₦airaland Forum

Plaintainboy:
Your language is a critical part of your identity, any one under whatever guise who tries to change it is trying to erase your identity. Comprehension is enough for communication.

ABOKI9ja:
Young lady, I communicate and you understand so what exactly do you want? No matter how good I speak English i will never be an English man so why should I bother myself of Becoming Perfect on Someone's language? There are so many aspects of life which I should channel my Energy to. Speaking English don't determines Intelligence

malton:
Ka ga, mallam, ka shiga hankalin ka. Wani irin rashin hankali ne haka?!

You're asking if I know what "kafir" means? Well, it alludes to a person who rejects or does not believe in God.

By referring to someone who has their own religion as kafir, you're implying that that individual does not believe in God. The problem with you guys is, you also refer to non-hausa Muslims as kafirs. It's pathetic and reeks of idiocracy. Like, what makes you holier than anyone? Hypocrisy? Surely not!

Most Arabians don't carry the religion on the heads like you do.

ThinkSmarter:
Honestly, the North is really trying right now in times of School enrollment.
I must applaud most especially their various state governments, they are really investing in education.
And I believe with these measures so far, the illiteracy in the North will be reduced to the barest minimum in few years to come.
But one thing that I discovered, that is wrong with their system of education is the over use of vernacular [Hausa language ] in teaching which do affects the students during internal and external exams.
As what u perceived that they understood in local Lang, will be difficultly for them to communicate to the examiner in English language, which is the language, most exams are written. They resort to reading Hausa literature and writing in Hausa.
And if u use English in class, the students will tag u as being weird, that is trying to deviate from the standard.
In the issue of tribal and religious bashing, it's a Nigerian problem.
As u can see here on Nairaland, the Hausas re always at the safer side, they only get verbally attacked when there are issues of Child marriage, terrorism which people do attribute to Islam.
Though extremists or fundamentalist re all Moslems trying to interpret the Quran line by line and enforce hardcore Islamic doctrines. But of the truth is that, majority of Moslems re not extremists, they are rather moderate Muslims.
But critics do generalize, which is wrong.
Nairaland will give you negative impression of tribes.
I guess education is the only factor that will make us to be more understanding of one another.
Education will make us to be civilized and tolerant of one another.
I even do get baffled at the rate of e~tribal war b/w the Igbos and Yorubas that lead to some name callings like Afonja, flattino,ipod yoot, sophisticated, brown roof rep, Ugandan Jews.. ....lol very funny.
But in real life, this hatred doesn't exist.
I am a Christian from South Eastern Nigeria, I live and eat together with my Moslem roommate from Kano.
I hv so many Yoruba and Hausa/fulani friends, and they re good, I must confess.

People that find it difficult to get along re Extremists, they are in Islam, they are in Christiandom.
They re prone to discriminate and find fault in all ur actions because it doesn't correlate with their own ideologies.
I no carry Religion for head.
And ones religion should not determine hw I treat and relate with him/her.

furrr:
Thank you my brother for your understanding

The hausa issue though..... like I said prior to the coming of western education and English in general hausa was used in everything from education, religion, governance, commerce, trade etc etc this led to the wide acceptance of hausa among northern minorities to the extent hausa is used in church services across northern nigeria (hence hausa becoming lingua franca of the north) and eventually when the colonials came the north was subjected to indirect rule i.e they the British where not in direct contact with the people.... they used translators to communicate with the kings and the kings communicate to thier people using which language? You guessed it "hausa"
And as such not much emphasis was paid to learning English among the people as they was no need for it......

And as you know old habit die hard....

Eventually when the British left, thesame principle continue as the northern region government use English language only on national issues and use hausa to communicate with their hausa speaking people after all what's the use of language? To communicate.... so since they can communicate freely with their people using hausa what do they need English for...

