YORUBA OOOO!-"IRINSE AGBEDE"-LEARN YORUBA LANGUAGE!

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YORUBA MADE ONE OF THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES IN BRAZIL OOO!

http://www.newsmakersng.com/brazil-gives-yoruba-language-official-status-nobel-laureate-says-ifa-is-alive/ Brazil Gives Yoruba Language Official Status …Nobel Laureate Says IFA is Alive
 
From Oriwoegbe Ilori, Sao Paulo/

The Brazilian government has given Yoruba a pride of place among foreign languages spoken in the country.
NewsmakersNG was told in an exclusive interview with the Brazilian minister of culture, Dr Sérgio Sá leitão at the weekend in Brazil that the government has introduced the compulsory study of African History and Yoruba language into the primary and secondary schools curriculum.
The minister spoke at an event where the Institute of African Studies, University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil paraded important dignitaries including Nigerian artists and historians, as well as professors of arts and African studies at a lecture on the importance of Yoruba language in the Brazilian culture and tradition.
According to him, the inclusion of African History and Yoruba Language in the curriculum would help bring the closeness of the African Brazilian people to their roots and thus encourage the understandings of the language among other important languages in Brazil apart from Portuguese which is the official language.
The minister also mentioned the role played by Brazil during the festival of arts and culture, ‘FESTAC 77’, held in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977; the constant intercultural programmes between Nigeria and Brazil; the annual carnival of Arts, music and cultural displays featuring prominent African artists and Yoruba writers such as Yinka Shonibare, Adeyinka Olaiya, El Anatsui among many others, including the highly respected Yoruba writer, Professor Wande Abimbola.
Books of African writers present at the event.
Nobel Laureate, Prof Llosa
Speaking at the event, Peruvian Nobel laureate, Prof. Mário Vargas Llosa also made mention of the African community in Peru where the African Peruvians are settled till date.
Vargas Llosa, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, is known as one of Latin America’s most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading writers of his generation.
According to Vargas Llosa, Yoruba people and their culture have helped the universe, IFA has proven his existence in the beings of mankind right from the inception and IFA is still very much alive and needs to be recognized even more than it is today.
According to Prof Mário Vargas, the Yoruba language should no longer be approached as an ethnic language but a universal language that is alive in culture and tradition of the Africans and her roots around the universe.
Speaking in Yoruba and Portuguese, Prof Katiuscia Ribeiro of the Institute of African Studies drew attention to the African philosophical practices introducing the constant representation of the Yoruba culture and religion in the Brazilian traditional beliefs.
NewsmakersNG learnt that the Yoruba traditional religion today comes after the Catholic practices as the most improving religious practices in the South American country. Several houses of worships called “ILE ASE” are having the Yoruba culture, tradition and language as official, whenever the cults are declared open for the day. Babalawo, Iyalawo, Omo Awo, and Aborisa are all common Yoruba usages in the practice of the Yoruba religion called Candomblé in Brazil.
Prof Kanyitus, USP, Sao Paulo and Olaiya at the event.
A Nigerian carnival artist, painter and illustrator, Adeyinka Olaiya, also expressed the benefits the Yoruba language would bring to the Brazilian culture if fully integrated into the Brazilian educational curriculum.
According to Olaiya, living in Salvador, Brazil, is like living in any of the western states of Nigeria where the Yoruba are predominantly located.
He said, “Most of the cultures and traditions in evidence in Brazil are all of the heritages brought along to the Latin American country by the majority Yoruba families, victims of the BARCO NEGREIROS, the NEGRO BOAT that forcefully brought the enslaved West Africans to Brazil in the 13th century. The Yoruba heritage that represents the majority of the African cultural practices in Brazil today is having several words in Yoruba roots. Akara, Dendê, Iyalode, Babalawo, Iyalawo and lots more are all derived from the Yoruba roots.”

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YORUBA OOOO!- ALAROYE TV ON YOU-TUBE OOO!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Xy59nQ995_A78C1m0-

v9Q

posted from Bloggeroid

YORUBA LANGUAGE GIVEN OFFICIAL STATUS BY BRAZIL OOOO!

http://www.newsmakersng.com/brazil-gives-yoruba-language-official-status-nobel-laureate-says-ifa-is-alive/ Brazil Gives Yoruba Language Official Status …Nobel Laureate Says IFA is Alive
 
