₦airaland Forum

Actually I've met tons of Nigerians living in Shanghai and Guangzhou, who speak passable Mandarin. To live, work, and do business in China, you gotta have some grasp of the language. I don't think they would be anywhere near fluent as locals, maybe they can't even write it. But at least they make the effort.

As, I have said before conversational is different from actual true fluency in the language. For example, I hear Yoruba fluently but cannot write it quite well and my speaking sounds terrible (before anyone launches into a you should learn your own language crap- its kind of not my fault)

Moreover, they live in china. So they can pick up words then string sentences together. That's very different from academic learning.

Personally, I think learning Chinese is great, and would look good on your CV. Infact my argument is not against learning Chinese but the effectiveness of learning Chinese for the purpose previously stated reason. If the Chinese are coming to Nigeria they should do so on our terms. If we are going to china, we should do so on their terms. The exchange should be fair.

I don't know about 'need' but I am learning Chinese, and I'm enrolling my son for Chinese language classes.
I am friends with a Canadian who sent his kids to university in China. He feels they are the next power, so his kids should at least learn the language, culture and customs

This is quite surprising. Any particular reason? Usually he could have sent his son to university in canada then maybe his son could take a diploma at peking university or tsinghua? They have language programs for people interested in learning such.

I don't know about 'need' but I am learning Chinese

How far have you gotten? As, I have said and heard (from very intelligent people) , its supposed to be very difficult

ShangoThor:
There are loads of Nigerian market women in Hong Kong markets with market stalls speaking Chinese fluently.
Its actually amazing to see, I think the Africans ability to adapt is not being recognised here.

Thats different and the chinese in HK/Guangzhou is different from that in mainland china. Also conversational learning is kind of easier than academic learning IMO. Sitting in a class, its difficult to learn a language than living in a country where speaking the language is the norm. What edoyad is suggesting is the former. Let me suggest an alternative approach:

We Nigerians learn as much as we can about the Chinese, their culture, their heritage. Understand that the eastern way of courtesy is significantly different from the western way. Understand the Chinese approach to business. In case, you are not aware close to 60% of Chinese are irreligious and most I have met don't believe in God. They are fatalists as opposed to Deists. Learn about important periods in their lives like chinese new year e.t.c Know about the major cities in Mainland China, about Mao, about communism, and it effect on the mindset of the people. In summary: Know how they think

When you learn about them, you know enough. Then hire a bloody translator lol, you do not need to learn the language if they would be coming into your turf.

I would recommend though that Chinese be introduced in the Nigerian curriculum as an option for students interested in such.

edoyad:
@SEDAGO, your case is hopeless. I told you the Nigerian Airforce trains some of it's engineering personnel in China, and all you do is bring up threads that show some people complaining about how hard it is to learn Chinese and Arabic ?  
BTW, many Nigerian's speak Arabic too, i have a friend who interpretes Arabic just from the learning the quoran and not any language training.

Ok. I have to say, and I apologize. But damn are u daft? Yes many Nigerians speak arabic, you live in Kano so it is a no brainer- because they started learning it when they were young and most muslims need it for the quran. Learning a language when you are young is different from learning a language when you are an adult. I cannot even believe I am typing this.

Yes, if Nigerians are taught chinese from elementary/primary school it is possible that they would be able to learn it significantly. However its a very difficult language to learn. Everyone knows this, who has tried to learn the language except you. I have met real chinese-americans complaining about how hard the language is and I am supposed to trust what you told me right?

Nigerian Airforce trains some of it's engineering personnel in China, and all you do is bring up threads that show some people complaining about how hard it is to learn Chinese and Arabic ?

And so who told you they understand chinese or they are being trained in chinese or that they can converse in chinese.

Quote me anywhere to anyone who is half-brained: Mandarin is one of the most difficult language to learn except you were brought up learning the language.

Are the Chinese themselves fluent in English ? All one needs is a basic knowledge in the language to be able to conduct a reasonable exchange.

How basic. This is your statement:

@SEfago FYI, many Nigerians already speak Chinese , may be not proficiently but atleast they speak. Nigerian Air-Force Engineers who receive training in China hav to take a language course for about a year b4 they start engineering proper.

You said Nigerians speak chinese. Well how did they learn it? If you mean Nigerians who lived in china for a long time that makes sense. But learning chinese in an academic setting is difficult. And can they speak it at least enough to get by? I took french for years and I am fairly smart, but cannot even take it to the conversational level with native french speakers.

TBH you are not making any sense. No one learns a decent amount of chinese in one year. People from hong kong and macau would think you are crazy for making such a statement

edoyad:
All Chinese must be geniuses i guess, going by your logic. I just told you the Nigerian Military trains some me it's engineers in China and you're still going on about difficult to learn. And who needs to be fluent in Chinese ?
Are the Chinese themselves fluent in English ? All one needs is a basic knowledge in the language to be able to conduct a reasonable exchange.

Retardation upon retardation. You are comparing the learning process of a native speaker, who is taught the language before his or her brain has fully formed to the learning process of an adult whose linguistic capabilities are fully formed. I have met tons of people of people who have being taking chinese for 4-5 years and they cannot speak it. I know a native cantonese speaker who is still taking mandarin chinese, and has been taking it for 3 years and she is still not good.

Chinese people aim for fluency when learning english. However trying to aim for the same parallel level of fluency in chinese is very difficult. I repeat it would take years of practise. There is a limit to how much "Ni hao" can take you.

