DEATH OF IGBO LANGUAGE... (By: @freshiyke)
After listening to the lecture given during the annual Odenigbo lecture held at Maria Assumpta Cathedral, Owerri,a lecture initiated by Most Rev A. J. V. Obinna,the catholic archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese,I couldn't help but feel ashamed for Nd igbo. We are at the verge of driving our language to extinction.
We live in an era where it is termed ''igbotic'' to speak our language in a gathering of young adults. I begin to wonder if we are supposed to be ''yorubatic'' or ''hausatic'',or is it ''englishtic''. This is where I admire our Hausa and Yoruba brothers and sisters. It is rare to find them speaking any language other than theirs to themselves. An Ada-igbo wrote about her Nysc experience "when I went for my National Youth service. In my room,we had 9 yoruba girls and 3 Igbo girls. These yoruba girls were truly what we call 'babes' but they always spoke their language to each other,not minding who was in the room. Meanwhile I and my two Igbo sisters were speaking English to ourselves. When we realized how foolish we were, we decided to start speaking our language, when those Yoruba girls noticed they were surprised.
Nowadays, You see a young Igbo mother who brings her children to the village for the xmas celebrations/holidays and she is proud to tell the elders in her family that her children can't speak Igbo language. To her, its a great achievement. And mothers think that bringing up their children with english language makes them smarter and makes them to be ' Ajebo '. You see a mother visiting a brother in the village and she tells her son: ''Junior,greet uncle''. What happened to ''Nna,kele dede gi''. Is this supposed to be an evolution ? or do we feel our language is inferior to others ??
It has even become more alarming that teachers who have Igbo Language as their teaching subject use English language as their mode of instruction. You see them pointing at a picture of a dog and asking/teaching their students: ''What is this? This is called nkita''.
I often wonder why it is compulsory to make your papers in Mathematics and English Language before one can gain entrance into a tertiary institution. Does it mean our language is not important ? Why don't they include our indigenous languages too. I mean,make it compulsory for an Igbo student to pass Maths,Igbo and English or for a yoruba student to pass Maths,Yoruba and English Language.
Isn't it funny that graduates and even post graduates who studied Igbo language in universities write their projects and thesis in English language. At the end of the day, they are awarded with B.A., M.A. and pH.D in Igbo language yet their work was done in English Language meanwhile french graduates whether B.A., M.A. or pH.D have their projects and thesis all written in the french language.
For those who school abroad in countries like France, Austria, Italy, Spain,Ukraine,Russia,etc, are they not given an extra year to learn the countries' languages. If they can promote their language, then why can't we do same?.
Take this scenario of a discussion between two Igbos, a painter and a house owner.
Painter: Kedu the type of colour i ga – alike ka ejiri paintiere gi your new house?
House Owner : To be frank with you, e decidebeghi m, but alikeri m brown na green very much.
Painter: Biko, achoro m the best for this house. What of e usekwanu yellow n'outside na light blue n'ime?
House owner: Emeanili m ya.Odikwa good but nyekwua m sometime, ka m thinkkwue over it,wee discusskwue ya with my wife.
Please what is this?Is this Igbo or English or what we commonly know as Engligbo?
Even our children in nursery schools are not exposed to our language. You see them learning rhymes like:Twinkle twinkle Little Star , London Bridge is falling down,falling down. What of our Nigerian bridge at Onitsha ? Why are they not taught this instead?:
(sing with london bridge tune)
Akwammiri nke Naija,ebuka,amaka
Akwammiri nke Naija,di n'ala Igbo.
O sikwara n'Onisha,wee gawa Asaba
Wee jikota umunne,n'ala Igbo. What about teaching them "Kpukpu mkpu ogene",Onye enekwana anya nkazu" etc
Have we observed that in DSTV,there are African magic yoruba and African Magic Hausa channels. Does it mean we no longer have enough Igbo movies to create a channel that is dedicated to just Igbo films? I'm sure that if and when they are produced,most Igbos won't even like to watch them,they will prefer yoruba films like Jenifer to ours. Who remembers those good old days of ''living in bondage''-one of the best Nollywood movies ever to be produced was purely in Igbo language.
What is more annoying is how we laugh whenever another makes a grammatical blunder in a language that is not his. I remember a story of my sister while in the university,she had a lecturer from Poland,who was in the habit of making little blunders in English language, but they were always quick to forgive her saying ''Its not her fault, She's not an English woman''. What about us? Are we English men and English women? Why can't we be that kind in forgiveness to ourselves?
The mothers and fathers amongst us should please teach their children our Igbo language. We also need to carry out an igbo awareness campaign. Please let's join hands to save our language.
I'm sincerely sorry for writing this essay in english Language and not IGBO because that makes me guilty as well, but its just to help pass the message across.
IGBO KWENU! IGBO KWENU!! IGBO KWEZUONU!!! Long live the IGBO PEOPLE
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