01/03/2022
I used to blame parents whose kids can’t speak Yoruba until I moved my family to Abuja in 2011.
Back then when I see my uncle’s children struggling with speaking Yoruba I feel like: Is it to show off? Is it to prove that you lived in a better place? or Is your mother tongue too local for you to associate with? and a thousand more thoughts that ran through my mind.
I don’t know if this is peculiar to people in Ilorin but I know we view people’s intelligence by their ability to speak the Yoruba Ilorin. When we moved in to Ilorin in the late 80’s from lagos,
my peers back then will look at you like you are ode,(fool) just because you speak the lagos Yoruba (mide mide) while you marvel at the way the little 5year old child speaks big big Yoruba( I mean AGBAKAN YORUBA)
The way you hear a child less than 5years old describing his or her poo as (AGBAKAN ni Igbemi yi fa! Osi wa ko, ko jade laataaro) how do I even translate this? Bros look for Ilorin translator to help you biko!
My wife is a language freak, I know people who pick every single grammatical error in your speech but mostly they are particular about English.
However, someone who is particular about grammatical error in Yoruba! aah! gaskia I fear who no fear Kay in this regard.
Sometimes she makes me feel like I am an igbo speaking Yoruba, we will argue on words like eje and ege(blood) or ori and eri(head)
So she detests seeing a Yoruba child not able to speak in Yoruba not to mention not understanding the language patapata that one will just turn her off.
I just have to quickly mention her to let you know we both dislike having a child that will be speaking Yoruba like Chinese, despite our dislike, when we moved to Abuja we later understood why our Uncle's children can’t speak Yoruba
Abdurrahman was about 2years old when we moved to Abuja and the kind Yoruba wey dey the boy mouth reach to start Akomolede Yoruba for the children wey the our locality.
Other parents in our area then will be marvelled each time he speaks, they will ask how come he can speak this much, and the language is now Yoruba!
Soon we were afflicted, yes to us (me and my wife) it was an affliction how come what we complained of others is what we found right under our noses.
This is how it began, each time he steps out to play with other children in the compound he blows them Yoruba and other kids didn’t understand. He quickly sensed there are people who didn’t understand Yoruba so he activated English 101 software.
This English 101 software act the same way a virus works, little by little this small boy started controlling the language we speak at home. He refused to speak Yoruba, we both continued to speak Yoruba to him but he only responded in English.
That was how he started losing his once cherished Yoruba, speaking it became distorted, you will be wondering if it is Yoruba or French he was speaking. He still understood it but speaking became something else.
When the other children came we fought it but the best we could achieve is that they understood the language from what we speak to them, but speaking Yoruba you had better let it slide because by the time they will finish telling you (omi ti ho) the water is boiling, the gas must have finished and the water and pot turned ashes.
This is a family who is intentional about their children understanding and speaking the Yoruba language and making efforts towards the goal and yet achieve little or no results.
As time went on, the younger ones have no interest in the language, if you speak to them, they don’t pay attention, why would they pay attention to the language when they don’t find anyway to use it.
School-English, School friends-English, neighbours-English, cartoons-English. So they didn’t see any reason for them to learn it.
We knew why they should learn, understand and speak their mother tongue, research has shown and even practical experience has also revealed that it improves their cognitive skills.
‘’The many cognitive benefits of learning languages are undeniable. People who speak more than one language have improved memory, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, enhanced concentration, ability to multitask, and better listening skills.
They switch between competing tasks and monitor changes in their environment more easily than monolinguals, as well as display signs of greater creativity and flexibility. If that weren’t enough, as we age, being bilingual or multilingual also helps to stave off mental aging and cognitive decline’’
We know the kids will connect better when they visit home,
we know it will help understand our culture and heritage,
we know it will help the kids improve their communication skills,
we know it will help them improve their vocabulary
we know it will boost their confidence
we know it will help in their decision making
we know it will help them understands norms
we know it provides numerous opportunities
we know it could save their lives someday.
The children don’t know any of these reasons but we do and that’s why it is our responsibility as parent/guardian to ensure that our children can Speak, read and understand their mother tongue.
We can’t just give up.
Not when we have Akomolede Yoruba online school !!!!
You can now enrol your children.
See fliers for details.
If you feel the same about your language we have got you covered.
*igala
*Nupe
*Ibira
*ibo
*Hausa
*French
© Yinka Quadry
2022