I attempted to learn Mandarin Chinese whilst at college. After the short four month course was over, I could remember how to say "thankyou", and "I am a Japanese". It was just too hard for me to use Pinyin and pronounce the words correctly, as the tonal variations of the languages were hard to get right. I now study Japanese, and it's easier by far.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4617646.stm

Chinese (Mandarin) is quite difficult to learn

http://pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html

http://community.travelchinaguide.com/forum2.asp?i=35906

^ black man ko, white man ni. Chinese is a very difficult language to learn if you are not a native speaker. Its not an affair of being black. One of my friends actually took chinese for three years and he is Nigerian. But he spent a lot of time studyig the basics, and he is not fluent.

Do you find her alluring?

Yeah she looks smoking hot with her spilling flesh that she tried to cram into those clothes, No, she is not appealing, and by virtue of my age, I generally prefer women of age 18-21. Although I had a mad crush on this 28 year old chick once. However, IMO thirty is OK, fourty is not that bad if she looks like halle berry, it would be a little bit saggy down there but no complaints  . Fifty and  I am screwing death no thanks.

Oh boy let me go back to what I do 24/7 and stop with my fake persona.

Kobojunkie?

You have a wild imagination.

Atiku likes anything that can move

^ Not really. I am sure you would be cougar-ing in your 50s if not that you were brought up in a society/family that probably frowned on such. Nothing wrong with an old woman who wants to have tons of mindless s/e/x. Let her enjoy the little time she has in this world. Infact, I commend how on trying to match her male politicians stroke for stroke (figuratively and literally )

On a side note, I am sure all the old madams on NL (would not name names), are envious like crazy about Ita giwa.

This is kind of silly, and I used to see it a lot in the US. Lots of American students learn Chinese because the Chinese are growing significantly in influence in terms of business and such. However, the joke is on them because the Chinese are learning english lol, so that they can integrate into a more globalized economy where english is the most important language.

You guys should first master English b4 you learn chinese. Do you know how hard chinese is? It needs years of hardwork and dedication before you can even say a few words, not to talk of fluently speaking the language. Most lazy Nigerians cannot even learn the alphabet not to talk of the whole language.

1025:
i want to ask those of u supporting this woman, who among u here will be happy to see his or her mother in this kind of picture?

if my mum wants to get smacked (as disturbing a thought as that is) thats her own business . How do you think you came to this world if your mum did not hump someone.

Y'all are effing sexist. Nigerian men politicians do this all the time. They have their own guest houses e.t.c How will you feel if your father was one of those politicians? Well you would not care. Extrapolate that to ita giwa.

Everywhere in africa is a sh/ithole

Lets try it again: So does that mean that every black person, everywhere in the world, belongs to the same race?

I have to say your question is quite daft. When someone says black people in general it means people with origins from sub-saharan africa. So yes, in that context black is a race. This is not in reference to the skin color but the racial classification itself as I have directed you to a webpage for your edification

I think West Africans are probably a different "race" than certain East African groups like Somali, Ethiopians, Eritreans, right? Despite both being called "black"? Fulani also look different from most West Africans.
I'm not a geneticist and haven't read tons on the subject, but I imagine that these phenotypical differences also show up in the DNA somehow.

The differences in features between the Fulani and other West Africans does not constitute a race. As, I have pointed earlier, one must be careful when assigning the word race to anything. I have very distinct features from my siblings. That does not mean we are an entirely different race are we? I have different hair texture, lip shape, nose shape e.t.c. I speak english quite differently. I have my own behavior which could theoretically be argued as my own culture but that does not make me a "race."

This, I disagree with. It isn't as if the Yoruba-speaking peoples of the the 19th century and earlier viewed themselves all as one people. Yet they all acknowledged descent from this Oduduwa guy (probably figurative "father" than literal father. Unless Oduduwa had Wilt Chamberlain-esque sexual success Grin ) , and claim to come from Ife.
Oduduwa probably existed. Probably some sort of warlord or something from Sudan or whatever who moved into the land and conquered/merged with the existing people. Exact date and time? Hard to say. But seems implausible that so many distinct groups would all agree on certain details without an element of truth being there.

Same can be said for every religion in existence. A large number of people agreeing does not indicate the veracity of a fairy tale.

Moreover, why is this story a common theme in nearly every culture in the world? the progenitor/first man story is an old and overused tale.

1. Abdulmutallab or whatever his name was. His incident occurred smack in the middle of the application season

Hahaha

Hey cezeozue, so you do know what your gpa is on a 4.0 scale? I plan on applying to grad next cycle, so I am looking for all the info I can get. You might also want to check out carnegie mellon, but you kinda have to be a beast to get in. Why do you think Cambridge/oxford rejected you? I am planning on applying there, and I thought I would be a show in , but I am having second thoughts now.

@sefago: I need tips on applying to yale/harvard and even cambrigde too. so where did you end up going? not yale I guess?

For confidentiality reasons, cant tell you much. However, do you just want to go to these schools for their names or because of the research going on?

Why not consider engineering powerhouses first before ivy leagues. You know engineers dont send big name universities. What type of program will you applying to at Yale and Harvard. Cambridge would be easy for you if you have the GPA you had previously. Yale would also be very easy but your research interest must match a professor. Email a professor who has the same interest you have. My advise, try and visit a conference with one of the professors from the program you are interested in, corner him, and start chatting with him. Then insert you might consider applying for a PhD at so-so school. It could end disastrously of course (I tried it once last year, and the professor just ignored me) but its a 50-50.

Harvard might be a bit iffy but also easy. I think you can get into everywhere you apply even MIT and Caltech

With respect to cezeozue many things can happen. I am judging his profile based on the assumption that he would be taken as an international student and compared to other people. Also since I am not in engineering, I am not really aware of what goes on there. He might get into Harvard and he might not. It all depends on his luck. I dont know if they treat people from naja any different.