₦airaland Forum

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If you like browsing/uploading pictures. Very nice app.

Skype
Really good if you don't have access to a computer and want to contact a friend using Skype.

It depends on personal usage, budget and needs. I have Intel in all my PCs. My custom desktop has Intel and my two laptops have Intel. I use my desktop mainly for gaming, and Intel is superior in that department, but AMD is still nice for desktops due cheap motherboards and CPUs, and they still run well, although not entirely up there with Intel with single core performance. My laptops have intel for no real reason.

But when it comes to graphics cards, I prefer AMD.

If you count my first name as two names, then 5 names lol. I have been laughed at countless time for having so many names. But 8 is a lot! Nothing to be ashamed of though, names are always good.

Interesting! How do you say computer in Igbo?

You need to go to the local police station right away. It's very important that you do.

aribisala0: Actually some languages are inferior in that they fail to evolve and are no longer fit for purpose.That is exactly what is happening to all our Nigerian languages.English is dominant because it borrows widely and unashamedly from everywhere. English is essentially of Germanic origin but has taken extensively from Latin which has now DIED.Many of our languages are dying with our collusion in that process. If a language does not evolve to integrate mathematics,science and technology then I am sorry it is inferior.
It is not too late for us to save our languages by modernizing them in a formal stuctured way but i doubt we have the political will

I wonder how many can express the bolded in any Nigerian language

The bolded can very easily be expressed, at least in Yoruba. Pick up any modern dictionary and see for yourself.

Many technical terms are already in place, the problem is that they are useless as long as the Nigerian languages aren't used for higher education and English remains the official language. English needs to go to make way for Nigerian languages.

ChinenyeN: Lol. The truth is that no one can say this or that language is harder than these or those. All language is spoken by man. Unless certain languages are the result of different, divergent or even non-human physiological differences related to speech, then I see no reason why one language would be more difficult than the next. After all, babies supposedly have the capability of learning multiple unrelated languages simultaneously, so they (whoever "they" are) say.

As I said earlier, it really doesn't matter if one thinks a language is "harder" than another, if there even is such a thing. Language is language and is used to communicate. You can say hi in 300 different languages and the meaning is still the same or close. Point is, no language is superior.

Jarus: The number of Yoruba and Igbo that speak Hausa fluently is more than the number of Hausa and Igbo that speak Yoruba and both more than the number of Yoruba and Hausa that speak Igbo. For me, I have only met one non-Igbo(defined narrowly as Yoruba and Hausa, holding others constant) that speaks Igbo and but met thousands of Igbo that speak Yoruba or Hausa.

On a lighter note, Zik and Ojukwu spoke the 3 languages very fluently

And what does that prove? That you've met more Yoruba and Hausa speaking people.

If you're going to make a statement, then give a good explanation. Saying a language is harder when pulling out random numbers is not really trustworthy or good arguementation. What is it that makes the language difficult? Grammar? Pronunciation?

Also, spare me for the Igbo dialect thing, Igbo is not the only language with distinct dialects. Yoruba also has many dialects with variant degrees of mutual intelligibility.

Too funny thread. It's just biased opinions where people aren't even trying to be objective. Do you even notice how everyone have different opinions?

People saying I picked up that and that in a week, I picked up the language so easy when exposed to it etc. Do some of you even speak the language fluently? FLUENTLY. Knowing a couple of phrases and basic conversations is not knowing a language. Chances are you probably don't even know the grammatical rules, you've just picked up some material. Since when was this learning a language? And please tell me how picking up "hi" in Igbo is any different from picking it up in Hausa?

If you want an unbiased opinion, you'd have to look at someone who hasn't been exposed to these languages, and preferably speaks a language from another group.

Saying my language is harder than yours is stupid. No language is better than another, and imho, the difficulty of languages are irrelevant. Some say Chinese is hard to learn, did you know Chinese has no tenses (as we know it)? Very simple grammar from our point of view. The only thing you could actually call hard is the writing. But in the end, does it really matter? Having a "difficult" language really isn't a big deal, it just makes it more unnaccessable and annoying to learn, but in the end, it doesn't matter if you say "hi" in Zulu or Spanish, still the same.

This is why threads like these annoy me. Learn whatever language you want to learn, enjoy it to the fullest. No need to label languages as easy or hard.

ChinenyeN: The orthodox understanding of 'Igbo language' is a weird one. According to the understanding, the various "dialects" of 'Igbo language' stand as a testimony of 'Igbo language'. So, as long as you speak any "dialect", you are claimed to be speaking 'Igbo language'. At the same time the idea of 'Igbo language' does not exist outside of its "dialects". Devoid 'Igbo' of its speech forms and you no longer have 'Igbo language'. So, in a simplified and contradictory explanation, all Igbo people speak Igbo, but no Igbo person really speaks Igbo language. It's weird.

