well thats not always the childrens fault, if the parents dont teach them then oh well

Right talk

what is the big deal its nothing to feel ashamed about its not your fault at least ure learning it-----im yoruba and i rarely get a chance or feel the need to speak it even in my villa

I don't see it as a big deal although it would be nice if I could speak it. Sometimes it's not even the parents fault just different situations make it difficult to learn. Growing up in a family of mixed culture meant we just had to communicate in english.  I tried to learn from books and things like that but there was no support system so it didn't work.

Actually, I do feel a bit ashamed when my friends are speaking it and I can't understand but that's not very often.

I bet to disagree, what has mother tongu gotta give you, will u go to bank with ya mother tongue and will be given money, my friend, english is the national language, and that is hat is important, you are able to speak yoruba and lousy in communicating to and with peple out of your village and clan, then, what is the usefulness?

femmy is the reason why africans are left behind by every other nations in the world!!I don't know why nigerians have such a strong inferiority complex
I have many west africans friends and they have much more pride than nigerians as a whole ,senegalese ,malians speak their languages ,it's the same for guineans,former french colonies in west africans tend to respect their traditions,culture much more than nigerians.It is very common among igbos not to speak their language,igbos were the first in nigeria to abandon all their traditions to workship the white man's god, even in the US it's the same young nigerians men emulate akatas and are ashamed of their origins,our community is well known for that .I got a friend from mali who ask me why us nigerians are so ashamed to speak our languages and represent , It's fundamental for every societies to maintain and value their customs.The difference between animals and human beings is the ability for human being to pass down their TRADITIONS from generations to generations .No wonder why other races consider africans or blacks as subhumans, It's time to wake up my people, if you don't have self esteem nobody will give you respect.Why we call our own languages DIALECT ?IT'S A SHAME for real,

I support u 100% cos other nationals re proud of their dialect, bt Nigerians ll like to form with grammars. Look @ the Ronaldos (football star) of this world the communicate in the brazilian stuff

masawa:

femmy is the reason why africans are left behind by every other nations in the world!!I don't know why nigerians have such a strong inferiority complex
I have many west africans friends and they have much more pride than nigerians as a whole ,senegalese ,malians speak their languages ,it's the same for guineans,former french colonies in west africans tend to respect their traditions,culture much more than nigerians.It is very common among igbos not to speak their language,igbos were the first in nigeria to abandon all their traditions to workship the white man's god, even in the US it's the same young nigerians men emulate akatas and are ashamed of their origins,our community is well known for that .I got a friend from mali who ask me why us nigerians are so ashamed to speak our languages and represent , It's fundamental for every societies to maintain and value their customs.The difference between animals and human beings is the ability for human being to pass down their TRADITIONS from generations to generations .No wonder why other races consider africans or blacks as subhumans, It's time to wake up my people, if you don't have self esteem nobody will give you respect.Why we call our own languages DIALECT ?IT'S A SHAME for real,

Well i don't know what part of the states you stay at but, where im from, we are very proud of being Nigerian. Yes i there are alot of you can't speak their language and we are working on it. But most don't have any support system or are made fun of because they can't pronounce certain words correctly. I have yet to meet and Nigerian man in the states who didn't shout Igbo Kwenu!!!! proudly. So until you get your facts straight, stop generalizing and go and teach an igbo child their language. Like me i might be late in learning my language of igbo, but hey better late then never.

[/quote][quote author=onyinye2 link=topic=45108.msg2601632#msg2601632 date=1217732117]
Well i don't know what part of the states you stay at but, where im from, we are very proud of being Nigerian. Yes i there are alot of you can't speak their language and we are working on it. But most don't have any support system or are made fun of because they can't pronounce certain words correctly. I have yet to meet and Nigerian man in the states who didn't shout Igbo Kwenu!!!! proudly. So until you get your facts straight, stop generalizing and go and teach an igbo child their language. Like me i might be late in learning my language of igbo, but hey better late then never.

IT'S A WELL KNOWN FACT that nigerians in america aer the ones who try to fit the most, blacks in general like to ape europeans customs but let's admit that naija peep are champs , I got a story for you, One of my uncle who had a small immigration problem hired a lawyer who happened to be nigerian with HUGE TRIBAL MARKS, I won't tell you her tribe .Once during the trial one of the judges from the jury asked her if she was african probably because her name sounds exotic guess what she got an african name ,She was furious and denied it even if it was obvious ,she called us bad names and she didn't want to be associate with her own people, If you see an african in a movie or something and the person don't claim his ethicity then he's nigerian , believe me,look at chamillionnaire ,he looks nigerian but he never admitted it ,too busy to ape akatas,godfrey is nigerian too ,again he won't claim it and he is the first to make fun of africans,baskett ball player iguodala same thing, many are married to akatas as well , everybody knows that akon is from senegal ,he claims it proudly and even shows off with a senegalese flag,djimon hounsou is proud of his country benin ,everybody knows that. And the list goes on, I 've even seen a nigerian girl claiming to be jamaican she carried the jamaican flag during the carnival,her name is funmi ,i knew she was nigerian,she just told me that caribeans are cool, again nigerians are very SMART,we are among the most educated immigrants even in the us but I wish we were proud of who we are for real,

