialect effectively, then English.

dammy13:
In the past children spoke Nigeria’s indigenous languages namely Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa fluently and unashamedly. However, today, the complete opposite is the case. Kids can barely communication in Efik or Idoma without adding a bit of English. The consequences of this are that many of these languages are facing extinction while some of them have gone extinct.

A research that is cited by those concerned to lend credence to the import of indigenous languages is that of former Minister of education, Prof. Babs Fafunwa. The late Prof made a case for the native language as the medium of education for the first 12 years of the child’s life.

Through an organized native language education program, they discovered children taught in the Yoruba language performed better. Regardless, it has not changed the fortunes of these languages because kids have refused to communicate. In line with this, Kikiotolu.com shares reasons children are not speaking their native language.

1. Parents don’t speak the languages to them
Parents don’t speak their mother tongue to their children anymore. In fact, some of these parents when they go for attending events one of the best hotels in Lagos , they order their children not to speak the language. How can such a child learn the language? Parents should speak more to their kids in their mother tongue.

2. It is tagged vernacular
In some schools today, Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo among other languages are banned because they are considered vernacular. A child who speaks his or her mother tongue would be penalized. So from the formative years of these children, they already have the perception that speaking their mother tongue is bad.

3. They are uncivilized
Many people believe that you are uncivilized or local if you speak your mother tongue. So, in other to join the bandwagon and be accepted, they dish Ibibio for English. This is all in the name of being civilized. Children have also been caught in this web

4. It is not compulsory in primary and secondary schools
While English is compulsory in secondary schools today, the indigenous languages are not even though a child must study one of these languages. Children will think the languages are a joke. Hence, they won’t bother to learn or speak it.

5. Technology
The engagement or interaction of children with technology is entirely in English. Their smartphone, video games, laptop and other tech gadgets are in English. So since many of them spend so much time with these gadgets, they don’t have anything to do with the languages. This is a challenge to Nigerian developers to design tech gadgets in the indigenous languages.

http://www.kikiotolu.com/2017/03/5-reasons-nigerian-children-are-not.html

Lalasticlala Mynd44 seun Dominique

Add "mixed marriages" to the list. I am my wife are from different ethnicities. Our son speaks neither of our languages

true word...it pains me so much dat i cant speak my language fluently.... the system does not encourage our local language... including gvt and homes..every body wants to be oyibo

It is not the fault of parents who train their kids in English. It is the fault of Africa's post-colonial fathers. The decision was taken early on in the sixties to maintain the colonial set up as the legal basis for modern Africa. This was obviously due to comfortability with the status quo and fear of the unknown. This fear has done irreparable damage to many African cultures.

Take the example of Hausa. When Sultan Uthman Dan Fodio (a Fulani) carved out a majority Hausawa empire in 1800, he embarked on a modernization drive by introducing new laws, medicine, market reforms, regular policing, mandatory education etc. Hausa was adopted as official language of the Empire and madrassas were opened to teach islamic studies, writing, arithmetics etc. All of these were in the Hausa language in 1800...100 years before the British forcefully seized the territory.

A new Hausa language writing system called "Ajami" was introduced by Uthman, who was also very educated himself. Before his death, Sultan Uthman wrote over 200 books covering religion, philosophy, law, politics, international affairs, history etc. All of these in Hausa language using the ajami alphabets. I myself once saw a copy of an Uthman Dan Fodio book with an old "aboki" man I bought stuff from many years ago. The lettering could be mistaken for Arabic! This was an 80 years' old man, who was "illiterate" from my English language based viewpoint, reading a 200 year's old book written in a language to which I am illiterate!?! Who is the illiterate between the two of us?

The British ended ajami, introduced their own language with the Roman alphabets, gave us Shakespeare and suppressed Uthman and today (just like Herbert Ogunde's Mr. Johnson) we are too English to be Africans and too African to be English. We are the "Neithers", lost in the flux of an extended post-colonial dysfunction!

ideykwum:


Add "mixed marriages" to the list. I am my wife are from different ethnicity. Our son speaks neither of our languages

Because none of you is ready to give up his/her language. It is better for the child to speak one than not to speak at all. From experience, it is always easier for the child to speak the mother tongue. Encourage your wife to speak her language to your son.

