Abeg, by the time you reach university level, person wey go hear English go don hear English. Even the university knows this... They quit trying to teach you English after GNS 111 (except you're an English major or something). Its no use trying to bend dried fish

PencilBox:
:-/ liar! I REP UNIBEN. pidgin ain't rapant here Mr. Dat's an hoax!

Go tel Hall3/Hall4 boys that one or Ekosodin Men. By the way, you sound like someone from Ekehuan campus or a fresher , we never orientate you .

Milo30:


Nope. I disagree. 'White' Americans use "wanna" and "gonna" a lot. Their slangs have also become legit words as well. I believe languages are tools people use in communication. You don't use a scissors where a hammer is required.

gonna and wanna are speaking contractions, which sometimes are used in informal writing, stories to convey a message to the reader. American English is Standard.....what makes AME different from BRE, is the spelling of some words, where stress in placed in words, replacement of T with a form soft D, and the pronounced emphasis on R.

Many Nigerians, adults can't go through a sentence without committing some form of blunder....unfortunately the little kids learn these, thinking it is the proper way to speak.

WE thank god sey we get super spoken english wey oyibo themselves no de understandam, naija! i wantam dis way, dem done taugh us we sabi pass dem. Oluwa bless naija

Chukazu:


It's totally wrong for you to compare Nigeria with Japan and China, those are homogeneous societies with one culture, one language, one nation, one destiny, can you say the same of nigeria, 250 ethnic groups and diverse languages? how do you relate to those whose language you don't understand?

we are essentially saying the same thing. I was responding to a poster who doesn't think Nigerians should continue using the English language and in the same breath advocated for pidgin English, while comparing Nigeria to Japan and China.

So far we understands each other, language na language, even Ibo. So because we went to school to learn English, we should forget bout any other languages other than English? Guy, you need to relocate

Chukazu:


I totally disagree with your statement that Indians an Americans speak perfect English. there's no English speaking nation that speaks "perfect "English in its "perfection "
they all have their own indigenous form of speaking. the reason we have "American(not just about accent, even in meaning) English, Australian English, Canadian English, even the Irish have their's, so why can't we have Nigerian English?

read my post again.....I said a Nigerian speaking is pretty much similar to an Indian speaking English.........wasn't Indian colonized by Britain as well? Pakistan was also colonized by England, and they don't speak good English. what make those country you mentioned different, is that those countries especially America, Canada and Australia and even the white population of South Africa are for the most part descendants of the English people. Ireland is in close proximity of England, so is wales and Scotland, they were raided and conquered by England, but they still have their own indigenous Celtic language. but their history has allowed for cultural diffusion.

people in Nigeria most of the time first learn in their native language which sort of affects their fluency in the English language. this is a fact

English language is important and so is pidgin in Nigeria. what's the use of speaking English to someone n yet u can't communicate to the person. I think both are important and also where n when to apply it is also important. Me dey yan pidgin steady wen needed but wen I dey among d grammar people I dey blast English!

sometimes my lecturers when they can explain something to us they use pidgin language to communicate.....

I miss speaking pidgin, haven't spoken it for ages. Pidgin language is a part of our national identity, the same way Patua is a part of the national identity of people from the Caribbean. The average educated Nigerian speaks better English than the whites, most of these whites don't even go to school. So we have a situation whereby someone born and raised in Nigeria speaks and writes better than the average Englishman born and raised in England.

Na So dem first tink say we Warri guys nor know anytin because we dey yan pigin... I just dey wonda if our lecturers dey teach in pigin...

Pigin na our identity, Character and our Own. Wen 9ga go stop to b slave even for language! Abi una nor know say we get simple and correct pigin english?

I rep Warri nation sha!

tevinsolt:


gonna and wanna are speaking contractions, which sometimes are used in informal writing, stories to convey a message to the reader. American English is Standard.....*what makes AME different from BRE, is the spelling of some words, where stress in placed in words, replacement of T with a form soft D, and the pronounced emphasis on R.*

Many Nigerians, adults can't go through a sentence without committing some form of blunder....unfortunately the little kids learn these, thinking it is the proper way to speak.

With reference to the '*' section, is replacing 'T' with 'D' not against the language rules? Don't hausa people replace 'P' with 'F' for the same reason?

...Why is your written English not perfect?...SMH

tevinsolt:


read my post again.....I said a Nigerian speaking is pretty much similar to an Indian speaking English.........wasn't Indian colonized by Britain as well? Pakistan was also colonized by England, and they don't speak good English. what make those country you mentioned different, is that those countries especially America, Canada and Australia and even the white population of South Africa are for the most part descendants of the English people. Ireland is in close proximity of England, so is wales and Scotland, they were raided and conquered by England, but they still have their own indigenous Celtic language. but their history has allowed for cultural diffusion.

people in Nigeria most of the time first learn in their native language which sort of affects their fluency in the English language. this is a fact

and what do you say of Caribbean nations,especially Jamaica?