Yes, you could say that. My point was however, that no one (or very few) speaks all the dialects. Many languages have dialects (probably most or all).

In Norway we have something called Nynorsk, which is artifical. We also have Bokmål, which you could call artifical because no one speaks pure Bokmål. My point is, no one speaks these standard written languages. However, the understanding of dialects is largely based on a persons ability to see context and unconsciously understand the dialect more and more (by being exposed to it). You probably won't start speaking it, but you understand it, and they understand you. The understanding of dialects is just a natural process that you don't really have to put any additional work into. Which is why I claimed that dialects doesn't make the language harder.

Of cours very distinct dialects may be impossible or difficult to understand, but that's because it's close to being another language.

So you are saying even Igbos cannot speak their language then? I find it hard to believe that everyone would know all the distinct dialects.

You know that's not how it works. My point still stands.

Why not stop with these threads?

What language is harder depends on your mother tongue. Iny my opinion dialects doesn't make a language difficult. When exposed to these dialects you will pick them up naturally. If you want to "measure" difficulty (if there even is such a thing) then you would have to look at two specific dialects/languages and compare, because dialects have similarities, which is what makes them dialects. If we are however, talking about dialects so distinct that they could be considered their own language, then it's no longer comparable and I doubt even Igbos (from other areas with other dialects) would understand. That is simply a lot of dialects (truth with modifications), and doesn't really make the language more difficult, just richer.

The secret behind the election and how Obama won.

[size=16pt]chey, garri don abandon me. sapele water, help me oo[/size]
https://media1.policymic.com/site/articles/18747/photo.jpg

[size=16pt]e no be lie, skin bleeching na new thing oo, garri sef is overrated. oyinbo love me oo.[/size]
https://johncarmichaels.typepad.com/carmichaels_position/WindowsLiveWriter/white%20obama.jpg

Everytime I look at those "Romney loss" pictures, I start laughing. It's just too funny.

[size=18pt]He ate garri - he won[/size]
https://fim.413chan.net/oatmeal/src/132330847317-obama_laugh.jpg
[size=18pt]He didnt eat garri[/size]
https://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/6c/cc/6ccc8676c34a28c3aecae75146276aca.jpg

[size=16pt]Free garri for Naija, Romney go tear eye for dis one oo[/size]
https://www.thedailyrash.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/706-obama-laughing2.jpg
[size=16pt]Romney lookin frustrated as Obama ruins his life's dream[/size]
https://www.davidduke.com/images/mitt-romeny-mad.jpg

[size=14pt]I AM LAUGHING SO HARD RIGHT NOW AT THE PICTURES OF ROMNEY, IF I DIE, PLEASE INFORM MY FAMILY[/size]

[size=30pt]I wan see Romney dey cry [/size]
https://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/audio/video/2012/4/30/1335773468470/Barack-Obama-laughs-at-co-011.jpg

[size=30pt]Baba Obama win well well, garri prices no go change now[/size]
https://www.davidduke.com/images/mitt-romeny-mad.jpg

ramalot: obama shout out

Very funny!

I think it's safe to say that Obama won.

Obama don go win mode. Watch am closely, Romney supporters, your fist go enta tv screen when it says "Obama wins".

slyfoxxjoe: Is it possible under any circumstances that the electoral votes in a state can be split or is it always a winner take all situation? Because I keep hearing this Wolf man saying 'ALL electoral votes have gone to him'

There are 2 states only, where they can split up.

coogar: exactly....
obama gave gadaffi enough room to run for his life but he was too pompous. the republicans would have sent the marines months earlier to fish him out or nuke him in his palace.

I heard sending in troops is cheap business? It's stuff like this that made the economy crash to begin with.

Do you expect Obama to fix everything Bush administration has done over the night? Abeg, leave Obama alone. It's about seeing what's best for the country in the long run, not right now. If you think Obama has done nothing then you have been sitting in your toilet for a very long time.

Yoruba also has many idioms, and are used frequently.

Examples:
Lati jeka - to eat fingers (regret).
Lati gbese le nkan - to put down foot (stop something).

Yoruba, Igbo and similar languages are often very rich in idioms and proverbs. You are right, it makes the language difficult to understand when it is spoken in this way.

Don't worry, Obama will win.

