Greetings my esteemed friends on the Home Edders community, it's another fruitful day and I'm super excited to be with you and to share this idea that has been bordering me for sometimes now. I hope this brings an awakening to you. @inspiredbyhive love's you guys. Stay connected.
There's this deep fear in me that in the nearest future most kids in Nigeria will not be able to understand or speak their mother tongue properly. Most have already lust it even to the peripheral points.
Most Nigerian families prefer their children to speak Queens English at home, when the kids are learning how to pronounce and speak good and correct English in their various schools.
English language is gradually taking over the space of mother tongue in Nigeria and this is very detrimental to the cultural heritage of the people. We all know that language is one of the major aspect of culture and preserving and transferring these languages to the next generation will be a job well done.
When a father who's supposed to encourage the teaching and speaking of mother tongue in the home is now discouraging the children from speaking their mother tongue, what'll be the hope of that child in the society.
Yes it's true that Nigeria where I come from is a multilingual society and English language is used as a lingual franca, but that's not the case in Ghana, a neighbor to Nigeria. Ghana has about 3 official languages that is spoken from the national level. Nigeria also have 3 major ethnic groups but non of the languages is used as a lingual franca in Nigeria, what a pity!
What's the benefits of speaking my mother tongue? Does it add money to my pocket?
Nigeria today, there's a great deal of tribalism and ethnicity within and amongst the people. Speaking your mother tongue gives you a competitive advantage to non speakers of mother tongue. For instance, just speaking Hausa language to a meat seller at the market, gave me more meats that day, although I'm not an Hausa man, but just speaking the language to the trader brought a sense of belonging to him.
What's the Benefits of Teaching the Kids Their Mother Tongue at Home
- It gives them a sense of belonging. Most children in my environment are usually ashamed that they don't know how to speak their mother tongue and when they're asked the reasons they said my parents didn't teach me. Parents have the role to teach their kids their mother tongue.
- It helps them in times of adversities and conflict. I've heard severally the testimonies of people who said they were saved during conflict just because they could speak their language.
- It gives the next generation hope. Most parents can not teach their kids their mother tongue because they weren't taught by their own parents leading to a generational gap in passing over their mother tongue.
What Am I Going to do About This
As someone that's passionate about language, I've taken the following steps:
- to include the teaching of my mother tongue in our homeschooling curriculum.
- stop or reduce the speaking of English language at home.
- give gifts to the kid that learns faster to encourage others to do so.
- take my kids to the village at intervals to encourage them to speak directly to those from their kin.
Thanks for stopping by.
God bless you.
I'm curious as to why families don't speak their native language at home in Nigeria. I'm afraid I don't know a lot about your history, but I'm guessing British colonisation brought the English language in and I know many countries where they banned them from speaking their native language during the British empire. Did this happen in Nigeria too, is that why some parents no longer know their language well enough to teach their children, or was it more a way to try and fit in better with the colonisers? Do they only speak English in the schools?
I gather you have a variety of tribal languages across the country as well, so I guess English would be a language to allow communication to happen more easily across the country. Would this have had an impact too?
This is actually what happened to us here in Nigeria, but it was prevalent in the urban centres, people in the rural areas weren't given stiff restrictions in terms of language prohibition except those who had court cases at the colonial bench.
These prohibitions in the urban centres have negative effects on the urban dwellers. Look at the effects on the populace in today's Nigeria.
Yes! And this in collaboration with neocolonialism have made most of our cultural heritage to be buried underneath the ground. Young ladies are no longer proud of their mother tongue. The other day, listened to my neighbor telling her daughter to maintain the proper stress patterns in English while she spoke to her. It should be noted that I've never heard her daughter speak her native language.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope this explains the question.
This is really a major concern to me especially,cause right this morning same thought cut across my mind when I heard some kid in the other compound speaking English language so well....but meanwhile kids in my compound really bask in speaking their native language
and I began pondering on it....just for me to stumble upon your post...it dawn on me that this is a concern that must be address...if not sooner or later our mother tongue will go into oblivion ...
Cause right now at the university I have some of my friends who are native of Akwa-ibom state but grew up in lagos...but then they can't even speak anything in their mother tongue all speaking English all the time...
But seriously I have seen the benefits of speaking my mother tongue countless times one of which if I'm buying something with the locals using the native dialect gives me more ample measure to negotiate better and get what I want cheaper.....
Thanks @inspiredbyhive my mentor....pls keep pouring vibes like this....
My major question is, how many parents sees this as a wrong act. If they don't see the need to teach their kids their mother tongue, then we'll be wasting our time, but as for me it's an intentional act to teach my kids their mother tongue. Things for stopping my dear friend.
Blessings @inspiredbyhive!!With the steps you have followed to include the mother tongue, I'm sure you will get excellent results, taking them to the village to talk to their kin and learn about the geography of the place will motivate them to learn.
Greetings!
Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you like the post. My belief is that once the right thing is done, you'll get the corresponding results. I'll consider the geography aspect in my next post. I'm glad you came by.
Your blog makes me think. If I remember it right, someone also published a blog here on Home Edders with a similar subject matter. On the said blog the author emphasizes the importance of the mother tongue being taught to kids. I am curious and concerned at the same time as to why some families (like you are saying) that they prefer to teach their kids Queens English instead of their mother tongue. In our country, most of the kids speak our national language (or mother tongue) at home and at the national level which is very patriotic if you ask me and only speak English when needed. I am afraid that your mother tongue will lose its importance in the long run.
In Africa, we prefer to be like others instead of cultivating our culture. I wonder how the next generation will when they don't understand their mother tongue.
Thanks for stopping by. That's the situation of Nigerian culture.
You're welcome, I too am wondering how the next generation will become if they don't understand their mother tongue.
Thanks so much for sharing this @inspiredbyhive , I quite remember that i was beaten and staffed of food for days because i responded to my dads question in my native dialed. the worst of it all is that parent don't even care about it.