tevinsolt:


we are essentially saying the same thing. I was responding to a poster who doesn't think Nigerians should continue using the English language and in the same breath advocated for pidgin English, while comparing Nigeria to Japan and China.

okay man.got the point

Milo30:

AN hoax right? Well done.

ah ha! A hoax

Adex097:

Go tel Hall3/Hall4 boys that one or Ekosodin Men. By the way, you sound like someone from Ekehuan campus or a fresher , we never orientate you .

hahah! 'm nt really a freshman. No doubt abt the Ekosodin n Hall3 guys. Bt dat doesn't generalize my facts

The pidgin language is used for informal communication, no one speaks to a lecturer in class with pidgin; you're not mad naw.

oga . . .screw english joor. . .pidgin sweet pass. . .its only when english is needed that we spakk it. . .e.g talking to a lecturer . . .chikking a babe. . .and when the babe is won . . . i go jeje reverse to my pidginnnnnnnnnnn. . . . . .

Milo30:


With reference to the '*' section, is replacing 'T' with 'D' not against the language rules? Don't hausa people replace 'P' with 'F' for the same reason?

D and T are pairs when it comes to sound, where B is the voiced and the T is the unvoiced

the voiced version of P is B not F.........For F it'll be V, so Hausa replacing P with F is bad English. When Chinese and Igbo people replace R with L, it is bad English because it strays away from the rules of the language.

not only American use the soft D sound, but British people do as well depending how fast they're speaking, so do Canadians who pretty much sound American, Australians do to. In fact, the cockney accent from London usually omits their Ts, for example Wa-T-er becomes Wa-H-er.

the problem with English speaking in Nigeria starts with the mentality that English is too complicated for little kids (which is obviously not true) so they dumb down the language.

Chukazu:


and what do you say of Caribbean nations,especially Jamaica?

Lol if a typical Jamaican start talking to you, you won't understand jack. Of course there's mainstream English used on the news and in other official places but doesn't represent the whole Jamaican population. same goes for other Caribbean nations. They all speak broken English for the most part.

@OP.

Pidgin is not for those who didn't go to school and need to communicate. Everybody unless fools speak pidgin in Nigeria. Former president Obasanjo speaks pidgin fluently, Patrick Obiahgbon speaks pidgin fluently, Adams Oshiohmole speaks pidgin fluently, pastor Chris Okotie speaks pidgin fluently, pastor Enoch Adeboye speaks pidgin fluently. This is to name a few. And all these people are more educated than you.

Do you know English language itself is a broken French and German?. English only became an official language in Britain in 1362. Before this it was a creole language like Pidgin is today!.

Pidgin is a creole language that "evolved" from our contact with English people. Just like English language itself evolved as a creole language from French and German.

Pidgin English is the only thing Nigeria benefited from Britain, and should be made our national language like the British did in 1362, cause Pidgin is the only universal language we have in Nigeria.

The challenge to Africa today is how to get people like you to understand you're actually not educated, and that those who can switch between English and Pidgin are.

You're a total disgrace to educated people!. Western education has fooled YOU!.

Everybody please see below videos. Only 4 minutes.

The evolution of English language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIzFz9T5rhI
The origin of English language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEaSxhcns7Y
The history of English language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3ZJuCbklqg
How languages evolve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWDKsHm6gTA

So true. A friend of mine came to visit me in school back in the day, I was still busy with lectures so he had to wait in my department Park. When I finally came out, he asked me why everyone seemed to be speaking pidgin. I had to pause and listen and lo, every single person in the park was speaking pidgin. In fact even I myself was speaking pidggin with the person I walked in with. I have been trying to figure it out since that day.

claremont:
I miss speaking pidgin, haven't spoken it for ages. Pidgin language is a part of our national identity, the same way Patua is a part of the national identity of people from the Caribbean. The average educated Nigerian speaks better English than the whites, most of these whites don't even go to school. So we have a situation whereby someone born and raised in Nigeria speaks and writes better than the average Englishman born and raised in England.

that is false. There's conversational English and there's written English. there are whites who studied Yoruba language in the University in the US and Nigeria. they can read and write the language but when it comes to conversational aspect they fall short because they don't know the slangs and innuendos of the language. the same way you can tell an Igbo person speaking yoruba, it's the same way a native speaker of the English language can spot a foreign speaker. An igbo person with an accent can't speak better Yoruba than a Yoruba born speaker....why because the yoruba person can tell the difference between tonal words like (Aya -wife, Aya- chest, A ya - we changed direction) that the foreign speaker can't.

musicwriter:
@OP.

Pidgin is not for those who didn't go to school and need to communicate. Everybody unless fools speak pidgin in Nigeria. Former president Obasanjo speaks pidgin fluently, Patrick Obiahgbon speaks pidgin fluently, Adams Oshiohmole speaks pidgin fluently, pastor Chris Okotie speaks pidgin fluently, pastor Enoch Adeboye speaks pidgin fluently. This is to name a few. And all these people are more educated than you.

Do you know English language itself is a broken French and German?. English only became an official language in Britain in 1362. Before this it was a creole language like Pidgin is today!.