Pulaar dictionary: http://www.amazon.com/Pulaar-English-English-Pulaar-Standard-Dictionary-Hippocrene/dp/0781804795/ref=pd_cp_b_0

There are Fulfulde ones, but they are rare and often out of print. You can see some of them here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3Afulfulde&keywords=fulfulde&ie=UTF8&qid=1352217033

Scroll a bit down.
I'm sure you can find small online dictionaries though ^^,

Very sad

Love his music.

arbitrage: I think it's catapult in English while slingshot is for the one with a single length that you can be rotating/slinging your harm repeatedly before you finally release to hit your target like in David & Goliath's movie.

Well, I said "think". Just googled it, and slingshot is correct. Not dismissing catapult.

A slingshot, shanghai, flip, bean shooter, or catapult (primarily British English).
They can all be used it seems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingshot

Here is the online version: http://www.ewidgetsonline.net/dxreader/Reader.aspx?token=50e2154d200844a8b8cde0cc8244ba43&rand=934330786&buyNowLink=&page=&chapter=
Online version of the book.

tomakint: Well how I wish I can speak many languages but can just speak Yoruba(any Yoruba speaking tribe,I do understand and can speak) Ondo,Idanre dialects (all in Ondo State). Languages I really love to know; Spanish, French, Portuguese and Latin

Awesome!

Ok, so romance languages? Very beautiful languages. I always thought French sounded nice, but was never really into it. There are so many similar words in French and English, and the grammar is very similar. If you want to start with one of these, I think I'd go with French. I'm using a book called Colloquial Yoruba (Colloquial series) it's excellent. You can get one for French as well. Just do some small reading when you have time, and you will eventually learn the language at a very basic level. I think there's also a level 2 version.

tomakint: @StarFlux, I sided with Yoruba probably because I am one! Is it true that English is related to Norwegian? (that'll be interesting to know). Can u speak Icelandish? They talk with a very thick accent, and it's quite sad you learn how to speak FRENCH for five years but couldn't speak it again, probably u got no one to relate it with, sorry about that!

Oh ok! I see

No, I can't speak Icelandic, though I can understand some of it in written form. It's more or less a very old form for Norwegian. And yeah, thick is a good word for it. French was a bit sad, but wasn't really interested in the language anyway, was mandatory in school. But not a big loss for me!

It is said that Norwegian is the easiest language for an English speaker to learn, so yeah, they are pretty close! It should be no problem for you to pick up, if you are interested.

So what languages do you speak, also, what dialect for Yoruba?

tomakint: @StarFlux, wao u sure do have a passion for languages, Nigeria for instance is a land of over a thousand dialects so u can imagine the peculiarities of my land.As for u branding Yoruba as the hardest i beg to differ on that in fact many Europeans are Nigerian universities studying it to the highest level (PhD). In Nigerian context, Yoruba is still the easiest to understand based on my own experience.

Why is Yoruba easier than other similar languages? I just looked briefly through Igbo grammar, and I didn't notice anything shockingly different. When you are exposed to a certain language, you will pick it up naturally and it may come off as easier. I personally don't have any reason to believe Yoruba is any easier than other Nigerian languages, unless you can provide me with an explanation outside of your own experiences.

And yeah, I love languages! Hoping I can go to Nigeria for a year in not too long to learn more Yoruba. Also hoping to come by an Edo course, but seems pretty hard so far.

tomakint: @StarFlux you just gave an elaborate account on the composition and assessment of language especially the Yoruba language. I believe the Yoruba is the easiest to learn, which one is ur easiest and hardest (you did not state them). As for the Ogoja stuff, I have a friend who told me that in Cross River people hardly hear other local govt's indigenes dialect which to me is strange. He is from Obubra and he told me too that the Ogoja dialect is quite hard to learn.

Well, I am learning Yoruba right now, and since my mother tongue is an indo-european language, I find it very different from what I'm used to. Some of the grammar is unfamiliar.

I'm not sure if I can give a good answer. The languages I know is Norwegian, English and some Yoruba. Learned English all the way through school, so I have no idea how I picked it up, just did and it's very similar to Norwegian, so for me, English has to be one of the easiest. When it comes to the hardest language, I don't know. People will say Chinese or Japanese etc (outside of Nigeria), but I'd argue that if those languages were written using the Latin alphabet, it would be a whole different story. I had French for 5 years, now I don't remember anything. I wouldn't say it was that hard though.

From the languages I have attempted/is learning, I have to go with Yoruba as the hardest. I feel like I can't make a fair comment towards other languages I know nothing about, especially Nigerian ones. But many are from the same language family, so I assume there are many similarities.

From the Niger-Congo family, most languages are tonal so that's one similarity, grammar is probably not too far off eachother, sounds/words may vary a bit, but overall, if you already know one Niger-Congo language, the hardest part is the vocabulary.