We mostly speak English and we are bad at it. All over the world, countries have one indegenous language of one of their tribes which they elevate to national status.

The English we speak today belong to the smallest tribe in Britain called The Angles. They came from Germany in 1st century and were generally a weak tribe till their language became Britain's national language in 15th century i.e 1500 years after they first came.

You may also know that spanish became forced on the Spain's many tribes from the 15th century too. Even more recent, about 50 years ago, spanish was forced on the Catalans. The same also goes about French, which was only spoken in paris until the industrial revolution when the government forced it on all people through an assimiliation policy.

The truth is that most countries in the world are actually multi ethnic and multi lingual, just like Nigeria. From China, Japan, India to the European nations, all have or had different languages until they chose and promoted one as National language.

African countries however defy this common practice. There is no African country were the sole national or official language is an indegenous African language. From the Arabic speaking north Africa to the French, English and portuguese speaking Sub Saharan Africa, we are the only continent speaking another continent's national languages as our own.

Now coming to Nigeria, we have beautiful languages. But when I as an Igbo sees a yoruba or Efik guy, we would need to speak English or at best pidgin English. Just the same feeling like when I meet a white person or Asian. So where is the brotherhood? Where is the nationhood? Where is the Nigerian identity? If 2 Indians from different languages see themselves, they will speak Hindi, but when 2 Nigerians from different languages see themselves they will speak English. Its a sad story that will make sure Nigeria never grows.

I will suggest we develope a national language to be taught in all schools from primary 1 to WAEC. And to be used (alongside English) as our governments official language. When we had the 3 regions, the wise British made Hausa the lingua franca of the Northern Region, Yoruba for West and Igbo for East, with English as FG language until soldiers destroyed it.

Now I will suggest developing a national language as a creole of the 3 major languages. Maybe in this ratio
Hausa 40%, Yoruba is 30% and Igbo 20% and 10% English. A dictionary can be developed by major federal universities to create vocabularies within the limits of this ratio. The new language can be called Nigerian.

Another alternative will be to adopt one of the languages as the national language and rename it as 'Nigerian'. I would suggest Hausa, since it has the largest speakers already. We may not know it, but sharing a mothertongue with someone can make you treat each other as brothers even when you are really not. That is why multi lingual Nigerians will find acceptability easier than Nigerians who only speak the own native tongue

Mynd44 lalasticlala

A national language debate is needed. But like everything Nigerian, it will be made nonsense of by ethnic juggernots masquarding as patriots. We dont need to have traditional leaders. They only draw ethnic loyalty, while sitting on the progress and unity of the nation. I mean wat is the rational of having obas and emires and obis who are just ethnic champions...like the oba who threatened to drown igbos if they dont vote his candidate.

We need cohesion in this country to develope like china and india. Things that dont give us cohesion should be discarded..and things that will unify us should be adopted

Example of where such is existing is needed.

African countries however defy this common practice. There is no African country were the sole national or official language is an indegenous African language.

Are you saying that Swahili which is spoken in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania isn't an indigenous language that was developed?
(https://www.quora.com/In-which-countries-is-the-Swahili-language-spoken). Please research well next time.

I will suggest we develope a national language to be taught in all schools from primary 1 to WAEC. And to be used (alongside English) as our governments official language. When we had the 3 regions, the wise British made Hausa the lingua franca of the Northern Region, Yoruba for West and Igbo for East, with English as FG language until soldiers destroyed it

Now I will suggest developing a national language as a creole of the 3 major languages. Maybe in this ratio
Hausa 40%, Yoruba is 30% and Igbo 20% and 10% English. A dictionary can be developed by major federal universities to create vocabularies within the limits of this ratio. The new language can be called Nigerian.

Another alternative will be to adopt one of the languages as the national language and rename it as 'Nigerian'. I would suggest Hausa, since it has the largest speakers already. We may not know it, but sharing a mothertongue with someone can make you treat each other as brothers even when you are really not. That is why multi lingual Nigerians will find acceptability easier than Nigerians who only speak the own native tongue

Hausa language will do. It will build unity

I must admit this is a hopelessly foolish suggestion. Balkanizing the country into governable entities remain the solution, and by so doing it the language problem solves itself automatically.
OP you can thank me later.

Turantula:
I must admit this is a hopelessly foolish suggestion. Balkanizing the country into governable entities remain the solution, and by so doing it the language problem solves itself automatically.
OP you can thank me later.

I swear real hopeless and foolish suggestion

asuustrike1:


Are you saying that Swahili which is spoken in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania isn't an indigenous language that was developed?
(https://www.quora.com/In-which-countries-is-the-Swahili-language-spoken). Please research well next time.