This led to the use of hausa language as language of instruction in elementary schools and they teach English only as a language

Then came unity and the abrogation of regionalism and creation of states which led to greater emphasis on learning the English language as the hausas now have to communicate with their brothers in the south of the country that may or may not be able to speak hausa language

So as you can see the whole English thing is relatively (relative to the south) new to the hausa masses... and as of 30 - 40 years back english was a thing of the governing class

And what's interesting is that even today as we speak there is a greater call to revert to the old ways ie to start using hausa language as a language of instruction in schools and teach English language only as a language...
For example in kano, katsina, jigawa etc even today the governor use hausa to talk to his people..... the state house of reps conduct their proceedings in hausa infact out of more than 15 radio stations in kano only two use English throughout, professor of English language will prefer to speak hausa to his hausa speaking colleagues etc etc

The argument of the proponents of the above mentioned idea was if that's the case and the people understand better and prefer use their language "hausa" to communicate with each other and speak the little English they can only when the have to why should we force people to speak English language

Second argument is there are smaller countries in Europe and else where with smaller population to the hausas that use their language and communicate perfectly with other countries so why should we force our selves to speak a foreign language

Third argument is if other countries of the world recognise hausa language spread and wide acceptance to the extent of offering media services e.g bbc hausa, France rtif, china radio, Iran, Saudi Arabia, VOA hausa etc why should we the owners of the language neglect our language and embrace foreign languages

That's the dilemma my brother hope you can find the time to weigh in and contribute to the debate

furrr:
I tire oo my broda

Most if not all developed countries in the world speak their indigenous language e.g China, Japan, S Korea, UK, Russia, France Germany etc all countries that truly matter to the world speak and use their indigenous languages

This is because it's more practical and natural .........
Instead of wasting time and energy to learn someone else's language why don't you try to improve and develop your own language and devote that time spent learning other languages to something like technology etc

Don't get me wrong learning a foreign language is not bad infact it's a plus to an individual but please don't do it at the expense of your own language and that's why we have a section in universities dedicated to languages........

Pidgin2:
If you spoke only Hausa like most of your people do, you wouldn't have been able to join in this debate, I hope you can now see why English is important if you are a Nigerian.

Mind you, English is our official language, as such, you cannot keep referring to it as a foreign language because we have adopted it as ours which is allowed all over the world. For example, Russian is an official language in Ukraine, Portuguese is the official and day to day language in Brazil, Spanish is spoken by everyone in Mexico, etc

The fact is, you Northerners do not like to cooperate with others, you like to exclude yourselves and do your own thing. It seems like there is a kind of superiority complex amongst you lot, a general feeling that you are better than other Nigerians

Stop making baseless excuses, you cannot engage anyone in a meaningful debate concerning this issue. The facts are there for everyone to see.

You cannot compare the value of hausa to English no matter how much you take pride in your origin. Most of your elite are well schooled and some of them even speak good English in their homes. It is your common tribesmen who are always left in the dark and the elite have done a good job in maintaining it that way

The governor that communicates in hausa to his people will travel abroad without an interpreter because he does not need it, his children speak polished English and school abroad, I don't know when you people will become wise

ABOKI9ja:
shiyasa zaka iya zama kafiri. God over everything and Religion comes first then others and mind you dont quote me again

Pidgin2:
If you communicate in only Hausa like most of your people do, you wouldn't have been able to join in this debate, I hope you can now see why English is important if you are a Nigerian.

Mind you, English is our official language, as such, you cannot keep referring to it as a foreign language because we have adopted it as ours which is allowed all over the world. For example, Russian is an official language in Ukraine, Portuguese is the official and day to day language in Brazil, Spanish is spoken by everyone in Mexico, etc

The fact is, you Northerners do not like to cooperate with others, you like to exclude yourselves and do your own thing. It seems like there is a kind of superiority complex amongst you lot, a general feeling that you are better than other Nigerians

Stop making baseless excuses, you cannot engage anyone in a meaningful debate concerning this issue. The facts are there for everyone to see.

