Ije Asusu - The Journey of our Language

Over time I have found that we hardly speak our native dialects, whatever that language may be - rather we have all learned and accepted English as a first language. So in today's blog I want to talk about the Journey of our Language - Ije Asusu.

As a side bar, I have always wondered how a country as tiny as England got an entire world with 6,500 languages to speak English officially. Hmm, question for the ancestors. Back to my blog abeg.

I think the first challenge is that we have too many small languages, I am Igbo but when you move from one local government area to another, chances of you not understanding their dialect is very high hence many of us tend to speak what is called Central Igbo. The same can be said for the Yorubas and Hausas. South Africa for instance has 11 official languages; 5 of which make up their national anthem. Haa!! Unfortunately in most schools children are taught only English and Afrikaans.

I speak Igbo very selectively; mostly with friends. Sometimes with my mom, rarely with my dad - as in he would speak to me in Igbo and I would respond in English. Why? I never grew up speaking my core dialect and that is what he speaks to me today. So while I do understand my core dialect, I feel obliged to only speak that to my gran who does not understand a word of English. I do speak Igbo with hubby, especially when we need to keep that information away from the children. Haa Haa Haa. That automatically implies that I do not speak Igbo to my kids right. Sad!

So how did we get here - speaking and writing only English. It's so bad that to gain admission into international schools you have to show proficiency in speaking English. Let's not even talk about how fast the Teaching English online as a second language has grown.

I know there are a few families who make the effort to keep their local dialect alive. I have a friend here who has a weekend rule. At the weekends they only speak their local dialect, so if you are not willing to learn then be ready to take on a vow of silence all weekend as you are not permitted to speak English. That has helped her children speak their local language.

I love to speak Igbo, in fact I always say there is a level of worship you can never give to God in English no matter how hard you try. Have you ever heard a Yoruba praise singer sing a praise chant, called Oriki - things like this can never be transcribed into English. In fact when you hear certain wedding songs by Ijele 1 of Africa (ask Google who he is, Haa Haa), you feel ever so glad to be Igbo. Igbo A Maka! (Don't worry about the other songs - I can't even shout).

We must learn to keep our local languages alive. I for one do not have an English name and I do appreciate that today. If I can learn to pronounce Swarovski, for the love of jewelry then everyone can learn to pronounce Ijeoma. It's little things like this that keep our local languages alive because every now and again someone would ask "What does your name mean?"

We go online to learn to speak French, Mandarin, Spanish and the likes. How many times do we even try to learn an African language online? Perhaps we are also to blame because there may not be enough content to make the process easier. What can we do to make our local languages more exciting and get more people interested in learning? Share your ideas in the comment section.

Languages give us our identity, it's a journey we must discipline ourselves to take. Speaking Queen's English is great, but being able to hold a full conversation in your local language is even greater - it has saved many of us from deep trouble. Haa Haa Haa, if you know you know. We were all never meant to speak one language if not God would not have given different languages at the Tower of Babel so biko let's drop all this English-only speaking.

On a lighter note, have you ever seen people who cannot string together a complete phrase correctly in this so called English language? In my place they will ask you to draw it if you cannot say it. Lol

We have been taught that the kolanut does not understand English, yes ooo, so when the elders break kolanut it must be done in a local dialect. Don't ask me how come the ancestors cannot understand English, I don't know them ooo.

In primary school I had a book for new words, my teacher would make sure I write a new word I encounter each day or each week. So perhaps I should introduce that at home, one new Igbo word a week. I have also seen people label certain things at home so that you see the local name when you go to use that item. We have to make the effort. Please share other ideas in the comment section on how we can make the effort to keep our local dialects alive in our homes.

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Ije.......Journey

Photo by Ivan Shilov on Unsplash