I would not have learnt my language if not for my mum. All my dad did was speak English to me and my siblings.

Low self esteem and inferiority complex are the reasons why anyone would refuse speaking their native dialects. Africans and especially Nigerians are fond of discarding and seeing their culture as inferior. My dad is already speaking Bini to my child as little as he is. My wife is not Nigerian but speaks Bini though not as you would expect but to a certain level.

I'm not ashamed but proud to be African and I'll always show my Africanness by speaking my language. Who ever doesn't like it should go skydive without a parachute or jump off a cliff.

Honestly it's an issue i have never stopped addressing. It appears very strange & criminal to me for an individual to claim a certain tribe & lack the foremost identity of the tribe, language. Personally, when i see English as a 2nd language atleast while i still live in Nigeria. When i meet a new person & my intuition tells me we share a native language, my brain automatically kills the English switch except on occassions when i cant afford to do so. Unfortunately, a 'civilised Nigerian' sees you as being savage or uncultured when you talk to them in a Nigerian language (meanwhile the English Language, they can string a few words together to make the simplest sense). I think we need a rethink & a change of mindset.

ideykwum:


Add "mixed marriages" to the list. I am my wife are from different ethnicities. Our son speaks neither of our languages

Sometimes they don't speak like my siblings
As we from mixed too
But we all understan both very well . Does your son understand if he does he might later pick it up

Especially the Igbos. Men, almost all our children can't speak their mother tongue. I, myself I be "my mama say I be igbo" but I always try my best to speak it whenever I am around my family members though I still sound funny because of my lasgidi accent.

My Former boss who is a staunch owerri man speaks only English to his children.Even my parents are regretting raising us with the Whiteman's language only because they didn't want us to sound 'local'. I can predict that by 2030, the igbo language would have lost its beautiful essence
my kids must visit home every holiday and must learn igbo by fire by force

Karyane gaskiya. Mu Hausawa muna magana da harshenmu na Hausa kuma mutukar alfahari da yaranmu na Hausa

Shame on naija parients some believe speaking of our languages is bad they believe on slavery language pass any other things.

asuustrike2009:
You are clamouring for speaking of local language right, what if all Nigerians speak local language, how do we interact apart from English? Which language would be generally acceptable? Will the citizens agree to such language?

Speaking or teaching your children your indengious language should not and will not prevent them from speaking English or pidgin English which other people from other tribes can understand. Local languages should not die besides in countries like Switzerland, some parts speak French and some speak German and Italian and they are still doing fine

NarnieSnyper:
Especially the Igbos. Men, almost all our children can't speak their mother tongue. I, myself I be "my mama say I be igbo" but I always try my best to speak it whenever I am around my family members though I still sound funny because of my lasgidi accent.

My Former boss who is a staunch owerri man speaks only English to his children.Even my parents are regretting raising us with the Whiteman's language only because they didn't want us to sound 'local'. I can predict that by 2030, the igbo language would have lost its beautiful essence
my kids must visit home every holiday and must learn igbo by fire by force

This is so true, I really hate it. I am Igbo and you see most Igbo's raising their children with English, it scares me that in the nearest years we will lose the beauty of our language.

I did a class debate on this matter once in my university days. I proposed that Education in Nigeria should be based on the top 10 languages (by population) up to SSCE levels. Oddly, the majority verdict at the end of the debate was against my proposal and in favour of English Language. My opponents raised a few points of opposition which I attend to below. Some made sense but most were downright absurd.

1) We will be promoting 10 languages at the detriment of the remaining 200+ languages in Nigeria.

Ans: We have already promoted English at the detriment of ALL Nigerian languages!

2) How can we possibly translate technical subjects like physics, thermodynamics, cost accounting, anatomy etc to local languages?

Ans: All of these courses are also taught in Finnish, Danish, Urdu and Mongolian. The point again?

