Seriously one thing i regret is not speaking my Language{urhobo} fluently I feel lost wen odas speak but hope still dey sha am still learning gradually..I sumtyms fear if we continue dis neglectof our dialect in 20 to 40 years tym some language might jst go into extinction @ mod nice topic

First of all, it would be very unfair to compare the Nigerian Native languages to that of the Asians or the French or the Spaniads.. For starters, theirs is a lingua franca (meaning the official language of their countries), ours is localized only to our respective villages. It. Would be easy for a china kid to learn chinese in america, than it would be for an idoma child in the same US.

That said, I'm not happy that I am the only one in amongst my siblings that can speak both our local languages.. However, I don't blame anyone of them. Our circumstances of birth and upbringing where different. Whilst I was born in the village, others were born in the city. Whilst I had the luck to have grown up with a lot of aunties, uncles, cousins, nephews and co, they grew up mostly in the city and abroad.. I had the opportunity of growing up with 4 grandparents that were 'younger', agile, active and bubbling, they had aged, tired, weak and some where even dead.

A lot has changed between my time and theirs in my family. They never stood a chance.. Can't blame my dad and mum either.. They just never had the time. Plus, I don't think they are interested in learning it anyways..

I took interest at a very early age and had a lot of people around me who spoke well and thaught me. My grand parents were the biggest helpers.. They always never spoke english with me.(RIP old timers.. I really miss all of you guys)

My kids will learn the language cos my parents would teach em.

kreami diva:

The bolded is very true and sad. Yorubas are proud of their language and culture. Once you see Yoruba people conversing,it must have elements of yoruba in it. Same for the Hausas.

Me i no send. That na why i dey speak my ibo dey go. Oru mgbe anyi ga asu oyibo,anyi asuo ya ofuma.(when the
need arises for us to speak English,we speak it very well!)

Nne ima wetin dey.

OP, you have chosen to listen to the children of those descendants who speak their native language while in another country. The same thing happens when a foreigner would say 'what language are your children speaking'. Then I would say , its hausa, yoruba or ibo.

Hotstepper: It's just so sad especially among Igbos. Someone came to my house and was shocked my son of 1 year plus could understand Igbos nd speaks like Mba etc. He told.me dat us bad cuz eventually he will have igbo accent wen speaking english..imagine. Others say why my son couldn't speak English den was cuz he was confused which to speak lol yet he would tell u, come and bia at da same time. Am even trying to put him in French school. Language is important and it's so sad that u will see couple from da same place yet their
kids can't speak

Ignore them... I believe in training kids to be multi-lingual.
My kids speak English and german fluently, Igbo at a basic level and by d 4th class( at 10yrs) they get to pick French or Spanish. Some schools here already included the Chinese language in their curriculum... So what??

No

talking about if parents are proud if their kids speak their native tongue I think a good percentage are,only a few would resent. Talking from my experience I'm from interethnic groups, my dad ibo and my mum Idoma, grew up in the south south(calabar) to b precise, ended up not knwing hw to speak any of the languages belonging to my parents. I feel its their fault because a child has d ability to Learn as many lang. he/she is exposed to but in my case none of them did. tink they just recently saw the need and have been initiating speaking native tongue at home but honestly its difficult now and I do feel bad abt it because ure somehw lost where u shd belong.

Why won't i be able to speak my native tongue Ujesha all the way..... Its really sad to see some younger ones not been able to speak a simple sentence or even understand their native language. My young cousins came for holiday from lagos last month, none of them could speak a single yoruba or understand it. I was like, what?? I drag them into a room.... Oya, A- Aja, B- Bolu, D-doje, E-eeyan, ẹ- ẹgba......

Nigerians in other countries case is a small one I know kids here in igbo land that can not speak or hear igbo. Its so bad

Wetin concern me, when me sef cnt speak either language of my parents.

I don't understand why some parents feel it diminishes their children to speak their native language. My children can't speak mine and I would give anything to find a way around it but the common languages between my wife and I are English and Spanish

Ada Nri1: I speak Igbo to my children, they understand both Igbo and English. One day my daughter fell, and told herself "idaa" which means "you've fallen" in Igbo. A Nigerian lady was there, she started laughing and said my child was a bush girl, That she's happy her children can't say a word of their language. That she wants them to be proper Brits. Talk of inferiority complex. No need to say I was quite disappointed.

Pls tell her the proper Brits know themselves..

peziz: It's just breaks my heart when people lay blames on them for not teaching us properly.

Now the one language you understand, you can't even speak well. (or write well)

Omo eni o le se idi bebere ka tun wa fileke sidi omo elomiran(one can't wear beads for another man daughter hips when he has a daughter with better hips)As for me,yoruba is my language and I will teach my children the way my parents taught me.

Shame!!! Shame to those parents.. Shame to them cos one generation can destroy d unborn generation..

