₦airaland Forum

Yoruba has some very complex grammar that you cannot learn in a matter of weeks. If you can learn Yoruba that fast, then you can learn about any language that fast. Which language is easier to YOU often depends on your mother tongue (tonal qualities, grammar, pronounciation etc). It takes years to become fluent in a language other than your mother tongue.

I am interested in hearing your reasoning behind Ogoja being challenging.

i enta thread, and i see people dey shout!

What is this??! I thought we were all good friends here. I give you 5x internet slap for this episode.

Now we can start learning again

JallowBah: Lol.

I see..I am fully norwegian, married to a gambian, enjoyin a naija-forum. Thats life!

Awesome !
You are the first Norwegian I have encountered here. Nice to meet you

JallowBah: Nooo, thats the HUGE one they used in the war that looks like a bigger version of this one, and its "katapult". Lol.
Are you a nigerian in Norway, or a norwegian in a Naija-forum?

...edit: I see now that you were answering someone else about katapot, but hey, still funny that its so much like the big one.

I'm half
I am still laughing about katapot, hope the laughter doesn't kill me.

JallowBah: What the? Another norwegian?

yes oo, u2?

also, "katapot" very funny!

eduson55: Haba,,
me dey wear my own 3 good weeks oo.
i no dey wash am self after that third week,i just keep am
to rest before i pick it up again.
i wash it once in a month and am still healthy.

LOL, THIS GUY TOO FUNNY SEF.

i wear am for 1 day usually, but i will not lie and say i havent wore underwear for several days (when i was little).

pc guru: ^ banner images not flash banners,but if you can export to gif or jpg which you can sure why not.

Ok, thanks!

I don't know much about programming in general, but I know some ActionScript from school. Can you use banners from ActionScript?

Very good! Though, you could've used good morning on little sister, and vice versa (bawo ni). Is there anything in specific you want to know?

Allohrandy: The song is so GAY and WACK. cant believe da i wasted my precious MB to download it.

Then why not listen? Hehehehe.

I like the original better.

How to greet in Yorùbá!

The universal greeting prefix in Yorùbá is kú. What you do is add this prefix to what greeting you want to express.
Good morning - (E) kú àárò. (E is honorific for elders, parents, bosses etc).

However, there is something called ellision, where words "merge".
So probably what you will be hearing is (e) káàárò.

List of greetings:

(E) káàárò - Good morning
(E) káàsán - Good afternoon
(E) kúùròlé - Good evening
(E) káalé - Good night

But it's actually more like "greetings for this morning" etc, but the English equivalent starts with good.
Other greetings:

(E) kú aájò - Greetings for your concern
(E) kú ìtójú - Greetings for your preseverance
(E) kú ìdúró - Greetings for waiting

Do you remember what I told you about when to use the honorific E? If so, answer answer these:

How would you greet your teacher:
How would you greet your little sister:
How would you greet your uncle:
How would you greet your boss:
How would you greet your younger friend:
How would you greet your younger classmate:

Other greetings:

Báwo ni - How are you
Báwo ni nnkan - How are things

Also, Seanfly is the best when it comes to Yoruba. He explains very well.

Shollypopz: Starflux was probably banned by pyguru. Pele ehn, it prolly had issues with d file u were about to upload.

The bot mod is such a jacka*ss, see u in a few hours

Yes lol
And it removed my exercises for Eze.

Sprettert (Norwegian). English word for it I think is slingshot.

Well Eze, if you are truly interested. I can post some of the exercises in my book for you. (The easy ones).

seunfly: In this sentence "si" is an adverb, it show the degree of something and it equivalent is "still" or "more".

Ṣùgbọ́n a ń gbìyànjú kọ́. Mo fẹ́ràn èdè Yorùbá, mo sì fẹ́ kọ́ Yorùbá sí.

Although you are still correct if you did not put "si" in it
example:
mo fe ko yoruba si.
I want to learn yoruba more.

Compare with the first sentence:
mo (sì) fẹ́ kọ́ Yorùbá sí.
I (still) want to learn yoruba more.

