Disappearing Languages, Who Will Bell The Cat?

It is by no means a simple task to bring up children who are fluent in English as well as the language of your forefathers like Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. A lot of excuses have been tendered as reasons why children should not be bothered with a degenerate language that can only be spoken at home as in the case of those living abroad. Contrary to the popular opinion that a second language will hamper speech development. Research has shown that the brain of those who speak more
than one language generally process information faster and function better in other tasks. It is therefore no wonder that many Nigerians who are fluent in their local languages often go abroad and can afford to compete effectively with the local residents of any country in which they reside.

In my opinion, parents should make it a matter of principle to teach their children their local languages to the best of their ability. Let it be that you tried and failed, not that you did not try at all. I have a grouse with some Nigerian parents who have refused to teach and speak their local language to their children. The most disheartening aspect of this situation is that the children of some parents living in Nigeria cannot speak and understand their local language.  I wish to  humbly ask why is this so? For those living outside Nigeria, I often ask them why their children cannot speak the local language and the answer I usually get is that speaking more than one language to a child will confuse the child. I am asking, is there any scientific proof or study to back this claim?


Parents, children are very adaptable especially early in life. If you can speak to them in more than one language they will understand. If you believe speaking more than one language can confuse your child yet you speak and write in  many languages, are you implying  that you are more intelligent than your child?

If we fail to teach our children these languages, eventually the language and the culture of the people will be lost with all the richness. For those Nigerians residing abroad you will observe that people from other countries like China, Italy, India etc, tend to  always speak their language in addition to other languages like English. Why is it different for us? Do we detest being identified, are we just lazy, or do we feel it is not important?

Some parents would bear me witness that their adult children at some point in their life have blamed parents for not teaching them their local language. This  especially happens when these children go back to Nigeria and in their villages where very little English is spoken. They find it hard to adapt and most times they are often teased by the other children because they are unable to speak and understand their local language.

I encourage everyone to try his or her best so we can preserve our unique languages and cultures.