Interesting topic!
I was just about to start a similar thread when I found this one,

Please oo, I'm from Kwara state, mo gbo Yoruba, Ina jin Hausa, but well, we grew up speaking English at home, so I'm not even close to fluent in either. But understand them pretty good, and can definitely get around.

What I do want to ask is if it's possible that a Nigerian guy:

- spent the first 18years of his life in Naija (mostly Lagos)
- Went to King's College
-

lands in the UK, suddenly speaks with the purest British accent, says he doesn't understand ANY Nigerian Language oooo! and is asking me "how do u say 'morning' in yoruba" :p

hahahaha! and If I use naija slang when speaking, the guy calls me "Bush Girl" :p

please help oo! Is this at all possible??

@post
It is not a shame, it all depends on many factors,

well of course it's not a shame, but it can get quite embarrassing in some situations.

I'm Igbo and I 4got how 2 speak d language since we came out.

@Poster, my story is just like ur own, my parent try real hard, they speak Igbo to us and we reply in English, etc.
Just my accent alone is enough to destroy d language, soo I gave up trying 4 now.

I'm yet to go back to Nigeria and face all those uncles and aunties, lol including all those amebo neighbors that will speak in ur language to u in public_{knowing very well that I don't know how to speak it} all so that they can interrupt me in d middle of my replying to force me to reply in Igbo.

My Igbo started dieing when I started learning Portuguese, it still takes me by surprise up-till today when I try o think in Igbo not knowing that I'm, actually thinking in Portuguese. Or replying my uncle "sim" on d phone thinking I'm replying in Igbo.

---------- My case is even small, my lil bro ( 7 years) doesn't even know that a language called Igbo exists talkless of Yoruba and d rest.
If u speak Igbo to him, he tells u : " stop speaking Portuguese to me, I don't understand it" --lol, But now that he can speak Portuguese, he is able to differentiate d two. But anyways he is only seven and we r going back soon, soo no loss.

Seabreez15:

Interesting topic!
I was just about to start a similar thread when I found this one,

Please oo, I'm from Kwara state, mo gbo Yoruba, Ina jin Hausa, but well, we grew up speaking English at home, so I'm not even close to fluent in either. But understand them pretty good, and can definitely get around.

What I do want to ask is if it's possible that a Nigerian guy:

- spent the first 18years of his life in Naija (mostly Lagos)
- Went to King's College
-

lands in the UK, suddenly speaks with the purest British accent, says he doesn't understand ANY Nigerian Language oooo!  and is asking me "how do u say 'morning' in yoruba" :p

hahahaha! and If I use naija slang when speaking, the guy calls me "Bush Girl" :p

please help oo! Is this at all possible??

I absolutely know wht you're talking about! Those type of people annoy me out of my skin!!

I remember once when me and my bros went to Madrid 4 holiday, and we met this mumu, idiotalized foolish + STUPID boy straight 4rom Naija! and Pure Benin! who was there deceiving some bunch of yeye oyinbo girls that he was 4rom Jamaica! And that he once met 50cent at d market. _{Just imagine!}And d dumb white girls were believing him _{( Is it just me or can this oyinbo girls be extremely dumb sometimes?? It's sooo easy 4 Nigerian guys especially, to fool them!)} . I mean u should have heard his accent! -- Pure Benin pikin! yeye boy wehn his auntie dey there dey suffer to make ends meet so that dey can return to Nigeria and have a better life, d idiot dey there dey fool white girls!

we were all sitting there, and I was laughing my ass off, he asked my bro a question in his "Jamaican accent" I trust my bro, he simply replied : " Look,  guy,  If I slaaap u, u go tell me whether I resemble white chick 4 your face!" -- Gosh, it was very funny.

Bringing me to wht Masawa said. It's really a shame that some people can be like this, but then again he is d only Nigerian I have met that was like that about this whole language\Nigeria stuff. We Nigerians are usually very proud of where we come from and our Language.

Nella:

well of course it's not a shame, but it can get quite embarrassing in some situations.

I'm Igbo and I 4got how 2 speak d language since we came out.

