A Nigerian should be able to pronounce Nigerian names or make the effort especially if you're fronting some Media show broadcasting to an audience out there. However, the Bizare notion of Fake is mostly put out there by Ghetto blacks or White Chaves- people making excuses for their own shortcomings.


Advice:

If you are a Nigerian abroad my advice would be-live your life to the full, don’t let Ghetto blacks or White Chavs/ Underclass bully you into living a parochial existence. If you've acquired received pronunciation use it don’t be bullied into not using it; if you're studious don’t be sanctioned by being called a nerd; if you can afford skiing go skiing; eat at Mc-Donalds, Clearages, Kentucky, Ritz; watch Ballet ,Football, Theatre, cinema, horse races, yachting, camping, fishing, . You get the picture. Don’t be told what you can and cannot do, you’re Nigerians not Blacks. Dot let anyone ghettoise you unless you want that. Live life to the fullest of your ability whenever possible.

TheNaijan:

I didn't read all that-too long...To begin with, English is not our language...it's a borrowed language...I schooled in Ghana for a couple of years... I pronounce words the way I think they should be pronounced, but I don't try so hard to sound American or British-that is a different issue...When Nigerians hear me speak-they think I am Ghanaian...but hell-this is wrong--Ghanaians generally make pronunciation mistakes with some words...I try not to do... and so this shoould differentiate me...I wanna speak, understand and communicate in English the best way...
I believe that is gonna help remove stereotypes about Nigerians... I don't wanna be identified easily by my funny(AKA wrong pronunciation) accent...
And I believe pidgin English should become Nigeria's national language.

Totally agree!! You rock. I refuse to pronounce words wrongly just for the sake of saying its the Nigerian accent.

I don't comment often but it's rare to see good writing skills on nairaland. Kudos to ops

@op I can't thank u enough 4 dis topic, dis tin has become so annoying especially on radio that I can hardly bear 2 stay on a radio channel for barely 5mins, infact kinda disgusts me sef...dats why I luv those peeps on wazobia fm. Down 2 earth and funny fellows. God bless wazobia fm!

bestads:


Blackberry pinging,facebook and twitter short spellings have finished your life, that is why you cannot read and comprehend a short article like this....How can you pass WAEC,SSCE,GCE and NECO..Do you think these exam bodies recognise pinging and short spellings

nigga you called that a short article?



please define 'short' for me

Lero15:
How do we pronounce "ebola" in the African accent? Is it /ibola/ or /ebola/ ?

. African/nigerian pronunciation; Ebola.

I think it depends on the social circle you find yourself when you live and work in countries like the UK and the USA. I live and work in a white-dominated environment, 95% of my colleagues are all white British-born; I don't have an English accent but I have learned to speak in a way that the people in my social circle can understand and relate with. I am sick and tired of repeating myself anytime I have to communicate with them using my Nigerian accent, and hence, I had to make an effort to speak in a way they can understand.

The OP talked about his family who have lived for years overseas and yet they still retain their Nigerian accent, I think it's because they have maintained a social circle that is made up of people from their backgrounds i.e. fellow Nigerians and Africans. There is no way an African would live in a European and/or American social circle and wouldn't unintentionally imbibe some elements of their culture i.e. their way of speaking.

My 2p.

Creamish:


Couldn't have said it better. I appreciate the OP's concern tho but its a matter of choice. I don't see anything wrong with it..as long as the message is passed and understood.

leave them abeg.

its only people who don't have nice voice that get intimidated by peopl's accent

Op I no argue you o. But you'll understand why you need a British or American accent when you want to use a voice search engine.
E no dey recognize Naija accent at all.

An even worse problem is how many Nigerians have European names.....disgraceful.

Una get mouth sha!

EroticAngelina:
I think some emulate the american British accent..and some don't.

if they wanna change it, they can..but if they don't want, then they can't..its a choice.

some grow up with British accents like me they master it either from schooling there or attending a school with British curriculums

my pry school, we used British curriculum plus our phonetics teaching etc, that makes him or her get a British accent.

don't knw about america

Too bad

Even with British curriculum you can't acquire British accents just like that

I beg who fit read this finish make e summarize.