How exactly does speaking one's native language benefit anyone? Our official language is english, while almost all of us are at least proficient in pidgin. The world is becoming globalised and english has become the recognised language of communication. All this tribal and sentimental attachment to native language whatever is jus t unnecessary and without purpose IMO

jennykadry: Lol what is wrong with "hello Aunty how are you?" Hello is a form of greeting you know.....what has "respecting" our cultural values done for our country? Is Nigeria better than these developed countries?

You got called Aunty and you are sad? You should be lucky you got called aunty and not your first name

Omode n se oo... Oda nkankan mon(You are kid and don't understand what is the cause of OP's pain). I pray it won't be late for you to start appreciating your culture

I don't think anyone will come up here and say they are proud their kids can't converse in their native language. As for me, my kids will not only speak it, they MUST learn to read it fluently, write it correctly and pray in their mother tongue.
It's not a matter of choice for them or something they'll tell me they don't like to do.

So help me God

I can speak Hausa welllllllll! A lil Yoruba n French, but I can't speak my native language fluently. Nobody spoke my native language to me while I was growing up, so I didn't learn. Now, I try to mix with people who can speak the native language. Learning the hard way. SMH!

LausDeo: Now the one language you understand, you can't even speak well. (or write well)

Thanks for pointing that out. It was a typographical error. Edited already.

Can Obama speak Kenyanese?

You are very wrong on this saying that average Nigerians would not want their kids to learn their native languages. Where did you get your statistics? The instance you gave was an isolated case. I am also living in America precisely Georgia. Many of us want our kids to learn our languages and it pains most of us that they don't know it. Many kids even want but because they speak English Lang. to them in schools and social gatherings, it hinder them from acclimatize to our language. Even many Americans both blacks and whites always say that they wish they know another language like us.

Mikhaela: I don't speak any Nigerian dialect. I didn't grow up with my parents and I'm from different tribes, I don't speak pidgin either. I'm not proud of it nor am I ashamed of it. It doesn't change the fact that I'm Nigerian, black, happy and so on. I do speak other 'European languages' because well... that's where I've always been. I call my Aunt by her name, I call my father by his name (we really did NOT grow up together), I am respectful, I have a good job and I pay my bills. I mean, I'm as normal as you guys are.

Huuuuuum, it is well

Nigerians suffer from an advanced level of [size=14pt]inferiority complex and an identity crisis[/size] (no offense).

In the UK today, you will never see a pair of Chinese, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, dutch people etc speaking English to each other. However, I have come across countless Nigerians that argue with me that even speaking the Nigerian pidgin English by 2 full grown adults isn't right. These same Nigerians do not find anything wrong in teaching their kids french or Spanish. They even go ahead to speak the Jamaican patois (Jamaican pidgin) and they find it fashionable. Last year at the Nottinghill carnival in London, a Nigerian DJ (Jatt) at the Nigerian stand played more foreign songs than he did Nigerian songs and the Nigerian audience was 'so impressed' with his performance.

You can't blame us cos to a great extent, it's a black race thing. The world sees us as inferior and we also see ourselves as inferior too.

Africans around the world have turn their back on their culture.

I don't care if my future children can't speak my Native Language fluently, My Native Language can be an hinderance in speaking a correct English.

I am a regular reader on nairaland but could not resist the urge to join based on this topic. First I would say I am a big fan of people learning their tribal tongue but in some cases I disagree. Personal experience with people from my culture have taught me serious lesson. You approach them and as soon as they see themselves in a position to help you they resort to English. But when the older ones want to enforce respect from younger ones especially when they are broke tribal language seems to a must. Some tribes I envy because I see the way they help themselves but when it comes to my tribe; bini I would say you are in for a surprise

kreami diva:

The bolded is very true and sad. Yorubas are proud of their language and culture. Once you see Yoruba people conversing,it must have elements of yoruba in it. Same for the Hausas.

Me i no send. That na why i dey speak my ibo dey go. Oru mgbe anyi ga asu oyibo,anyi asuo ya ofuma.(when the need arises for us to speak English,we speak it very well!)

Is there anything called Ibo? I hate it when people of Igbo extraction write Ibo instead Igbo. You should be the one pronouncing and writing it properly. Ogwula ka oham n'onu.

As a matter of fact. Me and my wife dey fight this battle.....It's a shame on us loosing our cultural values

its understandable for people who live in foreign lands but i grew up in Lagos and a lot of my neighbours cannot speak their native languages, and even show surprise when they hear us speak to our parents.
For those saying their children don't learn because they go to school or interact primarily in English that is not true i spoke English in school and in almost all other social situations but once i got home we switch back and now i speak both perfectly many ask me how i speak English almost without any accent and i reply i don't know

Chamackh: Is there anything called Ibo? I hate it when people of Igbo extraction write Ibo instead Igbo. You should be the one pronouncing and writing it properly. Ogwula ka oham n'onu.

No vex o. Na my phone dey write ibo instead of igbo. I don correct am.

Ewekwala iwe.