It has been argued that to take away the culture of a people and enslave them, you first take away their language and make them dislike it. In many families in Nigeria today, we derive pleasure and take it as status symbol when our children speak English and are ignorant of our mother tongue, I used to admire Igbo people because of their love for speaking to their children in their language, but that has changed: English is now the fashion in their communicating with their children.

The disadvantage of not speaking our languages to our children is that they will loose the identity as authentic Yoruba, Tiv, Hausa, Igbo, Bini, Ogoni People e.t.c. In India, Britain, Scotland and Libya, children speak their mother tongues, Indians Chinese, Korean and Japanese children even use computers in their mother tongues.

Let us encourage our children to speak our mother tongue at home and leave the foreign language to the school to handle. More than 100 years ago, Bishop Samuel Ayayi Crowther was able to translate the bible to Yoruba because he was proficient in his Yoruba, His mother tongue. How many parents can read the bible or any other books in their mother tongue?

What is your take on this issue? Please mature comments needed here, Thanks

I go with mixture of both.
The frequency with which we speak a language goes a long in helping our fluency in the language. I grew up in the family house in our hometown, where we hardly spoke English, even in school. I must say it's telling on my fluency in spoken English till today. We cannot shy away from the fact that of poor command of spoken English could be embarrassing in formal settings/interactions. Getting used to it in informal settings like from home could help a lot. Total abandon of local language is what I feel is not OK.
At home now, we speak both English and Yoruba to the small children(my nieces and nephews).

My little nieces and nephews speak English in schools, but we are teaching them Yoruba at home. They all understand at least basic Yoruba now. In fact I was jokingly teaching them 'conc' Kwara yoruba few days ago.

Both is the best combination, i was brought up with my local language, but then it affected me outside, but overall, but i still learned how to speak english through schooling and stuff, but having to learn my local language now is something that wouldnt have been possible if they didn't teach me when i was younger,

I go with the both languages view. In fact, I think that from infancy a child should be taught as many languages as possible. If for the sake of argument, someone said that only one language should be picked, then, I'll definitely go for English over the traditional language, especially in this day of the world fast becoming a global village. One would not want one's child to be handicapped on an international level, particularly when the child would not be able to communicate in a different part of his/her own country talk much less of other parts of the world. Once the traditional language becomes an international Lingua Franca, then a convincing argument can be made for relying solely (or mainly) on such language.

Parents speak in "mother tongue", we respond in English.The only time we speak Hausa is when we are gossiping  and Yoruba when we are speaking to the grandparents or Aunts and Uncles.

It pisses my mom off when I mix my Yoruba with English. . . like I'd say "The Rice is has not jino-ed or the omi is oow-ing". She hates that coz she thinks it is going to mo mi lara.

Lmao!! 

Your mother speaks Hausa Sisi? Does/Can your dad speak Yoruba Yoruba language?

@ Topic

both for me!!

Lmao @ Yoruba Yoruba BUT Yeah they both speak Yoruba and Hausa fluently.

I think anybody that goes to school would eventually speak English.

So a child should be taught the mother tongue when he gets to school, he would learn English and other languages

You can teach the child as many language as possible, you would be suprised how good they would get along

Sisi Jinx:

It pisses my mom off when I mix my Yoruba with English. . . like I'd say "The Rice is has not jino-ed or the omi is oow-ing". She hates that coz she thinks it is going to mo mi lara.

U are a case!!!

A child should be taught English @ home. . . . .He can learn Yoruba anytime he feels like learning it.
There are some fundamental stuffs about English that a child must not miss while growing up.
Once he misses that train, it's biddy-bye.
Why do u think some people still pronounce Chicken as See-keen(Ibadan folks) even after spending decades in Universities.
H-factor, S-factor, L-factor etc.

Both
A child btw ages 0 to 7 is capable of learning and grasping up yo 4 languages without confusing one for the other.

~Sauron~:

U are a case!!!

A child should be taught English @ home. . . . .He can learn Yoruba anytime he feels like learning it.
There are some fundamental stuffs about English that a child must not miss while growing up.
Once he misses that train, it's biddy-bye.
Why do u think some people still pronounce Chicken as See-keen(Ibadan folks) even after spending decades in Universities.
H-factor, S-factor, L-factor etc.

The reason only English was spoken at home. We weren't allowed to speak pidgin at home till we were grown.
That and my parents had different mother tongues.
I learnt to understand Yoruba in secondary school.

Ete, there are certain advantages and disadvantages. I have cousins who grew up speaking English at home and their mastery of the language is almost impeccable, but then again, some of them have little desire to know their roots or the dialect. I, on the other hand spoke Ibibio at home, and in high school so, college was really the first setting where I had to converse in English. You know, as per the diverse culture, unlike high school, whereby most of your mates are Ibibio. And I did receive stares/unflattering comments that I liked to speak in the 'bush' language. And another problem was that, if you commited a fallacy in your English dialect, you will be mocked.

