^^^^^
my experience in the uk has however taught me that we go too far in nigeria about use of english. even the english don't care. but they write well - formally.

just understand parts of speech. that is the most important thing. SEUN is a good example here. he writes correctly without 'big' grammar.

i taught this in extramural classes for a long time. i didn't study english nor attended a 'sophisticated' (?) school though.

@ Olawoye
great Job!
please i am interested cllns91@aol.com

Oga English teacher sir. King Eliza. Since you is tishing us english, you suppose know how to spell it naa. Check your initial post. You said "So, say; "You sound MUCH better with your assent"". The one I know is ACCENT iiooo. Abi is that the American spelling?

Nice one. Like former president Bush would say; you can never "misunderestimate" the power of good communication skills.

@ Wallie :
I beg to differ
I repeat , there are no such words as
Parastatal
Enumerator and
Majorly
Even the OSL , OSW , OSPD and SOWPODS don't recognise these words

About '' most favourite song '' , shouldn't it be '' favourite song '' ? Seeing that one can have only one favourite.

I don't mean some verbs are noun , I'm saying that the word '' verb '' is a noun.

“This is the worstest situation I have ever seen”.

ha ha ha ha.

Tuyis:

Nice one. Like former president Bush would say; you can never "misunderestimate" the power of good communication skills.

ha ha ha ha Thank goodness we got rid of that man at last.

ola olabiy:

^^^^^
my experience in the uk has however taught me that we go too far in nigeria about use of english. even the english don't care. i have seen them 'murdered' the language. but they write well - formally.

just understand parts of speech. that is the most important thing. SEUN is a good example here. he writes correctly without 'big' grammar.

i taught this in extramural classes for a long time. i didn't study english nor attended a 'sophisticated' (?) school though.

o ri e pe jare. I remember i used to correct my oyinbo friends essays. Nobody send here for yanki at alllll.

Check this out -
You want to fall me down?

aieromon:

Check this out -
You want to fall me down?

ha ha ha ha has haha chai nigerians!!!

davidif:

ha ha ha ha has haha chai nigerians!!!

Zimbabwans

Let's go there (Idboyostic@yahoo.com)

skfa1:

Zimbabwans

Do Zim people talk like that also?

Thank you. Am also interested.

linc4luv@yahoo.co.nz

Olawole thanks a lot. My E mail is puppylove_ng@yahoo.com

@olawoye,this is just to indicate my interest- (nature_2008@yahoo.com)

zulizill4real@yahoo.com

thanks olawoye, i'm also interested

[table][td]@ola olabiy^^^^^
my experience in the uk has however taught me that we go too far in nigeria about use of english. even the english don't care. i have seen them 'murdered' the language. but they write well - formally.

just understand parts of speech. that is the most important thing. SEUN is a good example here. he writes correctly without 'big' grammar.

i taught this in extramural classes for a long time. i didn't study english nor attended a 'sophisticated' (?) school though.[color=#000099][/color][/td][/table]

I SHOULD CORRECT YOUR ASSERTION THAT OYINBOS WRITE WELL FORMALLY! I have seen a signpost before that read "elektrician wanted", suffice to say, this is just one of the many mis-spelt English words I have read/seen since I have been in the UK, therefore, u can say "they speak well" (na dem get language),

back in lagos, i would go any lenght to make sure my english was perfect. its funny how useless english is here .i havent spoken english to anyone in God know how long.

taibabie,
i meant official communication; like nhs, school administrators and offices not among their teenagers or undergrads.

am interested this is my email segunlala@yahoo.com pls i wpuld appreciate it if u send me the materials

I don't know the kind of people you speak with often. I work and relate with all kinds of people and I wouldn't note their bad language, if any. Because the few whose English language is bad also know another language or two. Or even more. We often forget that English is a foreign language and as such a large %age of the Nigerian people grow up learning their local language so I do not think you should bother yourself when a Nigerian's English is poor.

Heck! Have you been to France? They will sometimes even refuse to speak English with you even if you are in a desperate situation. You no hear when former French president Jaquese Chirac (or whatever) stormed out of a meeting simply because the meeting could not be communicated to him in French.

If you ask me, it is natural to speak a language, good to understand another, excellent to speak another. So from that I surmise that we Nigerian's, me included, are excellent linguists being able to understand, speak, write and speak more than one language.

Oh by the way, Je parle Francais.

Missy, Na straight F9 for You.

Here is one I've noticed is commonly misused;

"On the long run",instead of "In the long run"

And here's a very common spelling error that's very rampantly used on this forum'

"Definately" instead of "Definitely"

All things being equal - - - - Other things being equal!