From Oriwoegbe Ilori, Sao Paulo/

The Brazilian government has given Yoruba a pride of place among foreign languages spoken in the country.
NewsmakersNG was told in an exclusive interview with the Brazilian minister of culture, Dr Sérgio Sá leitão at the weekend in Brazil that the government has introduced the compulsory study of African History and Yoruba language into the primary and secondary schools curriculum.
The minister spoke at an event where the Institute of African Studies, University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil paraded important dignitaries including Nigerian artists and historians, as well as professors of arts and African studies at a lecture on the importance of Yoruba language in the Brazilian culture and tradition.
According to him, the inclusion of African History and Yoruba Language in the curriculum would help bring the closeness of the African Brazilian people to their roots and thus encourage the understandings of the language among other important languages in Brazil apart from Portuguese which is the official language.
The minister also mentioned the role played by Brazil during the festival of arts and culture, ‘FESTAC 77’, held in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977; the constant intercultural programmes between Nigeria and Brazil; the annual carnival of Arts, music and cultural displays featuring prominent African artists and Yoruba writers such as Yinka Shonibare, Adeyinka Olaiya, El Anatsui among many others, including the highly respected Yoruba writer, Professor Wande Abimbola.
Books of African writers present at the event.
Nobel Laureate, Prof Llosa
Speaking at the event, Peruvian Nobel laureate, Prof. Mário Vargas Llosa also made mention of the African community in Peru where the African Peruvians are settled till date.
Vargas Llosa, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, is known as one of Latin America’s most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading writers of his generation.
According to Vargas Llosa, Yoruba people and their culture have helped the universe, IFA has proven his existence in the beings of mankind right from the inception and IFA is still very much alive and needs to be recognized even more than it is today.
According to Prof Mário Vargas, the Yoruba language should no longer be approached as an ethnic language but a universal language that is alive in culture and tradition of the Africans and her roots around the universe.
Speaking in Yoruba and Portuguese, Prof Katiuscia Ribeiro of the Institute of African Studies drew attention to the African philosophical practices introducing the constant representation of the Yoruba culture and religion in the Brazilian traditional beliefs.
NewsmakersNG learnt that the Yoruba traditional religion today comes after the Catholic practices as the most improving religious practices in the South American country. Several houses of worships called “ILE ASE” are having the Yoruba culture, tradition and language as official, whenever the cults are declared open for the day. Babalawo, Iyalawo, Omo Awo, and Aborisa are all common Yoruba usages in the practice of the Yoruba religion called Candomblé in Brazil.
Prof Kanyitus, USP, Sao Paulo and Olaiya at the event.
A Nigerian carnival artist, painter and illustrator, Adeyinka Olaiya, also expressed the benefits the Yoruba language would bring to the Brazilian culture if fully integrated into the Brazilian educational curriculum.
According to Olaiya, living in Salvador, Brazil, is like living in any of the western states of Nigeria where the Yoruba are predominantly located.
He said, “Most of the cultures and traditions in evidence in Brazil are all of the heritages brought along to the Latin American country by the majority Yoruba families, victims of the BARCO NEGREIROS, the NEGRO BOAT that forcefully brought the enslaved West Africans to Brazil in the 13th century. The Yoruba heritage that represents the majority of the African cultural practices in Brazil today is having several words in Yoruba roots. Akara, Dendê, Iyalode, Babalawo, Iyalawo and lots more are all derived from the Yoruba roots.”

posted from Bloggeroid

YORUBAS OOOO--SAVE YORUBA LANGUAGE!--"YORUBAS MUST ENSURE THE SURVIVAL OF HEIR LANGUAGE"-INTERVIEW WITH YEYE AKILIMALI FUNUA OLADE-FROM VOICE OFYORUBA.ORG-ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER

FROM VOICE OF YORUBA.ORG
ORIGINAL ONE FROM THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER

 

Survival of the Yoruba Language 

“Yorubas must ensure the survival of their language”

---

Written by Adewale Oshodi Tuesday, Nigerian Tribune, 22 February 2011

Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade, a Black American, left

the United States in 1978 for Nigeria to embrace the

Yoruba way of life. In this interv

iew with Adewale Oshodi, the Chief Libr

arian of African Heritage Research

Library (AHRC) at Adeyipo village,

Ibadan, speaks on what made her to leave the United States, why she

embraced the Yoruba culture, and why she has not vis

ited America since she left 33 years ago. Excerpts:

Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade

You are a Black American who relocated to Nigeria in 1978, but don’t you

think that it is rather ironic that you chose to come to Africa, when Africans

themselves are struggling to migrate to America?