Exjoker:
I don't give a dime about it

Wow! You just made my day!
.
Guys, check his statement! He may be right you know . . .

Nah only dt. 9ja girls way dey form say dey sabi speak am. d worst thing is, dey on leg n don't have car n dey will be forming it 4 a guy. If you guys slam dem wen dey start forming dey will remember that dey re in 9ja. enof is enof 4 fake girls. Abeg,b urself girls. u dey Africa. u nva enter plane not 2 talk about dey USA.

blessedgreat:
. African/nigerian pronunciation; Ebola.

thanks. The former is what I hear in Nigerian news broadcast these days

bestads:


Must we copy everything from UK,USA, etc

We are even copying haloween now sef

valmunich:
Damn! You should go and learn summary


@topic

The accent faking is just much and it's more with radio presenters, I just feel like tsmacking them from the set each time

If you are too lazy to read written items, sorry because not everyone is like you and not every information is worth summary... The author of this article wrote a interesting and captivating story that deserves to be read and points well understood.

@op...u can't overemphasize the roles of films nigerians see this days...most are foreign and remember these hav some lessons for subconscious minds to learn...it's not only affecting nigerians' diction but also other spheres of lives like dressing code/fashion sense,relationship,lifestyles and everyfin...so fulltime assimilation of foreign ways is changing its gear in present day nigerian settings,,selah

MsNas:
A lot can be said about the accent thing, but it is what is it. If you live outside Nigeria for a couple of years, your accent and pronunciation are bound to change but I won't change completely except you migrated at an earlier age (sage 16years), anything after that, your vocal cords are fully developed and you can't change your accent completely.

At least that's understandable. What about OAPs in Nigeria who haven't stepped out of Nigeria yet they speak through their noses??! Whenever I listen to any Nigerian radio station online I get so annoyed. Because they sound so ridiculous and stupid! If only they could know what they sound like. The actors and actresses are not spared too. Only God knows which country Tonto Dike's accent is from

But cut people who have lived outside of Nigeria some slack OP. The accent is bound to change definitely. If not completely but partially. I for one can switch between the Nigerian Accent and the American Accent easily. My American accent isn't flawless but it is definetely different from the Nigerian. Why do I have two accents? Well try speaking on the phone to an American with your Nigerian accent and goodluck trying to get him to understand you. Or you could try instructing a room full of undergrads in school with your Nigerian accent. You can't even get them to stop telling you to repeat yourself despite the fact that you're speaking as clearly and as slowly as possible. Some of those kids are still brats.

So Mr OP, there's absolutely nothing wrong in having two accents. Your sounding insecure or even resenting of the accent. Your wife and relatives probably lived among fellow Nigerians which is why they retained their accents. If they had lived in a white dominated state or community or even Akata dominated they will speak like them too. I chose to speak like an American but that doesn't mean I can blow your head off in Yoruba, typical of the Ibadan girl that I am

20 likes

My experience is a little different from yours. When I was in undergrad, I spoke in a clear Nigerian accent during class presentations. Or I would say the accent I used was a mixture of a Nigerian and American accents.

The key to communication in the US (for immigrants) is speaking in a slow, clear manner.

A lot of the things we actually call nigerian accent is mostly bad English because the inflections in Yoruba and other nigerian languages are very different from English. So we tend to stress on the wrong syllables when we speak English. So when people try to speak proper English, it comes across as 'forming British English'. But then again, a lot of our lagos and Abuja babe's dey overdo, lol

Fulaman198:
Some people don't have enough love for their tradition or culture. That's why I consider Nigeria a huge joke of an African country from time to time. I mean how could you abandon your culture completely to sound more American or British? Who does that? Out of all our West African neighbours, we are the only ones doing that nonsense. I'm proud of my Naija culture though and proud of my tradition.

Is English language your culture in the first place?

Ishilove:

We are even copying haloween now sef

I know. It's ridiculous that Nigerian celebrities who aren't American citizens, are celebrating Halloween IN Nigeria?!!

