ORIGINALITY

Something as basic as language has come to serve as one of the mechanisms of integration and dependence. The French and English that is widely used as Lingua Franca in Africa is more for the purpose of African communicating with the white men (Western World) rather than with Africans. 

Recently, my very good friend (Adaobi Ehisi) brought to fore something that has really been in my sub consciousness because I was duly affected as well. She wrote ‘’I remember I paid money in my high school days, just because I spoke Igbo, which they tagged as vernacular. What an insult to my cultural heritage! 

Recently, I took it upon myself to pray in undiluted Igbo, but I discovered it was a hard nut to grind, I started well, but within some minutes, I switched back to English. The truth of d matter is that, we cannot be whiter than d white man, so the sooner we embrace our indigenous languages, the better for us. Get some literature books written in your mother tongue, and try reading them, as though u were given an assignment’’. 

It is just so sad how we neglect to teach our kids our mother tongue. So much efforts and resources are being channelled into teaching them the ‘’Whiteman’s language’’ and we would sheepishly justify it by calling it ‘’The Global Language’’ 

Hear me out, I am a very big fan of language because I travel a lot and they could come in handy but I am also of the conviction that none should suffer at the expense of the other. Saying that a language is superior or inferior is like insulting the culture and the ancestral heritage of a people which is a direct accusation on The Divine Maker as being an unjust Creator (so, next time you think along this direction, consider this line) 

Parents, guardians and the community owe it as a point of duty to impact their children, wards and the young generation that which has been passed on to them because from the way this ugly trend is going, many languages are bound for extinction in no distant time (it’s a fact) 

When the kids are in school, with their friends or outside the home, they can commune with whatever decent language that seems fit to them but in the home it should be the mother tongue or how do you think this innocent kids are ever going to learn this mother tongue when all they are exposed to are the ‘’white men’s’’ language both in and outside the home. Just so you know, no matter how hard you try, they would still remain a second language (even though you might not actually have a first). You would still write a proficiency test in other languages when going to further your education in the language domain country. 

To be continued….. 

Dinné