Pidgin is a creole language that "evolved" from our contact with English people. Just like English language itself evolved as a creole language from French and German.

Pidgin English is the only thing Nigeria benefited from Britain, and should be made our national language like the British did in 1362, cause Pidgin is the only universal language we have in Nigeria.

The challenge to Africa today is how to get people like you to understand you're actually not educated, and that those who can switch between English and Pidgin are.

You're a total disgrace to educated people!. Western education has fooled YOU!.

calling him uneducated or a disgrace doesn't change the fact that, Pidgin is a lazy and dumb down version of the English Language.
English has changed over the millennials of course, through invasion and all.....English (even though now borrows from the french and Latin) German and Dutch all belong to the Germanic language group. The French (you claim English came from - false by the way) came from Latin, together with Spanish, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese. these Languages fall under the romantic language group which English isn't part of.

also why you pride in Pidgin English, it might interest you that, it is spoken differently across Nigeria. there's no standardized written form of the Language, and It'll shock you it is not spoken everywhere in Nigeria.
A better comparison of English today would be Yoruba adopting English word into the language due to Nigeria's colonization by Britain.

tevinsolt:


calling him uneducated or a disgrace doesn't change the fact that, Pidgin is a lazy and dumb down version of the English Language.
English has changed over the millennials.....English (even though now borrows from the french and Latin) German and Dutch all belong to the Germanic language group. French you claim English came from (false by the way) came from Latin, together with Spanish, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese. these Languages fall under the romantic language group which English isn't part of.

also why you pride in Pidgin English, it might interest you that, it is spoken differently across Nigeria. there's no standardized written form of the Language, and It'll shock you it is not spoken everywhere in Nigeria.

Pidgin is the broadest language spoken in Nigeria. True or false?.

It's an irony how someone who grew up and schooled in Nigeria can't speak Pidgin, yet he/she is shameless enough to call those that do uneducated.

You don't know anything about the evolution of English language, so stop talking what you don't know. I even included a short video clip that shows how Greek, French, German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, influenced English language, and you're still talking.

Many French words are still in the English dictionary today. Words like; rest, important, dejavu, rendezvous, force, police, restaurant. The list is endless.

musicwriter:


Pidgin is the broadest language spoken in Nigeria. True or false?.

It's an irony how someone who grew up and schooled in Nigeria can't speak Pidgin, yet he/she is shameless enough to call those that do uneducated.

You don't know anything about the evolution of English language, so stop talking what you don't know. I even included a short video clip that shows how Greek, French, German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, influenced English language, and you're still talking.

Many French words are still in the English dictionary today. Words like; important, dejavu, rendezvous, force, restaurant. The list is endless.

yes if you went to a good school in Nigeria and can't speak English properly without stalling on every sentence, you're a failure. if pidgin is the only thing you can speak that comes close to the English language it is more than likely you never obtained a substantial diploma, and it is the simple truth, in the Nigeria of today, students are taught in English language period.

you went off at tangent to what the op was talking about. it is not a matter of evolution of Language, but why in a country that proclaims English as it's official language have trouble speaking the damn language. And I'm very aware of the history behind the English language, with colonization of Britain by Romans, the invasion by the Danes and Norse (vikings) after the settling of the angles, jute and Saxons and later on by Normans from France. English was already in existence it didn't sprawl out of french and German like your claiming, and still is for the most part a distinct language of its own, with it's writing system immensely different from french, Spanish, Italian and even modern German.

What I think is this pigin english is ok, if us have their own version of english why can't we

tevinsolt:


yes if you went to a good school in Nigeria and can't speak English properly without stalling on every sentence, you're a failure. if pidgin is the only thing you can speak that comes close to the English language it is more than likely you never obtained a substantial diploma, and it is the simple truth, in the Nigeria of today, students are taught in English language period.

you went off at tangent to what the op was talking about. it is not a matter of evolution of Language, but why in a country that proclaims English as it's official language have trouble speaking the damn language. And I'm very aware of the history behind the English language, with colonization of Britain by Romans, the invasion by the Danes and Norse (vikings) after the settling of the angles, jute and Saxons and later on by Normans from France. English was already in existence it didn't sprawl out of french and German like your claiming, and still is for the most part a distinct language of its own, with it's writing system immensely different from french, Spanish, Italian and even modern German.

The question the OP raised was for people in school who prefer speaking Pidgin to English. Something he/she thought was for uneducated people, and I wanted to let him/her know that's not the case.

Anybody bred, schooled and brought up in Nigeria that cannot speak Pidgin is not very educated. Education does not necessarily mean everything you learn in school. Learning happen on the street everyday.

If you're not aware of French influence on English, and you're not accepting facts presented you, there's no need my further explanation on that.

Ozoro poly how far?

when I saw this thread I was hoping to see meaningful reasons all I see is just meaningless excuses but the truth is that most people are afraid to make mistakes when speaking in english and do not what people to make jest of them so they prefer to talk in pidgin

is because they do not hear En glish