You cannot compare the value of hausa to English no matter how much you take pride in your origin. Most of your elite are well schooled and some of them even speak good English in their homes. It is your common tribesmen who are always left in the dark and the elite have done a good job in maintaining it that way

The governor that communicates in hausa to his people will travel abroad without an interpreter because he does not need one, his children speak polished English and school abroad, I don't know when you people will become wise

furrr:
Thank you my brother for your understanding

The hausa issue though..... like I said prior to the coming of western education and English in general hausa was used in everything from education, religion, governance, commerce, trade etc etc this led to the wide acceptance of hausa among northern minorities to the extent hausa is used in church services across northern nigeria (hence hausa becoming lingua franca of the north) and eventually when the colonials came the north was subjected to indirect rule i.e they the British where not in direct contact with the people.... they used translators to communicate with the kings and the kings communicate to thier people using which language? You guessed it "hausa"
And as such not much emphasis was paid to learning English among the people as they was no need for it......

And as you know old habit die hard....

Eventually when the British left, thesame principle continue as the northern region government use English language only on national issues and use hausa to communicate with their hausa speaking people after all what's the use of language? To communicate.... so since they can communicate freely with their people using hausa what do they need English for...

This led to the use of hausa language as language of instruction in elementary schools and they teach English only as a language

Then came unity and the abrogation of regionalism and creation of states which led to greater emphasis on learning the English language as the hausas now have to communicate with their brothers in the south of the country that may or may not be able to speak hausa language

So as you can see the whole English thing is relatively (relative to the south) new to the hausa masses... and as of 30 - 40 years back english was a thing of the governing class

And what's interesting is that even today as we speak there is a greater call to revert to the old ways ie to start using hausa language as a language of instruction in schools and teach English language only as a language...
For example in kano, katsina, jigawa etc even today the governor use hausa to talk to his people..... the state house of reps conduct their proceedings in hausa infact out of more than 15 radio stations in kano only two use English throughout, professor of English language will prefer to speak hausa to his hausa speaking colleagues etc etc

The argument of the proponents of the above mentioned idea was if that's the case and the people understand better and prefer use their language "hausa" to communicate with each other and speak the little English they can only when the have to why should we force people to speak English language

Second argument is there are smaller countries in Europe and else where with smaller population to the hausas that use their language and communicate perfectly with other countries so why should we force our selves to speak a foreign language

Third argument is if other countries of the world recognise hausa language spread and wide acceptance to the extent of offering media services e.g bbc hausa, France rtif, china radio, Iran, Saudi Arabia, VOA hausa etc why should we the owners of the language neglect our language and embrace foreign languages

That's the dilemma my brother hope you can find the time to weigh in and contribute to the debate

escapefromusa:
Everybody need someone to blame for their failure's.

The east in particular blames northern Nigerian for her political and social poverty.
The east also blames the West for repeated failure at political relevance.

Nobody has issue's with the Hausa's (banza bakwai or otherwise), it's just that the east has been peddling alot of bullshit about the North for so long[b] people are started[/b] to believe them. They also peddle alot bullshit about the west.

Like I said, everybody needs someone to blame for their failure's, how else do you think they sleep at night.

malton:
Damn.

Truer words were never spoken.

I officially declare my love for you, pidgin2.

I used to each time I saw your comment. I never knew that behind those comments is a sound mind in a sound body.

Pidgin2:
If you communicate in only Hausa like most of your people do, you wouldn't have been able to join in this debate, I hope you can now see why English is important if you are a Nigerian.

Mind you, English is our official language, as such, you cannot keep referring to it as a foreign language because we have adopted it as ours which is allowed all over the world. For example, Russian is an official language in Ukraine, Portuguese is the official and day to day language in Brazil, Spanish is spoken by everyone in Mexico, etc

The fact is, you Northerners do not like to cooperate with others, you like to exclude yourselves and do your own thing. It seems like there is a kind of superiority complex amongst you lot, a general feeling that you are better than other Nigerians

Stop making baseless excuses, you cannot engage anyone in a meaningful debate concerning this issue. The facts are there for everyone to see.