3) Promoting local languages will deny us the advantage of being part of global community which English language grants us.

Ans: China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Dubai etc all zoomed from 3rd world to 1st without a single word of English in their educational curriculum. Point again?

4) How can we understand each other as Nigerians if we don't speak one language?

Ans: Our neighbour Cameroon have 2 official languages. There are many other multilingual nations; Switzerland, Belgium, India etc. A multilingual nation can achieve peace and unity.

ideykwum:


Add "mixed marriages" to the list. I am my wife are from different ethnicities. Our son speaks neither of our languages

That is not an excuse.
Your son could have ended up speaking both, since kids have the ability to pick up multiple languages from their immediate surroundings. But you used 'mixed marriage" as an excuse , now your son speaks none.

It's an unfortunate trend, but that is how it is.

It's good you know how to speak your language, but at the same time, you don't have to crucify yourself if you can't.

kjhova:
I did a class debate on this matter once in my university days. I proposed that Education in Nigeria should be based on the top 10 languages (by population) up to SSCE levels. Oddly, the majority verdict at the end of the debate was against my proposal and in favour of English Language. My opponents raised a few points of opposition which I attend to below. Some made sense but most were downright absurd.

1) We will be promoting 10 languages at the detriment of the remaining 200+ languages in Nigeria.

Ans: We have already promoted English at the detriment of ALL Nigerian languages!

2) How can we possibly translate technical subjects like physics, thermodynamics, cost accounting, anatomy etc to local languages?

Ans: All of these courses are also taught in Finnish, Danish, Urdu and Mongolian. The point again?

3) Promoting local languages will deny us the advantage of being part of global community which English language grants us.

Ans: China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Dubai etc all zoomed from 3rd world to 1st without a single word of English in their educational curriculum. Point again?

4) How can we understand each other as Nigerians if we don't speak one language?

Ans: Our neighbour Cameroon have 2 official languages. There are many other multilingual nations; Switzerland, Belgium, India etc. A multilingual nation can achieve peace and unity.

That your third point is not correct tho.
Singapore educational system is in English and not Chinese .

Le Kwan Yew made it that way.

Developing is about being a serious people, not really the language per se.

5. Technology
The engagement or interaction of children with technology is entirely in English. Their smartphone, video games, laptop and other tech gadgets are in English. So since many of them spend so much time with these gadgets, they don’t have anything to do with the languages. This is a challenge to Nigerian developers to design tech gadgets in the indigenous languages.

The above is not one of the reasons, but one of the consequence. Its one of the price we have to pay for being stupid enough to still put a foreign language above ours, many years after the colonial masters left.

If we learned and spoke our native languages, Apps, games, websites, everything, I mean everything would've been in our native language. That's the way it is in Russia, Korea, China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Iran, e.t.c

IGBOS are the worst... I think we should start disgracing anyone that can't speak or understand Igbo by booing them

Donald7610:
It depends on your mom
She has control over that than anybody

I don't think so tho...

I think it depends on the family as a whole, because if only the mum is the one speaking to you, and your dad does not, his own side of the family does not, and the child does not see the need to communicate with his siblings in that language, it is a list battle.

bettercreature:
You are doom if you actually allow your children to speak native language between the age of 2-8
Their tongue will never be the same again! reason you normally see CNN translating Buharis english

Like they translate that of Emeka Anyaoku, Barth Nnaji, NOI, Zik, Ojukwu?

Its a very interesting topic.

Audrinakane:

Speaking or teaching your children your indengious language should not and will not prevent them from speaking English or pidgin English which other people from other tribes can understand. Local languages should not die besides in countries like Switzerland, some parts speak French and some speak German and Italian and they are still doing fine

So how do they understand each other? Remember countries speaking single language are more bonded that those speaking various languages.

MissPuffPuff:
smh. I dislike this. Nigeria's multiple mother tongues is apart of her beauty. I do not like this Assimilation of European ways


Babzilla /butchcassidy I'm gonna kick ya tail u got bum....bae mad at me

Bumbae1 mad @u?
No one needs me to be mad @ u