Mo ni ero pe aroye mi ye o fini fini?

Alaye re o ye mi. O ye ki n mo, nitori mo ti ri teletele.

E se pupo!

I am sad now. Some people don't even seem to care. How can you not care that you can no longer speak your mother tongue fluently?
It all starts with changing attitudes.

CrazyMan: I do...about the adulteration, I believe people do it in casual discussions.

If I'm talking to my parents for instance, or an elderly person, I would maintain Igbo language with zero percent English.

If I'm having a formal discussion with someone, I would maintain English language with zero percent pidgeon or Igbo.

If I'm with my friends, I can decide to kill English language...I may speak pidgeon, Igbo, I may even decide to mix Igbo, pidgeon and English and see the out come. But one thing is certain, I would never speak fluent English with my peers.

So it all depends on your mood at the moment, and the person you're having a conversation with...

What you don't seem to understand is that during long-term use of such language, you will/or many will, lose their fluency in the language. It's also called losing domain.

Whether you agree with it or not, it is a real factor when speaking of language death and endangerement. Mixing language that often, will eventually kill off the language as people lose fluency. Just in this thread, see how many people are saying they can't even speak their language without mixing in English.

The mixing of languages is a very dangerous thing, especially when it's this common.

seunfly: my dear on that maa issue, please forgive me i did not know it is from the sentence.

Maa from the sentence means "will"

i guess i missed because of the tone.

Jesus said: it is the hand of those that do not have that we have collected and given to those who have.

Jesus said: it is from the hand of those that do not have that we will collect and give to those that have.

Your interpretation was right but if you include (maa) "will" you will get the correct and complete sentence like mine.

Ma binu si mi , se o ti gbo.

Oh, I see! I'm not angry, hehe!
E se pupo!

Eze Promoe: Interesting! I'll like to learn the language. I'm I welcome?

Yes

Adeniki: Ṣùgbọ́n a ń gbìyànjú kọ́. Mo fẹ́ràn èdè Yorùbá, mo sì fẹ́ kọ́ Yorùbá sí i.

Why add the sì after mo?

This is not picking. I just want to know more!

slap1: Code switching/mixing is here to stay, bro. There are experiences you cannot adequately relate in your own language. What are the Igbo or Yoruba words for network, atom, molecule, Twitter, Google, Adobe Reader, etc? There is no English word for spagetti, so the English man has to code-mix in order to clearly relay his spagetti experience. . .etc.

Yoruba actually has a lot of pure Yoruba words for modern technology. Though Twitter/Facebook are the proper names of such services, and thus it is not necessary to translate.

Ero-isiro, kòmpútà (loan word has been properly assimilated into the language, hence I show you the tones) - computer.
Opolo-komputa - CPU (Central processing unit)
Network: ise-awon
Atom: Ota

So, I promise you there is more. However, loan words such as kòmpútà are normal. BUT, when someone says KILO HAPPEN, it's not normal. You have to see the difference here.

Good posts. It's all about awareness. Government needs to launch campaigns to support Nigerian languages. They need to inform people and let them know of the concequences. I can tell you, the day people stand without their own language anymore, the frustration and lack of identity will strike them like thunder.

I would give anything for my parents teaching me Edo while I was still small, instead I am desperately looking for somewhere to go on a course. I am also learning Yoruba, which I find invaluable. How people can speak and pollute their language with English words to such a degree that it's no longer the language, but instead a pidgin,is beyond me.

It angers me and makes me sad and frustrated at the same time. Why oo, why can't people realize this before it's too late.
I advice everyone to promote their language, no matter how small your contribution may be, it will still and help and support the language.

seunfly: Another example:
Jesu ni: ni owo eni tí ko ni l'a ti maa gba fun eni t'ó ni. The second "ti" here is mid tone, is it just a grammatical error or it it suposed to be like it? (There are many writing/grammar errors in this book I have noticed).

It is correct, it is niether high nor low tone. I think it is flat.