Hausa language will do. It will build unity

those countries u mentioned use English as their official language. Not swahili. Hausa is also spoken in niger and mali but has no official status in any country.

Now imagine if korean people use english as official language...how will that look to them

seuncyber:


I swear real hopeless and foolish suggestion

Turantula:
I must admit this is a hopelessly foolish suggestion. Balkanizing the country into governable entities remain the solution, and by so doing it the language problem solves itself automatically.
OP you can thank me later.

yea...as the op, i will also like that option. Nigeria is not really a nation...we are too diverse. But i know that it may never happen too...because of vested interested. The best time was 1967...now we are too mixed for powerful politicians to ever support break up.

I was talking to a white guy...he has been to many african countries and knows a lot about africa. He suggested to me that africa's problem is that they are too tribal and have too many countries. He suggested reducing african countries to around 10..and building an african culture that will have the potential to be hegemonic

Bede2u:
yea...as the op, i will also like that option. Nigeria is not really a nation...we are too diverse. But i know that it may never happen too...because of vested interested. The best time was 1967...now we are too mixed for powerful politicians to ever support break up.

I was talking to a white guy...he has been to many african countries and knows a lot about africa. He suggested to me that africa's problem is that they are too tribal and have too many countries. He suggested reducing african countries to around 10..and building an african culture that will have the potential to be hegemonic

so a white man suggestion is better for building africa than africans. People who are known as exploiters of Africa.

the reality is Africa is a big continent with lot of tribes, every tribes should be on their own as countries as they were before, we Africans should accept our differences,in culture and languages, those trying to sell one Africa will do more harm to the continent, we are diverse and speak different languages, saying African should speak one language is like colonization, will the Yoruba love that they should be impose to speak swahelli, no yoruba or igbo or hausa man will accept that and lose its identity.

Mr OP, English has solve that already. English is the common language of Nigeria, we should accept it and move on, we didnt fight the colonial guys to keep our uniqueness, instead we accepted them and allow them after that, they came and took control over us. we never learn from History.

you see why pan africanism is hard to implement, imposing a single language on a African nations is hard. I will not love to lose my identity,

People saying Africa should unite do not understand the history of Africa

Africa is diverse with many cultures and languages, saying we should all leave all our cultures and languages and accept a single culture and language because of unity will lead to more civil wars and death instead we should accept our differences in cultures and languages, we should be proud that we are yoruba, zulu, igbo, hausa etc, that way we bring different mentality and ideas to the table for progress

i believe African should be divided according to its ethnic ground, that is the only way africa and africans will be at peace with each other internally and externally instead of me being called a Nigerian, i should be an Hausa or fulani and be proud of my heritage and culture.

thebosstrevor:


so a white man suggestion is better for building african after they can and exploited Africa.

the reality is Africa is a big continent with lot of tribes, every tribes should be on their own as countries as they were before, we Africans should accept our differences,in culture and languages, those trying to sell one Africa will do more harm to the continent, we are diverse and speak different languages, saying African should speak one language is like colonization, will the Yoruba love that they should be impose to speak swahelli, no yoruba or igbo or hausa man will accept that and lose its identity.

u are right in a way about africa being large and diverse. But truth is...so was europe b4 they started integrating.

Also a white man who has travelled to more than 20 african countries will definitely understand africa more than africans who have never left their town

Bede2u:
u are right in a way about africa being large and diverse. But truth is...so was europe b4 they started integrating.

Also a white man who has travelled to more than 20 african countries will definitely understand africa more than africans who have never left their town

A white doesnt know the history of our ancestors, only enlighten Africans do. before the colonial guys came, we were leaving in different towns and villages according to ethnic lines, there was peace and trade unlike now where we are all locked up as one, there is more division than ever, different people fighting for the same resources, it is a disaster.

Europeans do not have a common or single language, they still have their identity intact even though they have a common economy(EU)

but their history, language and culture are not common

thebosstrevor:


A white doesnt know the history of our ancestors, only enlighten Africans do. before the colonial guys came, we were leaving in different towns and villages according to ethnic lines, there was peace and trade unlike now where we are all locked up as one, there is more division than ever, different people fighting for the same resources, it is a disaster.

[b]Europeans do not have a common or single language, [/b]they still have their identity intact even though they have a common economy(EU)

but their history, language and culture are not common

am not talking about europe as a continent having one language...or africa as a continent having one language.

I am talking about each country having a national language. In italy for instance, there are up to 20 different tribes with their own different mother tongue or dialect. But they all adopted 'italian' which is actually just one dialect as their national language.

