I am currently trying to learn what should be my 'mother' tongue Igbo. I have been 'trying' to do this for a number of years but decided after a recent visit back to Nigeria that I must do it and stop prevaricating. I was born in the UK and like many non-resident Nigerians, particularly Igbo British born Nigerians, I cannot converse in my mother tongue. I really do feel this when I go back and it really does grate on my nerves when I'm referred to as 'British' or even 'Oyibo' because of it. My parents didn't really speak to us in Igbo when we were younger, the reason being given that they did not want us to be "confused" and that we speak English properly. I used to blame them regarding not teaching us to speak Igbo but now I can appreciate how difficult it was for them coming to the UK at a time (pre-1970s) when they did not have many of their kins people around them to offer support and ensuring that we were well educated was their priority. Also, at that time, they did not have the example of seeing bilingual children who could converse in more than one language fluently. Add to the mix that they were not planning to settle down in the UK so probably assumed that we would all learn to speak Igbo once we returned "home for good".

Now however, I have many more relatives and kins people who are settled in London who arrived much later and do not have the same excuses my parents did for not teaching their children to speak Igbo. Even when I go back to Nigeria, I have found that the children of Igbo people who do not live in the eastern/Igbo part of Nigeria speak even less Igbo than I do.

So my question to other posters is this:
1) Can you speak your mother tongue and if so were you self-taught or did your parents/guardians teach you?
2) If you have children or intend to have any in the future, will you try and teach them their mother tongue?
3) What are your views generally on this matter?

I can relate.....

I can understand kreyol....and can speak it well enough to communicate.....
I've been laughed at and called "blan"=white for speaking fractured kreyol.... but you can't change low life people or their behavior especially when you are trying to make them comfortable by speaking in the language that THEY are most comfortable speaking.. I really resented being laughed at..so I'd make it point to laugh even louder when these same people living in US....were speaking fractured English..made me feel much better
My parents were practical also seeing how having an accent/not speaking good English put additional obstacles on immigrants here...but they spoke to to each other so we all picked it up.

I can say a few words in Igbo..but i undertsand it more..i can read and write it a LITTLE bit.
my mum spoke it to me, and still does from when i was a baby.
i think it is important 2 has a grasp of our mother tongues....it gives us a connection with our ancestry.....
and it's cool, when u and ur parents are infront of ppl, they can say something 2 U so the others dnt understand(not in a rude way of course).

I wish i could speak Igbo fluently....i will try 2 learn more....but my kids-when they are with my mum(their granparents) iwq ill tell her that she should speak 100% Igbo to them..

I feel your pain here. I too am an Igbo who was born in the UK, and cannot speak my language.

In the past many have cussed me because of it. Its one of the very few regrets in my life.

My brother was sent to live in Nigeria for a few years, and when he came back my mum said he was suppose to help out in teaching the rest of us, but he didn't. He reverted back to english to the extent, that he even gets upset with my mum when she tries to speak to him in Igbo.

The last few years has made me recognise how disgraceful his actions have been.

Once I start working I hope to link up with the Igbo Cultural Support Network, and sign up to there Igbo classes.

I also need to visit home a lot more. That another story.


I do plan to teach my children Igbo (once I reach that stage). Thats why its important for me to choose a woman who is culturally centred,.

Same with me and Patoi, ''used to'' feel so ashamed not being able to understand people and talking the queens english. Can pick it up quickly but can't write it at all and won't be able to understand deep patoi.... Thing is when I do pick it up I can write (chat) lyrics, poetry and stuff I just can't in english, can even speak Jive quite well once I get into it .lol. Its just fluid, english is a rigid language.

Would move to the carrib just to keep that aspect of our culture.

But do U fink language is enough??
wat about culture?
i would luv my kids 2 learn the history and cultural traditons..
the dances..

i would be so happy if i saw my kids partaking in Ikeji(new yam festival)
doing the Ikperepe(sp) dance, Odumgbede, ect...

anyway ....lets see what the future holds

THIS IS A FIRST CLASS THREAD.....REALLY INTERESTING TOPIC AND CONTRIBUTIONS THUS FAR....

To answer the question above..I agree it is soo important that Children are taught and maintain their mother tongue..so important.. However I would go further I think its vital that those of us with children BORN in the UK...should do everything possible to ensure that our children go back as much as possible... Culture and the experience of it a vital companion to learning the language..

On the other issue, I get bloody vex when you have people at home who go out of their way to push one away from their culture and their culture.. I personally believe our future is entwined and we need each other if Africa or the Countries in the Carribean are to survive and flourish.. for example it is a FACT that returnees contribute something like 3rd of the wealth in JA..wkithout that money thing would collapse in JA..

1) I can understand some baule (if spoken slowly which almost never happens! lol) and I can speak it very basically...enough to get my point across.

I learned it from my mother and the rest of her family growing up. The longer we lived in the states, the less she and my older siblings spoke it so what little I know I learned from a young age and from visiting family in Cote d'ivoire.


2) My niece is two years old and I, along with her mother (my sister) and our mother speak Baule to her as often as possible. We also play African games and sing songs with her. She went on her first visit to Cote d'ivoire to meet the family right after she turned two, and we plan on taking her there at least every other year, or when we can afford to do so. I plan on doing the same with my own children.

3) My thoughts are that learning your mother tongue should be for you and you alone. The fact that they call you British etc is not because you don't speak the language, but rather because that's how they see you. Speaking a mother tongue is a great way to connect further with people of that/your culture, but it will not make you much less "foreign". Ever since I was a little child (even when I was 3, living in Cote d'ivoire and all I could speak was Baule...I was always called "Blufweh Bah" (little white french girl...neither of which I am/was) and am still called to this day.

Try not to be frustrated and try as often as you can to "think" in Igbo. That's what's helped me to maintain the baule I know..I even curse in Baule if I get mad lol...it helps though. good luck!

I live in shame. All my cousins can but I can't. Makes family gatherings alienating at times when stories and jokes are told in shona or ndebele. Given most people back home can speak/understand english I don't exactly have a communication problem or problem getting around and going places, but when I want just talk and chill then feelings of inadequacy and paranoid imagining that people think you're an outsider set in. I should do something about it but in all the years I've never bothered

True, sometimes I work with African continental children whose parents go out their way to seperate them from their African culture and make sure not to speak their mother tongue in the home, but have no problem paying for their kids to take lessons in european languages WTF.

Another thing that gets on my nerves is how some people can speak their mother tongue, but get too embarassed to speak it with other Africans in the presence of europeans. I don't understand that at all...

True, sometimes I work with African continental children whose parents go out their way to seperate them from their African culture and make sure not to speak their mother tongue in the home, but have no problem paying for their kids to take lessons in european languages WTF.

funny that they probably think acting European is the verry essence of being a human being???...and this same people would turn around and say that haven't got a complex

Another thing that gets on my nerves is how some people can speak their mother tongue, but get too embarassed to speak it with other Africans in the presence of europeans. I don't understand that at all...

Classic observation...do you know in parts of Africa some kids are encouraged to speak only English and can't dialogue in their native tongue????..I cherish the fact that i can speak my mother tongue its a very rich langauge and culture indeed...its what makes me what differentiates me from a European or Asian however as some of you mentioned some speak the language but have no inkling that its way bigger than just speaking a language...which explains why enuff parents are not passing down this rich legacy... other ethnicities know that importance