You cannot compare the value of hausa to English no matter how much you take pride in your origin. Most of your elite are well schooled and some of them even speak good English in their homes. It is your common tribesmen who are always left in the dark and the elite have done a good job in maintaining it that way

The governor that communicates in hausa to his people will travel abroad without an interpreter because he does not need one, his children speak polished English and school abroad, I don't know when you people will become wise

ABOKI9ja:
Been here on Nairaland i understand that other tribes are always abusing Hausas. Why? Didn't you know Hausas are most trustworthy and accomodative tribe? Majority of what you see and read on media are bias againt us and are politically motivated
Cc:mynd44

ariesbull:
You have finished it

The problem with hausa is anti civilisation and savagery....How can somebody marry off a girl of 10yrs and refuse immunization and carrying Islam for head more than Saudi

Nusaf:
ABOKI9ja, I doubt if you are a Hausa man. But if you are, I must tell you, you have just insulted yourself with this thread. A typical Hausa man will not open a thread like this.

They hate Hausa, and so what? Who gives a fvck about that? How has their hatred affected the Hausa man?
You may make as much noise as you want, but one thing you can't take from the Hausa man is that, he still remains the most honest and sincere man you can transact with. The Hausas are the poorest, but at the same time, the most contented. Just check the prevalence of crime in all regions. Robbery, prostitution, rituals, kidnapping, drug and human trafficking, just name them. I know they will say a Hausa man is worse, but they know the truth, even reports from nl is quite informative.

Despite this their hatred for the Hausa man, they prefer to patronize the abokii who is selling exactly the same items or services as their people. They prefer the abokii okada man. Why is it so? Abokii is more sincere and they know it but they will still argue.

Note, I'm a typical abokii and I don't give a damn about what they do. Even the education/English they keep talking about, just check most nlders, you will doubt if these are the same people making noise about this education. Some of them cannot even spell 'Nigeria'.
Note, they dominate nairaland.

ariesbull:
..And the most corrupt from magu to all these northern cabals

malton:
Ka ga, mallam, ka shiga hankalin ka. Wani irin rashin hankali ne haka?!

You're asking if I know what "kafir" means? Well, it alludes to a person who rejects or does not believe in God.

By referring to someone who has their own religion as kafir, you're implying that that individual does not believe in God. And so what if someone doesn't believe in God? Is it you that will go to hell or them? You lots are too stiff and judgmental.

You also refer to non-hausa Muslims as kafirs. It's pathetic and reeks of idiocracy. Like, what makes you holier than anyone? Hypocrisy? Surely not!

Most Arabians don't carry the religion on their heads like you do.

lepasharon:
Thats no bloody excuse, english is the lingua franca of nigeria. If a language is worth speaking, it is worth speaking well! English is the language that unifies nigeria so you better communicate properly.

If you speak another language well that doesnt mean you hate ur native language. Jheezz

Nusaf:
ABOKI9ja, I doubt if you are a Hausa man. But if you are, I must tell you, you have just insulted yourself with this thread. A typical Hausa man will not open a thread like this.

They hate Hausa, and so what? Who gives a fvck about that? How has their hatred affected the Hausa man?
You may make as much noise as you want, but one thing you can't take from the Hausa man is that, he still remains the most honest and sincere man you can transact with. The Hausas are the poorest, but at the same time, the most contented. Just check the prevalence of crime in all regions. Robbery, prostitution, rituals, kidnapping, drug and human trafficking, just name them. I know they will say a Hausa man is worse, but they know the truth, even reports from nl is quite informative.

Despite this their hatred for the Hausa man, they prefer to patronize the abokii who is selling exactly the same items or services as their people. They prefer the abokii okada man. Why is it so? Abokii is more sincere and they know it but they will still argue.

Note, I'm a typical abokii and I don't give a damn about what they do. Even the education/English they keep talking about, just check most nlders, you will doubt if these are the same people making noise about this education. Some of them cannot even spell 'Nigeria'.
Note, they dominate nairaland.

darol4real:
Hausa's are better than Igbo if we are to judge. Igbo people don't accommodate strangers in their state e.g Ebonyi State.

yomi007k:
No tribe in Nigeria is better than the others, each has its good n bad sides.