In nigeria for instance...we can teach everybody hausa language...while everybody also retains their mothertongue. The hausa ppl themselves can be forced to learn either igbo or yoruba in return.

So basically, a student from enugu will write igbo hausa and english in waec...while a student from kano will write english hausa and yoruba or igbo.

That way, we will all speak hausa without losing our mother tongue or culture

[s]

Bede2u:
We mostly speak English and we are bad at it. All over the world, countries have one indegenous language of one of their tribes which they elevate to national status.

The English we speak today belong to the smallest tribe in Britain called The Angles. They came from Germany in 1st century and were generally a weak tribe till their language became Britain's national language in 15th century i.e 1500 years after they first came.

You may also know that spanish became forced on the Spain's many tribes from the 15th century too. Even more recent, about 50 years ago, spanish was forced on the Catalans. The same also goes about French, which was only spoken in paris until the industrial revolution when the government forced it on all people through an assimiliation policy.

The truth is that most countries in the world are actually multi ethnic and multi lingual, just like Nigeria. From China, Japan, India to the European nations, all have or had different languages until they chose and promoted one as National language.

African countries however defy this common practice. There is no African country were the sole national or official language is an indegenous African language. From the Arabic speaking north Africa to the French, English and portuguese speaking Sub Saharan Africa, we are the only continent speaking another continent's national languages as our own.

Now coming to Nigeria, we have beautiful languages. But when I as an Igbo sees a yoruba or Efik guy, we would need to speak English or at best pidgin English. Just the same feeling like when I meet a white person or Asian. So where is the brotherhood? Where is the nationhood? Where is the Nigerian identity? If 2 Indians from different languages see themselves, they will speak Hindi, but when 2 Nigerians from different languages see themselves they will speak English. Its a sad story that will make sure Nigeria never grows.

I will suggest we develope a national language to be taught in all schools from primary 1 to WAEC. And to be used (alongside English) as our governments official language. When we had the 3 regions, the wise British made Hausa the lingua franca of the Northern Region, Yoruba for West and Igbo for East, with English as FG language until soldiers destroyed it.

Now I will suggest developing a national language as a creole of the 3 major languages. Maybe in this ratio
Hausa 40%, Yoruba is 30% and Igbo 20% and 10% English. A dictionary can be developed by major federal universities to create vocabularies within the limits of this ratio. The new language can be called Nigerian.

Another alternative will be to adopt one of the languages as the national language and rename it as 'Nigerian'. I would suggest Hausa, since it has the largest speakers already. We may not know it, but sharing a mothertongue with someone can make you treat each other as brothers even when you are really not. That is why multi lingual Nigerians will find acceptability easier than Nigerians who only speak the own native tongue

Mynd44 lalasticlala

[/s]

Only a LUKEWARM Peter Obi like Igbo would of course write this nonsense.

The truth is you were forced by serious people to be in a ZOO so that the children of serious people would be rich and happy today. WHile you have a chance of getting out of the zoo and be on your own like your FOREFATHERS were, you are here hoping to speak what...Yoruba or Nupe?

Please, take time to do some farming since reasoning is not your talent.

On Referendum we STAND

Bede2u:
am not talking about europe as a continent having one language...or africa as a continent having one language.

I am talking about each country having a national language. In italy for instance, there are up to 20 different tribes with their own different mother tongue or dialect. But they all adopted 'italian' which is actually just one dialect as their national language.

In nigeria for instance...we can teach everybody hausa language...while everybody also retains their mothertongue. The hausa ppl themselves can be forced to learn either igbo or yoruba in return.

So basically, a student from enugu will write igbo hausa and english in waec...while a student from kano will write english hausa and yoruba or igbo.

That way, we will all speak hausa without losing our mother tongue or culture

it cant happen, imposing any tribal language on another tribe will led to anarchy here in Nigeria, i hope you do not want to create a civil war because it will look like an imposition and basically saying the hausa language is superior than other languages.

English has done the job of a national language here in Nigeria, even though it is foreign, we have to live with it.

Bede2u:
We mostly speak English and we are bad at it. All over the world, countries have one indegenous language of one of their tribes which they elevate to national status.

The English we speak today belong to the smallest tribe in Britain called The Angles. They came from Germany in 1st century and were generally a weak tribe till their language became Britain's national language in 15th century i.e 1500 years after they first came.

You may also know that spanish became forced on the Spain's many tribes from the 15th century too. Even more recent, about 50 years ago, spanish was forced on the Catalans. The same also goes about French, which was only spoken in paris until the industrial revolution when the government forced it on all people through an assimiliation policy.

The truth is that most countries in the world are actually multi ethnic and multi lingual, just like Nigeria. From China, Japan, India to the European nations, all have or had different languages until they chose and promoted one as National language.