So, where does that leave us? Our culture/dialect is dying a slow death, while English Language is gaining grounds even in the village. All these promotes inferioity complex in our lives. My suggestion is that no matter what, kids should learn how to speak their mother's tongue at an early age, or even at home. In school, they can always learn English Language.

P/S: Would you believe this, but honestly, it's true, in my primary school, if you were caught speaking 'vernacular', you will be punished. No kidding you.

Ndipe:

P/S: Would you believe this, but honestly, it's true, in my primary school, if you were caught speaking 'vernacular', you will be punished. No kidding you.

Yes, I believe it. Same applied in my secondary school. To be honest, it was an embarrassment speaking any language that was not English. The Hausa students who did so were seriously looked down on.

Sapphic:

Yes, I believe it. Same applied in my secondary school. To be honest, it was an embarrassment speaking any language that was not English. The Hausa students who did so were seriously looked down on.

My secondary school was quite different in that regard. Though, some zealous senior students would implement the rule that only English would be the official medium of communication, weeks later, students would break the rule and return back to normalcy. That was quite funny though.

In my secondary school which was a unity school it was the same thing.However some hawkish aba and onitsha boys always defied that

Nomalcy in my school was speaking English. Apart from the Hausa kids were kinda ostracised by most students, there were no groups that spoke any local languages. Actually, there was always a competition to determine who could speak the most complex phrases and ace the "phonetics".

Sapphic are u a lesbo? if yes how do u intend to have a kid you wanna teach ur mother tongue
IVF? Adoption? or , ?

Ahh . . Dem don release another guy from psych ward.

I kid, I kid,

amarilo:

Sapphic are u a lesbo? if yes how do u intend to have a kid you wanna teach ur mother tongue
IVF? Adoption? or , ?

Yes and surely, your question is soooooo 19th Century. I am not sure I want children, but if and when I do, any of your listed options or self insertion, or the conventional method will do.

U are a case!!!

A child should be taught English @ home. . . . .He can learn Yoruba anytime he feels like learning it.
There are some fundamental stuffs about English that a child must not miss while growing up.

The reverse should be the case because it should be his/her native language. A child can always learn english in school.

Once he misses that train, it's biddy-bye.
Why do u think some people still pronounce Chicken as See-keen(Ibadan folks) even after spending decades in Universities.
H-factor, S-factor, L-factor etc.

Same way the Chinese pronounce 'chicken' as 'chikun'.

earTHMama:

The reverse should be the case because it should be his/her native language. A child can always learn english in school.

No wonder you have a corrosive Ijesha accent.
After all the money spent on ur education, the Ijesha accent still reflects like a aurora borealis.

Same way the Chinese pronounce 'chicken' as 'chikun'.

Jesus Wept!!!

I don't know but my Moms told me she didn't want us speaking with an accent when we got older hence we did not speak our Mother tongue in my younger days whether right or wrong its all to the good because i can speak both now

A-40:

I don't know but my Moms told me she didn't want us speaking with an accent when we got older hence we did not speak our Mother tongue in my younger days whether right or wrong its all to the good because i can speak both now

Are you sure?

@ topic

Growing up at home, it was yoruba to the core plua a little bit of english and pidgin

As soon as we get to school, come and check out phonetics, especially with the chicks. Good times mehn!!

chamotex:

@ topic

Growing up at home, it was yoruba to the core plua a little bit of english and pidgin

As soon as we get to school, come and check out phonetics, especially with the chicks. Good times mehn!!

It depends on the environment, Chamo-boy!!
That method will not work in Gbongan.

~Sauron~:

It depends on the environment, Chamo-boy!!
That method will not work in Gbongan.

Where the f*ck is that? Earth??

No wonder you have a corrosive Ijesha accent.
After all the money spent on ur education, the Ijesha accent still reflects like a aurora borealis

My IJ accent is sexy, egba is crap.

chamotex:

Where the f*ck is that? Earth??

Osun state!

chamotex:

Are you sure?

You wan try me? if i start to dey yarn provebs and oriki's for here you go take off  

I speak both.
Both mostly yoruba. I mix them because some yoruba words can't be translated into English and some English words can't be translated into yoruba.

But I prefer yoruba more, after all, it was my first language.

That method will not work in Gbongan. Cheesy Grin

ROTFLMAO. . . why use my friend's hometown as example!
But truly, if this my Gbongan friend speaks English, kai, you will see GBONGAN all over. But save the accent, he speaks flawless English.

P/S: Would you believe this, but honestly, it's true, in my primary school, if you were caught speaking 'vernacular', you will be punished. No kidding you.

In my own secondary school, classes were most silent when the ''NO VERNACULAR RULE' was implemented. Come see silence all over!

my own take is, either you speak with them or not, they will still understand and be able to speak. In as much as other pple speak it in their presence, e.g mum and dad, aunties or uncles or even d house help. I was shocked when i overheard my niece speaking very good and sound yoruba with d house help, this is a girl that since her arrival to the family, we all stopped speaking yoruba so that she will not learn it, but she learnt it on her own, only God knows how.