We black ppl are natural tribalist n religious fanatics so dnt expect any correct tin.

mightyhazel:
question 1,...how many of ur married and single women hav igbos raped and murdered with impunity right in ur ancestral lands?

Pls answer quickly,i gat lots more hot questions for u!

Nusaf:
This is what I'm saying. Some of them cannot even spell 'Nigeria' correctly. For instance, ABOKI9ja, just look at this illiterate.

Compare the irreconcilable differences between what she preaches and what she actually is.

Just imagine, the post she quoted is far better than hers in terms of English and amusingly, she was actually condemning the poster for not understanding English.

ThinkSmarter:
Yes, I do understand.
I so much applaud the Hausas for being able to preserve their language, unlike other tribes in Nigeria, including mine that is letting our language to die.
But in a case were English language hv been adapted as a lingua franca for writing Exams and governance in Nigeria, there is a need for us to learn how to communicate and write effectively with it.
I do read and write with my own tribal language[ Igbo] and even in my dialect of Igbo language.
We hv the central Igbo [Igbo Izugbe ] and many dialects [igboid languages ] .
In our local Church, we read the Bible in English, Central Igbo and in my native Igbo dialects.
Likewise the Yorubas and many other Nigerian tribes.
Like you for instance, u re able to communicate with me cuz u do understand English language.
Your Understanding of English language will give u a comparative advantage over someone that only understand native language, it's obvious.
That's what I am trying to encourage, that you embraced ur native language shouldn't prevent u from learning, writing and communicating in English.
Like in India and Korea their official languages re Hindu and Korean respectively, still higher percentage of them do understand English language, read and write it effectively.
Most internet information re written in the World major languages, so u see need to understand any of the world major languages.
I'm not good in English language, but at least I can communicate with it. Which is the essence.

lepasharon:
Ah shut up

Acjohn:
BECAUSE YOU ARE A HAUSA AND LIKE YOU THEY CANT CONSTRUCT A SIMPLE SENTENCE YET THEY CLAIM THEY ARE MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN EVERYONE.
2. THEY DO THINGS THAT MAKES PEOPLE HATE THEM
IT IS ONLY HAUSA THAT WILL FIGHT ANOTHER MAN IN HIS LAND, CHECK OUT LAGOS, IFE, PLATEAU ETC ETC.
AM EVEN SURPRISED THAT YOU ARE NOT HATING YOUR PEOPLE FOR ALL THEIR EVIL

Pidgin2:
Hausa may be your language but i'm sure you were given the opportunity to study English in school for easy communication with other tribes. This is why people don't like you guys, you have refused to be flexible, you don't want to learn and accept things that will unify this country.

How can you eat your cake and have it at the same time? You want to benefit from oil(which is okay) but you don't want to coexist (accept things that will unify us all). The ball is in your court, if you don't accept others you will keep meeting hostility everywhere you go (unfortunately)

Let's promote Nigerian unity

Plaintainboy:
The OP asked a simple question in a comprehensible language and instead of keeping quite or oferring answers, every one is all about his grammar. Only naive and inexperienced people attach this level of value to English. We were taught English in school so what? Germans were taught English in school too yet most of the speak very poor English, same for the Chinese, Russians and a host of them. Quit making unnecessary fuss displaying your ignorance in the process, its not a must to comment. Your primary language is the most important language any other one is secondary.

ipain:
bros, with all DUE respect, that guy understand his IDENTITY than you. You are an African and you should be proud of IT than any borrowed culture from the west.

We should be more concerned about our IDENTITY as Africans, please.

This where Chinese and Indians have refused to let the western culture erode their IDENTITY. In china, many of whom I have communicated with, can hardly string good English words together but you and I know they are far SMARTER than our over fed English professors in Nigeria and they have millions of proof to show for it.

Because of this stupid reasoning, there is an increasing generation of people who can't speak nor understand their dialect.

We need to re-evaluate ourselves seriously.