African countries however defy this common practice. There is no African country were the sole national or official language is an indegenous African language. From the Arabic speaking north Africa to the French, English and portuguese speaking Sub Saharan Africa, we are the only continent speaking another continent's national languages as our own.

Now coming to Nigeria, we have beautiful languages. But when I as an Igbo sees a yoruba or Efik guy, we would need to speak English or at best pidgin English. Just the same feeling like when I meet a white person or Asian. So where is the brotherhood? Where is the nationhood? Where is the Nigerian identity? If 2 Indians from different languages see themselves, they will speak Hindi, but when 2 Nigerians from different languages see themselves they will speak English. Its a sad story that will make sure Nigeria never grows.

I will suggest we develope a national language to be taught in all schools from primary 1 to WAEC. And to be used (alongside English) as our governments official language. When we had the 3 regions, the wise British made Hausa the lingua franca of the Northern Region, Yoruba for West and Igbo for East, with English as FG language until soldiers destroyed it.

Now I will suggest developing a national language as a creole of the 3 major languages. Maybe in this ratio
Hausa 40%, Yoruba is 30% and Igbo 20% and 10% English. A dictionary can be developed by major federal universities to create vocabularies within the limits of this ratio. The new language can be called Nigerian.

Another alternative will be to adopt one of the languages as the national language and rename it as 'Nigerian'. I would suggest Hausa, since it has the largest speakers already. We may not know it, but sharing a mothertongue with someone can make you treat each other as brothers even when you are really not. That is why multi lingual Nigerians will find acceptability easier than Nigerians who only speak the own native tongue

Mynd44 lalasticlala

just stumbled on this now.

good thinking there, bede.

the 2 biggest downsides to your argument, though I am not in anyway in support of one zoogeria by the way, are;

a) your choice of hausa as zoogerian lingua franca then,

b) your retention of english language as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools.

a) the great igbo language MUST BE zoogeria's lingua franca because igbo is by FAR the most widely spoken language in zoogeria by reason of the ubiquitous nature of the great igbos within zoogeria and beyond.

there is hardly any nook or cranny of zoogeria where you will not find the great igbo language being spoken!

this would ensure that an adequate supply of teachers of the great igbo language is readily available to lecture zoogerians both in their schools and also in their respective homes for an affordable fee.

b) english (slavemaster) language should BE made an optional course, much like literature in english is an optional course today.

the english zoogerians have been speaking for over a century has not managed to civilize them because the english were once barbarians (under the Roman Empire) and bastardized so many languages in forming a chaotic cacophony of confusion of a "language".

this is why you will see a word such as knee and instead of pronouncing it as kinee you are told to pronounce it as nee. receipt as resit instead of resipt. you are also told not to pronounce the b at the end of lamb or the t at the end of silent!
with so many other mind benders too many to mention!

do you know just how much confusion this bullcrapp language causes a growing mind still grappling with mastering his own mother tongue?!

thats why you get all these "my mama say I be ibo" on nairaland betraying the igbo cause because they just found it too difficult mastering the igbo language in addition to the vile english and enforced yoruba they learned as kids. enforced yoruba because that was what many around them spoke.

hence, when they see during Christmas holidays in the village that they cannot converse steadily with their eastern based peers - and even sometimes find themselves jeered and laughed at light-heartedly by the same kids - they lose interest in identifying with their igboness and instead opt to slinker off into the dark anonymity of omoleism until they are ratted out, as usual, by the ever treacherous oyorubas!

so please, be guided and more circumspect when you seek to place the great igbo language in the same stratus with the rest zoogerian languages! we supercede them ALL! we have no peers in zoogeria my brother!

Aramaic will be a good language or Hebrew language or both so that we can get better confused

it really hurt me seeing a lot of these "my mama say I be ibo" kids withdraw into their shells once the "home-based" children start "tapubaing" delicious igbo in their own peculiar dialect.

if they were to have been white kids, they would not only have turned red but purple in the face.

being igbo by blood, they keep up a brave face and keep slugging it out with the home team. but the scoreline keeps showing that the away team is getting a whooping!

igbo parents in "regos" and other none eastern areas had better wake up to this harsh reality. reduce drastically the amount of english you speak at home dad and mom!

your househelps should speak to your kids only in igbo! she can speak her "engrish" when she goes to school or begins chasing for men outside your house!

your kids will learn whatever "engrish" they need from their phones, tvs, radios and teachers!

you can correct them from time to time on their spoken "engrish" yet always make it clear to them that the great igbo language is FAR superior!

igbo ga-adi!!!