2mch:

Are your kids too dumb that they cannot speak more than one language? A child's ability to juggle many different languages shows intelligence.  . Nothing wrong with pidgin, it can open some doors same as polished english can. It is all about balance and a child's intelligence. There are some people that can speak pidgin and in the next minute converse in very posh english.

Siena:

We never spoke pidgin growing up, our parents spoke to us in regular English. I will not encourage my children to speak pidgin either, it's of no benefit, as far as I'm concerned.

It's not about children being dumb, your remark is pretty crass. Why can't Nigerians accept that others will have different points of view, and not resort to becoming verbally abusive?

In my opinion, pidgin distorts regular English. This is apparent in graduates getting their tenses mixed up, and other grammatical blunders. One only has to watch Nollywood movies, or other Nigerian productions, during the credits, you can see the errors. Shame, that even when these productions are being edited, these errors aren't picked up. Some top Nigerian graduates make blunders when they're being interviewed on live television too. Often a mixture of pidgin and regular English.

2mch:

Are your kids too dumb that they cannot speak more than one language? A child's ability to juggle many different languages shows intelligence. . Nothing wrong with pidgin, it can open some doors same as polished english can. It is all about balance and a child's intelligence. There are some people that can speak pidgin and in the next minute converse in very posh english.

chima2011:


With pidgin English being the commonest form of spoken language and its tendency to corrupt English language.

With pidgin English becoming “cool” among our kids, no thanks to Nigerian musicians, radio stations like wazobia FM and pidgin English social networking websites like www.naweown.com

In your opinion, Do you think it is wise to shield our young kids from the corrupting influence of pidgin English

Since when?

blank:

My mum forbade it in our home. I will do same. Why not use that energy and pick up French or another Nigerian language?

A silly and unfortunate post there.smh

I dey tells u

cicero:

No pidgin english
No native language

It's english first
Maybe french second
Spanish third

2mch:

Are your kids too dumb that they cannot speak more than one language? A child's ability to juggle many different languages shows intelligence. . Nothing wrong with pidgin, it can open some doors same as polished english can. It is all about balance and a child's intelligence. There are some people that can speak pidgin and in the next minute converse in very posh english.

cicero:

@blackpanda,
My sister or my brother,
Like it or not english is taking it over, followed by spanish and french and that is why some Nigerians are talking about protecting our indigenous languages. A thing that is not threatened does not need protection.

However, I do not hate our languages, but we have not succeeded in exporting them, we are deep into importing other languages as we constantly depend on the west for virtually everything.
[b]I want my children to be relevant in global environment [/b]and not in Nigeria alone, and communication is key.

And sorry to rattle you, the culture and tradition you referred are gradually dying.

cicero:

@blackpanda,
My sister or my brother,
Like it or not english is taking it over, followed by spanish and french and that is why some Nigerians are talking about protecting our indigenous languages. A thing that is not threatened does not need protection.

However, I do not hate our languages, but we have not succeeded in exporting them, we are deep into importing other languages as we constantly depend on the west for virtually everything.
I want my children to be relevant in global environment and not in Nigeria alone, and communication is key.

And sorry to rattle you, the culture and tradition you referred are gradually dying.

Shame on you! Go to england or spain and see whetehr they say it is yoruba or ibo or hausa 1st. We have simply refused to drop that silly colonial mentality. Part of our problem in this nation is that we have been brain washed to believe that anything foreign is the best. In south africa, the use of local dialect and mother tongue is widely accepted. Infact, in some schools, children are taught in their mother tongue. In universities, you are allowed to write your exams in your local dialect! In our case here in nigeria, its the other way round. I weep for our children yet unborn, slowly we are wiping out our entire history, culture and very existence! GBAM!

cicero:

Any language in the world that will last for long must have relevant product, service or some value that it is attached to represents. Now with the world becoming a global community, the product, service or value must have global appeal and relevance.

I love my native language, infact I love igbo, hausa and yoruba. Yoruba language particularly will go far because it is more advanced than igbo and hausa and yoruba scholars are fighting hard to sustain it, pidgin english will go far too. However, if we still got 100 hundred years than the line, what do you think will become of these native languages?
Besides I like to see my children speak very correct english.
They can survive without speaking pidgin english or my native tongue, but can they ever be relevant with speaking correct english looking to the future?

ideylaff:

@ blackpanda Face it like or lump it English language is a worldwide lingo. its got nothing to do with Colonial Mentality,

I don't see you typing in Hausa, or Ibo or Yoruba,  if you really want to be Pro Nigeria with turning a blind eye to reality.

Bottom line is Pidgin English can be picked up when a kids grows up, whats the point of messing them up with confusion on which word is right and then they grow up with "yes oooo yes ooo yes oo, how u dey naw" every 5 minutes in a conversation.

Whether we like it or not English is here to stay, yes you can teach your kid Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba as you so wish but to teach a kid Pidgin English which is really an aberration to the proper language is just not on.

When we were in school years back people spoke both native and other languages in a well balanced manner, these days its just a crying shame to see things like,     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwEUR_RnUg4

Please do me a favour bro, Speaking English does not make you a slave bro,

.