Also, what does maa gba mean?

Well the word gba could be written and pronounced diffrently depending on the tonal effect, but i will asume 3 meaning.
(1) gba: to hit
(2)gba: to collect, accept, recieve, give etc
(3) gba: to dupe
(4) gba: agree
maa: negate the words it came before.
So which ever the maa gba it may be, it mean don't gba(any of it meaning) eg don't give, don't dupe, don't collect, don't accept etc.

Oh, ok!

Jesus said: it is the hand of those that do not have that we have collected and given to those who have. Is this correct? But that would mean maa shouldn't be there? I can understand it quite well now thanks to you. Still seems a bit complicated, and I will refer from using thesse forms for when I write until I know them 100%.

E se pupo!!

Ok, so pretty much the same question (or similar).

Kini mo ni tí(high tone) won ni mo ni aniju? Is tí here another term used to specify?

Alaini l'ó(high tone) ni eni t'ó(high tone) ni ko nii jeki oun ni. What exactly does t'o especialyl mean here?


Another example:
Jesu ni: ni owo eni tí ko ni l'a ti maa gba fun eni t'ó ni. The second "ti" here is mid tone, is it just a grammatical error or it it suposed to be like it? (There are many writing/grammar errors in this book I have noticed).

Also, what does maa gba mean?

I'm afraid I don't fully understand this and it occurs too frequently for me to ignore. I understand what you said in the previous post, but I still can't get the grasp of it
I'm starting on my other book now. I hope it can fill the gaps that the other book didn't.

It's not only Africa. Smaller languages in Europe also are experiencing pressure from English.

When I watch a Yoruba or Edo movie, they sometimes mix in English words. So even important sources such as music and movies don't speak the language without pressing in English words. From what I know, it's especially youths that are the worst when it comes to language pollution.

Yoruba example: MAMA/DADDY, KILO HAPPEN? Mo understand. It is very disturbing. All of which have Yoruba equalients.

As you see, many languages are threatened by English especially. If allowed to continue, it can destroy entire languages in a very short time. The government of Nigeria needs to make sure literrature is published in Nigerian languages, they need to promote language learning in school, they need to make people aware by using media.

Though, the single most disturbing thing about this, is parents not allowing their kids/not teaching them to speak their native tongue. This needs to stop completely before they destroy their own language.

Does anyone know any Edo language courses available (preferably at an university) in Europe? I know there is one in USA, but I have no interest going there. Alternatively, do any of you know if The University of Benin offer anything similar for people without Nigerian citizenship or courses for foreign students? (Preferably no more than year, I don't want to interrupt studies too much). Or really any university in Nigeria.

Wow!!

So if their reports weren't precice, they did a bad job? Very regrettable that so many people died, but isn't this a bit unreasonable? I'm not going to make a statement though, until I know the full details.

How many years ago did he pass away? I didn't even know he was dead

My favorite song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I1pKRMNOEc

If this is his thing, then well, it is. At least he dares to do something that he likes, even though it doesn't fit your taste. Don't condeomn him, or any other person for that matter. It's not your job or place to do so.

seunfly: l = ni
ni o/l'o is another word without meaning but have a technical function something like (is, are).
So in the sentence it is like this
(1) Sofa meji l' o wa ni palo naa.
Same as:
Sofa meji ni o wa ni palo naa.
However you are also correct if you say

Sofa maji wa ni pala naa.
But the first sentence is more discriptive than the other, it is just like you say:

Am going home.
Instead of
i am going home.
AGAIN the l'o or t'o is technical it is just like (is, are) in english language.

In sentence (2)
(2) Ile naa ni palo nla ati kisini t'ó tobi.
Note the ni here is diffrent from the other ni o/l'o if you put the tona sign so they mean diffrent thing and are pronounced diffrently. However t'o here serve discriptive (ti o) tobi, just like (is) big.

Oh! Thank you so much. This explains a lot.

I think it's very sad when I see someone who doesn't know his/hers native tongue properly. Very sad.