First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. - Culture - Nairaland
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Culture / First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. (5166 Views)
Nigerians Have Very High Self Esteem! / Nigerians Have Very Low Self-esteem / An Appeal To Nigerians In The Diaspora (2) (3) (4)
| First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by Princek12(m): 2:34pm On Jan 15, 2011 |
This issue has really been bothering me lately. By saying first-generation Nigerians, I mean children born of both Nigerian parents and raised abroad. In Yankee, for example, most (if not all) of the first-generation Nigerians either do not speak or understand their native language. Even those who can understand their native language cannot speak it (or publicly claim to know not how to speak their native language). This is sad. Furthermore, when it comes to food, many first-generation Nigerians concededly may like foods like jollof rice, fried rice, etc, partly because of the universality of rice, but many of them claim to not know how to "eat" pounded yam, eba, amala, ogbono, egusi soup, etc (you get the gist). Even for those who may eat those foods, many first-generation Nigerian girls do not know how to cook traditional dishes. I think the parents should be blamed for not raising their kids in the culture. I have seen many parents who think that saying their children don't speak, for example, Yoruba or Ibo, will make them appear classy, but they do not know that they look silly by making such statements. Interestingly, many parents who do not raise, for example, their daughters to cook traditional Nigerian dishes and speak Nigerian language, actually wish for their daughters to marry a Nigerian man. And it is manifest stupidity for a parent to not prep their daughters to take on the responsibilities attendant to a Nigerian marriage, but wish for that daughter to marry a Nigerian man. On the other hand, if you look in Yankee at many first-generation Hispanics, Chinese, Indians, for example, they all speak and write their languages and fully embrace their culture. But when it comes to our own first-generation Nigerians, speaking (much less writing) our traditional language becomes an exception rather than the norm. Many first-generation Nigerians in Yankee do not even claim to be from Nigeria to strangers, and the ones who manage to identify with Nigeria usually claim to be "Nigerian American." This low self esteem is rampant and, whether you like it or not, if we do not change our ways, our culture and tradition will not survive abroad. |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by aljharem(m): 5:57pm On Jan 15, 2011 |
good write up but must our tradition and culture survive aboard  this is what change is all about; what has our tradition achieve for us over the past yrs why compare Nigeria with china and co when the country is better that ours i have seen igbo and yoruba children that did there primary, secondary school in nigeria and when they get aboard, they forget even there language,,,, this is not something new i even seen a yoruba mother that live with her children in lagos and here children can not speak broken english not to talk of even yoruba as a language. i have seen igbo parents in lagos that there children can not speak igbo but instead learn yoruba as there second language. so i really do not see the big deal in that, people can decide to teach or learn there languge or not; it is not really a big deal so long as you can communicate with the people around you ; be it english; there is no problem. |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by Akhenaten: 6:37pm On Jan 15, 2011 |
They are Nigerian-American just like you have Italian-Americans, Chinese-Americans, German-Americans, Korean-Americans. Saying that they are Nigerian-American does not mean they have a low self-esteem, it shows that they are both Nigerians and Americans. And Nigerians raised in Nigeria, do not make it any easier for Nigerians born abroad. Calling them names like akata etc does not make them feel wanted so, it is a two way streak. Even Nigerians who were raised abroad and know their language and culture are treated differently. You have to keep in mind that the U.S. is a melting pot. In which, many ethnicities can be found in the United States. The U.S. makes it hard for people to keep their language. After 2 or 3 generations, most people do not speak their ancestors language. How many Italian-Americans you see speaking Italian? Or German-Americans speaking German? Or how about French-Americans speaking French? The list goes on and on and on. This is the price you pay when moving to the U.S. Most people lose their language, but sometimes the culture lives on in a way. |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by Princek12(m): 11:10pm On Jan 15, 2011 |
Akhenaten: i guess it is a hefty price for those families. |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by Outstrip(f): 3:37am On Jan 18, 2011 |
How many Nigerians of this generation who live in Nigeria speak their language fluently? I do not speak my language fluently. I understand it for the most part but I do not speak and I can say the same for 90% of my friends. It is sad but very true. |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by iice(f): 4:12am On Jan 19, 2011 |
Akhenaten: Well said. |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by oyinda3(f): 12:47pm On Jan 19, 2011 |
do you mean 2nd generation? children born abroad right? I think those families need to get rid of the lofty expectations they are placing on their kids. If you want your son or daughter to speak your native language, like the food etc, then send them to nigeria and let them grow up there. many parents do that. they send the kids to school in naija for a few yrs to get acculturated. the biology and genetic make up maybe hereditary but the culture is always product of environment. I agree that many of these kids are caught up in between two worlds. but it's not their fault.
something you need to consider the fact that many of the hispanics and chinese don't speak english as an official language in their country so their english is very limited. so of course their children have to learn their native language in order to be able to communicate with them. The only case where i've seen a nigerian child abroad speaking fluent yoruba is because the parents brought the grandma to live with the family. this grandma is illiterate and doesn't speak english so the kids were forced to learn yoruba as their first language. Imagine these young nigerian american kids of about 6-8yrs who have never been to nigeria speaking a dialect of yoruba that only elderly people in the village speak. so i guess a way to help kids learn the language is to bring a grandparent or illiterate relative to live with you and babysit your kids from early childhood. these kids will learn in no time!! in fact, yoruba or igbo may end up being their first/native language. |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by beneli(m): 5:02pm On Jan 19, 2011 |
oyinda.: God forbid bad ting - you wan damage the kids for life! And yes, I'm sure he meant '2nd generation'. . . |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by Princek12(m): 12:41pm On Jan 21, 2011 |
oyinda.: beneli: I did not mean second-generation. The appropriate term for children born abroad of immigrant parents is first-generation children, not second-generation children. You are right that it is not the kids' fault, and I never blamed the kids, for they had no control over the circumstances under which they were raised. Also, I meant children born abroad, and children born abroad of immigrant parents are called first-generation children, for they are born abroad and are therefore the first generation of those immigrant parents. The children of first-generation children are called second-generation children. It is also a good idea to acculturate the children by sending them to Nigeria. Also, why do you have to bring your "illiterate grandparent" from Nigeria to do something the parent can do? Since the parents can, presumably, speak the native language, the only thing they have to do is to make sure that the ONLY language spoken to the child at home is their native language. That way, the putative first-generation child would be forced to speak the native language. The fact that the Nigerian parents can speak English does not necessitate that they speak English at home. I am cognizant of the fact that it is difficult for an immigrant parent whose children are born and raised abroad to fully immerse their children in their native culture, and that the best route would be to send their children to Nigeria to learn the culture. However, my point is mainly directed at immigrant parents who take affirmative steps to shield their native culture from their children, for example by deliberately refusing to speak their native tongue to their children. |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by medinatl: 1:00am On Feb 07, 2011 |
......... |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by medinatl: 1:03am On Feb 07, 2011 |
..... |
| Re: First Generation Nigerians In The Diaspora And Self Esteem. by tpiah01: 2:01am On Mar 29, 2016 |
How does being Nigerian American translate as having low self esteem?  |
(1) (Reply)
Yoruba In Anioma - A Revealed Truth! / Death Of Fulani And Fulfulde Language / Black Americans In Nigeria
(Go Up)
| Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 46 |