Thanx Olawoye for the great job. Pls send me the link to better grammar. my e mail dr_alao@yahoo.com

Hello all, I appreciate your replies and thanks to the nairaland moderators/admin for taking it to the main forum's page. It goes to show that the nairaland admin understands how the wrong use of language could render communication worthless/ineffective and that nairaland has taken it up to be part of the process of cementing this crack.

I attended a vigil on Friday night and was at a speaking event today. I returned to discover that this thread has been made loud on the forum's face. I also got enveloped in several mails and I’m treating them now.

Yes, in simple response to some comments here, communication could be rendered ineffective as a person's intention may be misconstrued for the way he used language. Imagine a person that just returned from a foreign country saying on phone to another;
"I'm just touching the Nigerian soil and waiting for you to receive me. I am in the garage".

As you know, most Nigerians understand 'garage' as 'market place', whereas it means 'motor park'.
One could see how the communication has been distorted in that hypothetical scenario.

To the fellows who sponsored the opinion that the English language is not compulsory, especially to Nigerians, have you ever felt out-classed due to the inferior way you use English language?
Maybe you have never lost a position because your use of language does not measure up to acceptable standard.
Sometimes, your certificate does not serve enough ticket to get you into your desired place.
Some people even ask you again and again if you ever went to school. This signals to us that the first expectation of people who are aware that you attended a school is that you should speak the in the heart of Shakespeare.

Yes I agree that English language isn’t native to us, but we just cannot beat it; we wake up every morning to meet it ranking high in daily requirement.

We truly require knowing more of our indigenous language, but we already know them and nobody or institution cares how much of them we know. The world seems to care only about internationally recognized languages and in our case, it is English Language.

We realize also, that English language holds the high in our mind owing to the following reasons:

#1 It is the language of unity in Nigeria (If you do not understand the over 400 tongues but understand the English language, you could communicate anywhere in Nigeria, with respect)

#2 Language of the media (cast a news in Yoruba language and have only the Yoruba’s attention; cast the same news in English language and receive 140 million attentions)

#3 Status maker (maybe a good use of English language earned ‘Wole Soyinka his status)

#4 Language of Education (even if you specialize on arithmetic and algebra, it is expressed with English language as it concerns us in this part of the world)

#5 Language of Business and Commerce (thrive in Business without the language to unlock distant minds, and your success is for someone else)

#6 Lingua franca (I have never seen any office that requires you to apply in Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba language for a standard job without still requiring English language) etc.

Attach importance to English language by the way it is taught and examined in students regardless of the discipline he presses for. Know for example that many UTME candidates fall short of cut-off because of this only evil. The only propitiation is ‘to learn it!’

Why do many with the power of language enjoy wider chances of success?

Many hide under the excuse that it is not their mother tongue maybe because they are guilty, and it has continued to fail them. We should begin to learn to challenge our problems and not defend them.

Please do not understand this post as one calculated at wounding the personality of others, it is only a way of addressing the issue.

I am particular this time, to those who are students and are writing exams, maybe the next post jamb. The information I am giving you also leads you to the place you can get past questions and answers of Post-UME and most of them are free. If you assume you know, you may be disappointed at the result but if you tap into historic materials (past questions and their answers), you may make your own experience a work over.

Thanks and I’ll continue to point out the errors students answer in their exams but still think that they have impressed the examiners, only to pluck less than ‘father would be made proud’.

'Segun O' Law

@ Olawale:
Good job bro. Pls post more, topsie28@yahoo.co.uk

kech:

Oga English teacher sir. King Eliza. Since you is tishing us english, you suppose know how to spell it naa. Check your initial post. You said "So, say; "You sound MUCH better with your assent"". The one I know is ACCENT iiooo. Abi is that the American spelling?

And "much better" is redundant and not good english. It's "You sound better, not you sound much better. . ."

wonderful job Olawoye.my email is sannisquareonly@yahoo.co.uk

I have always wondered why some Nigerians (and I do mean Nigerians) tend to say 'severally' for instance "I have told you severally" rather than 'several times'.
I cannot help, but wonder how this manner of speaking developed. Apart from the fact that it does not sound right, it is in my opinion just wrong, it is simply incomplete! Watch any Nigerian movie and you will hear this phrase.
As a Nigerian living in the UK, I enjoy watching Naija movies on the Nollywood channel, but on occasions, I have had to explain to non Nigerian when the word 'severally' is uttered.
I accept that there are some unique words that Nigerians use, especially when we talk to one another, but to use this word in this manner is rather bemusing to say the least. I am also a 'product' of Nigerian education, but I know that this word just doesn't sound right when used in this manner.

Pls , send the guide to me via richynoble@gmail.com Thanks