Last night, I and my friends, after a meal of Bread and akara, had a lengthy conversation about the highly endangered life of our African indigenous languages, till sleep beckoned. Each of us recalled our High School experiences where we were punished for speaking vernacular. At my own school, Marist College Nteje, it was considered extremely bad manners to speak the mother-tongues and offenders were punished severely. I was constantly found guilty. Our homes are not any better either. Ive witnessed lots of Parents who scold their kids because the kids chose to speak Igbo or Yoruba instead of English. Our languages are dying because some people think to be modern is to learn the English language and therefore do not speak the local language with their kids at home. English is the first language in the homes of most families in Nigeria and you hardly hear them speak their native languages. I find it very shameful when one can not speak at least one local language. Its very shameful. For many years, weve been led to believe that foreign languages are superior than our local languages. To many people in Nigeria, English is considered a language of prestige and if you cant speak grammatically correct English, then you are considered to be primitive. You cant belong. Infact, you are considered a dumb, unintelligent fellow if you cant speak correct English. Nevertheless, for the fact that Nigeria is a multi-lingual nation, it is good to have a unifying language that everyone can understand. English language has been able to achieve this, but it shouldnt be considered superior to ours. Its hightime we decolonised our minds in order to take pride and preserve our languages and culture. Speak your native language to your children. Encourage them to be confident while speaking it in public. Its not shameful. Its actually a thing of Pride. Our languages are treasures. Its our identity. Its our obligation as children of Africa to preserve this treasure. This identity! Have a great day people. #GoGreenHelpClean
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 07:58:20 +0000
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