MsNas:
A lot can be said about the accent thing, but it is what is it. If you live outside Nigeria for a couple of years, your accent and pronunciation are bound to change but I won't change completely except you migrated at an earlier age (sage 16years), anything after that, your vocal cords are fully developed and you can't change your accent completely.

At least that's understandable. What about OAPs in Nigeria who haven't stepped out of Nigeria yet they speak through their noses??! Whenever I listen to any Nigerian radio station online I get so annoyed. Because they sound so ridiculous and stupid! If only they could know what they sound like. The actors and actresses are not spared too. Only God knows which country Tonto Dike's accent is from

But cut people who have lived outside of Nigeria some slack OP. The accent is bound to change definitely. If not completely but partially. I for one can switch between the Nigerian Accent and the American Accent easily. My American accent isn't flawless but it is definetely different from the Nigerian. Why do I have two accents? Well try speaking on the phone to an American with your Nigerian accent and goodluck trying to get him to understand you. Or you could try instructing a room full of undergrads in school with your Nigerian accent. You can't even get them to stop telling you to repeat yourself despite the fact that you're speaking as clearly and as slowly as possible. Some of those kids are still brats.

So Mr OP, there's absolutely nothing wrong in having two accents. Your sounding insecure or even resenting of the accent. Your wife and relatives probably lived among fellow Nigerians which is why they retained their accents. If they had lived in a white dominated state or community or even Akata dominated they will speak like them too. I chose to speak like an American but that doesn't mean I can blow your head off in Yoruba, typical of the Ibadan girl that I am

You misunderstood the OP completely. He doesn't have anything against those who have lived outside Nigeria for an extended period of time, and he even gave an illustration of his cousin who has lived in America for a greater part of his life and as such has two accents. The Op's grouse is with those who have never travelled abroad, or perhaps stayed abroad for a short period, yet speak with the contrived accents.

shedraq1:
Two of my uncles studied in the United States. Not just first degree but master’s degree as well. One of them even had a Ph.D and lived there for over 20 years before returning to Nigeria; none of them has an American accent. One of my maternal uncles and another aunt have been living in the UK ever since I can remember. When they came visiting some years back, none of them had a British accent. And so does my uncle that has lived in Australia for about 20 years.

My wife schooled in the UK for her master’s degree and does not have an atom of British accent when she speaks. Her elder sister schooled for 2 years in the United States and doesn’t have an American accent either. My wife’s half brother and sister are half-caste because their mum is a white English woman. They schooled in the UK to master’s degree level and lived there for a while as well and they don’t have a British accent (though a few words can’t escape her)

OP you are a pathetic liar

Porshoe for pursue hahaaaaaaa mumugerians don suffer

fake accent kills! why? it is because it is a big stress not to be oneself, and stress kills.

I think the writer himself writes like he has a foreign accent. Lol! Let's keep it real. #PROUDLYNIGERIAN

This is so shameful. Try understanding the fake accent of the public address announcers at any of our airports. There is nothing wrong with speaking in our own God given accent. There is a good reason why we were born in Nigeria, not UK, not US, and certainly not Australia.

shedraq1:
Two of my uncles studied in the United States. Not just first degree but master’s degree as well. One of them even had a Ph.D and lived there for over 20 years before returning to Nigeria; none of them has an American accent. One of my maternal uncles and another aunt have been living in the UK ever since I can remember. When they came visiting some years back, none of them had a British accent. And so does my uncle that has lived in Australia for about 20 years.

My wife schooled in the UK for her master’s degree and does not have an atom of British accent when she speaks. Her elder sister schooled for 2 years in the United States and doesn’t have an American accent either. My wife’s half brother and sister are half-caste because their mum is a white English woman. They schooled in the UK to master’s degree level and lived there for a while as well and they don’t have a British accent (though a few words can’t escape her)

OP you are a pathetic liar!!

same here, I literally stopped listening to local radios and tv news, esp the private ones ..it really sucks

But some accent are damn crzy ,esp the ibo accent