@Poster, my story is just like your own, my parent try real hard, they speak Igbo to us and we reply in English, etc.
Just my accent alone is enough to destroy d language, soo I gave up trying 4 now.

I'm yet to go back to Nigeria and face all those uncles and aunties, lol including all those amebo neighbors that will speak in your language to u in public_{knowing very well that I don't know how to speak it} all so that they can interrupt me in d middle of my replying to force me to reply in Igbo.

My Igbo started dieing when I started learning Portuguese, it still takes me by surprise up-till today when I try o think in Igbo not knowing that I'm, actually thinking in Portuguese. Or replying my uncle "sim" on d phone thinking I'm replying in Igbo.

---------- My case is even small, my little bro ( 7 years) doesn't even know that a language called Igbo exists talkless of Yoruba and d rest.
If u speak Igbo to him, he tells u : " stop speaking Portuguese to me, I don't understand it" --lol, But now that he can speak Portuguese, he is able to differentiate d two. But anyways he is only seven and we r going back soon, soo no loss.

hahahahahahaha

@ topic: no, its not a shame in my book.

every single day I see and relate with people who don't speak their mother tongue.

Does Obama speak his own mother tongue?

In addition, most Jamaicans speak creole, their own lingua franca. We all know the crime statistics for them.

Not speaking your mother tongue is a problem only if your social interaction is limited to people from your area. They are the ones who will try to put you down for not being able to speak it.

As I always say; if you speak it, fine. If you don't speak it, fine. Since I'm not a professional translator making money from people speaking some languages (or selling language material), I don't give myself a headache over who is or isnt speaking.

I believe Creole is for the Haitians and Patoi is for the Jamaicans

KarmaMod:

I believe Creole is for the Haitians and Patoi is for the Jamaicans

oh, ok.

It's only a shame to those who make a big deal about it . If it's not necessary for your functionality what's the big deal

@poster
OMG Im in the same situation
I spoke perfect Yoruba but after staying in America for so long I cant speak it anymore
My parents have spoken Yoruba to me all my life so I dont understand how come I sound soooo stupid when I speak it.
I get so embarrassed when I hear little children speaking Yoruba

motun_rayo:

@poster
OMG I'm in the same situation
I spoke perfect Yoruba but after staying in America for so long I can't speak it anymore
My parents have spoken Yoruba to me all my life so I don't understand how come I sound soooo stupid when I speak it.
I get so embarrassed when I hear little children speaking Yoruba

i don't understand how this happens. let me just laugh at you.

HCH3COO:

It's only a shame to those who make a big deal about it   .  If it's not necessary for your functionality what's the big deal  

I wish I could speak it so I can speak it to my kids

motun_rayo:

@poster
OMG I'm in the same situation
I spoke perfect Yoruba but after staying in America for so long I can't speak it anymore
My parents have spoken Yoruba to me all my life so I don't understand how come I sound soooo stupid when I speak it.
I get so embarrassed when I hear little children speaking Yoruba

wow, how did that happen?

motun_rayo:

I wish I could speak it so I can speak it to my kids

didn't know you have kids. you changed your profile pic .
why is it important that you speak it to your kids, if they don't need it

Im mean when I have them silly
Its just something that I feel is important for them to know

motun_rayo:

I wish I could speak it so I can speak it to my kids

same here, even if i'm just conversational in it and not fluent, i'll be happy.

naija_diva:

same here, even if i'm just conversational in it and not fluent, i'll be happy.

motun_rayo:

I'm mean when I have them silly
Its just something that I feel is important for them to know

aww, you both want a piece of the language pie. i'm guessing it's because you feel out of place.

HCH3COO:

aww, you both want a piece of the language pie. i'm guessing it's because you feel out of place.

of course. it really sucks when all my friends speak their mother tongue and i can't. even though i can't speak igbo, and can understand. i'm only grateful for that cuz some igbo assume that if you're born outside of nigeria, you can't speak or understand so they start talking bad about you. i just let them keep thinking like that until one day i'll let them know what's up.

I understand what you mean. There are lots of mexicans who don't speak spanish too, just letting you know. It doesn't make them incomplete. Your sense of belonging comes from within.

motun_rayo:

I spoke perfect Yoruba but after staying in America for so long I can't speak it anymore

Kai motunrayo. I am SURE Ive lived here longer than you. *shakes finger*

HCH3COO:

There are lots of mexicans who don't speak spanish too, just letting you know.

No there isnt.

KarmaMod:

No there isnt.

OMG! Yes there are.  I personally know at least 20. Mexican Americans to be specific. If you wanna get all technical.

They are pretending

Spanish is the first thing they teach their children. no matter where they were born.