Hello language learners,
Today I would like to write about the issue of present Africans not learning or speaking their local native languages.
Your language is your identity no matter who you are, where your from or what you do. Your language is your present day hash tag, It classify's you in your immediate environment.
Knowing your language In Africa is a thing of pride and joy. Speaking it is a thing of dignity and respect. It is well known that Africans are very diversify in their language. In an African country you could probably have an estimate of about 112+ languages in that country.
But alas! Statistics shows that some of these languages have gone extinct because the younger generations of now speak less and less of their local native language, so it is not been passed down to the next generation, while some are about to go extinct, therefore should be preserved. Here are some possible reasons why these peculiar languages are not been spoken and are going extinct.
i) It certainly will be out of place of I shouldn't start with mordernisation. This phenomenon has eaten deep into our very core as a nation and as a people. Our quest for acceptance has made us reject, shy away and unfortunately turn our backs from our very own languages. All because we want to be accepted into the big league of western culture. We want to roll and flow with the developped countries at the detriment of our language and heritage. Disregarding our language which is our identity, which makes us who we are and what we are.
ii) The perplexity of a language is another factor to be considered, because each African language has its own uniqueness and variance in nature. Some are quit easy while others are just down right difficult to assimilate. Nevertheless, if an individual from a particular tribe has been exposed to his or her language right from birth, that person should be able to comprehend and speak the language fluently as he or she grows up.
iii) The mannerism in which a person is thought the language is also a contributing factor to why most Africans don't learn to speak their local language. The manner could be very discouraging.
iv) The written form of most of them are lost to our ancestors and so no way of verifying if the source is correct or wrong. Due to this fact, some of this languages are wrongly written and thought to the next generation. Which goes on and on in circles or most at times are not even thought but lost.
v) In some cases it could be that the parent of the child don't know how to speak the language, therefore his stuck in the I-don't-know-how zone of his or her language. This is a deplorable state for such an individual.
vi) Between the parent of the child It is a well known fact that in Africa the child answers to the side of the father as in claims the fathers side and not the mothers. Due to this it sometimes causes issues in the home as to who's language will the child learn first and use predominantly. The father would prefer the child to learn his language but when the father does not know his native language the mother would teach them her language if she knows her own language. But since the father will want then to learn his own may stop them base on the fact that he doesn't want them to learn the mother's language.
Leave a comment below if you are in agreement with this reasons, if not please why.
To your learning
of languages,
Frenchladydisi
Your language Tutor.
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