Lazarus, Language And The Nigerian Culture
Yes, you read that right. Lazarus, (the Biblical character resurrected by Christ), the Nigerian language and culture have something in common: Death and Resurrection.
If it is true that language is what gives people an identity, then the Nigerian identity is at best questionable if not dead. Fewer Nigerians fluently speak their native tongue than used to be the case. This suggests a dying culture in need of help – or resurrection if you will. Who will be the Christ that resurrects the Nigerian language? Could it be you?
A tweet yesterday from Iroko TV CEO, Jason Njoku (@JasonNjoku on twitter) subtly stirred the Hornet’s nest on this issue with twitter agog over the fact that it wasn’t important that he and his kids don’t speak their local language.
As a young Igbo man born and raised in Lagos, I can identify, but I now question the fact that it is ok that our local languages are dying. My Lingua Franca by a mile is English, and like Mr. Njoku, I’d seen no problem in this. However, upon deeper thought and research, I’ve come to see things differently.
When you think that our very own Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie, has had her books translated into more than thirty languages, and not one of them our own, there is cause for concern. The translations must have been made for educational purposes in those countries. Around here in our educational system and social life generally, your level of intelligence is measured by how well you speak English. What an irony.
This says a lot about our attitude to imbibing our culture in education.
I would think that math is math whether it is in Yoruba, Mandarin or Latin.
So textbooks and journals can be translated into local languages as a method of cultural preservation. That is a good place to start the resurrection process – I think.
Rather than point fingers at those who can’t speak their local language, let’s propose solutions to save our ‘fading culture’.
Nigeria’s first professor of Education, late Babatunde Fafunwa had made a similar call in 1970, when he asserted that the colonial pattern of education had robbed the African child of inventiveness, originality, and creativity since he was forced to think in English instead of a Nigerian language.
Later as a Federal minister, he tried to do something about it, which wasn’t workable. Today, with technological advancement, creating a curriculum where subjects are taught in a local language should be a piece of cake.
Is that a dream? I don’t know, but what I am sure of is that our culture needs evolution, not abandonment. It starts with the individual.
As Roy T. Bennett says in his book, The light in the heart – “Maturity is when you stop complaining and making excuses, and start making changes.”