Any black person who is in the white

man’s country is a slave to white

people, and by the time I was 19, I said my

children would never be slaves to

white people, because in reality, we were

their slaves, and that is how they

still treat black people till today. There is

no freedom for black people, and the

way they treat us is just so bad, and I decided that my children would grow up

in Africa. So, by 19, I had decided that

I was coming to Yorubaland because I

was told by Black Americans who were practising Yoruba religion that

Yoruba is the best culture in the world, as well as th

e best language. So that was when I decided that my

children were going to grow up with

the culture and speak the language, and they would never be slaves to

white people. So, in 1978, I arrived in Nigeria. Then,

my children were very young and I told them they must

stop speaking English in the house and speak only the Yo

ruba language. So they spoke Yoruba. They call me

Iya mi (my mother) because I told them I didn’t want

to hear any word of English in the house, like mummy,

and all other words that Yorubas are using to mix a

nd destroy the language. I

didn’t allow it. Now, my

children are grateful for being brought up in the Yoruba

culture. Even though they are back in America, they

said the culture has really helped them. It has given them a sense of belonging. Now, I am confident that one

day, they will also return to Yorubaland.

You are in Nigeria now, but how often do you visit America?

I have not gone back for once because I don’t want to be

anybody’s slave. I just want to be me. I love my

freedom here. The racism is still very strong in the wh

ite man’s country, especially in America. So, since

1978, I have been here. I have been enjoying Yorubala

nd. I have never suffered for once here like I suffered

while in America. I am respected by the people around me.

You speak the Yoruba language fairly well.

I don’t speak it fairly well; I must tell you the truth, and that

is the only problem I have

with Yoruba people. If

you don’t speak the language fluently, then there will be

a kind of gap between you and the people; so in that

regards, they are yet to cooperate with me.

Now, one of the problems we are having with the lang

uage is that Yoruba parents encourage their children

to speak only the English language. What do you have to say to this? 

That is how they are destroying the language, and they

will be slave to English and white people forever.

Once you take up another man’s language, you will become a slave to the real owners of the language.

What do you find interesting in the Yoruba culture?

Yoruba culture is the best in the world. Yorubas were

in Egypt. The culture is the most developed in Africa,

and that means it is the best in the world; I must te

ll you that the white culture is not developed. The Asian

culture is also developed, but nothing compares with the African culture.

Do you still maintain contacts with your friends in America despite leaving there 33 years ago?

Of course, we are still very much in contact. I tell

them everyday why they should return home to Africa.

Africa is home to blacks all over the world. I tell them I

am ready to help get them settled, and a lot of them

are ready to come now because the racism is just so

bad, and because I have coped really well here for 33

years, they say it means the place is not that terrible.

Since you came, was there a day you regretted your decision to relocate to Africa?

Not even once. The black man should be in the black

man’s land. There is no way a black person can be

happy in a white country. No matter how rich the black

man is; no matter how successful he is, he is still not

respected. They can pick him up anytime and say he robbed a bank, and then get him jailed without any

evidence of him committing any crime. Those Nigerians

who are abroad, majority of them are only working

for the money, so after a while, they will raise some m

oney, put up a structure back at home and then return

when they feel they have achieved a degree of financial success.

And you were not discouraged by the lack of infrastr

ucture, the lack of electricity, among other things,

coming from a country that has everything?

First of all, freedom is the most impor

tant thing in life. If you have never been free, like the blacks in America,

and you come to a place where you are

free, will you be talking about electricity? Although there are some

Black Americans who come here, and they dwell on the lack

of infrastructure, but th

at is not for me. I want

my children to be free. Everything is here for me. I cherish the culture, the language, and the respect people

give me. Everywhere I go, I am respect

ed. A black is not respected in America. Some people even wonder

how I can be living in the village. But for me, freedom comes first.

Vernacular Corner

--- Excerpt from “Yoruba Names & Their Meanings Plus Proverbs With English

Translations,” 4

th

and Revised Edition by Dr. Isaiah O. Adegbile

“Fìlà kò dùn bí kí á m

ọ

ọ

n dé, ki ám

ọ

ọ

n dé kó tó bi k’ó y

ẹ

ni.”

 

YORUBAS OOO!-THE DEATH OF YORUBA LANGUAGE#2-FROM CHAINSOFF'SBLOG AT WORDPRESS

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The death of Yoruba language?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by chainsoff

SAVE YORUBA LANGUAGE BY BRIBING YORUBAS TO SPEAK YORUBA WITHOUT MIXTURE WITH ENGLISH AS THEY ARE DOING NOW BY HAVING “BEST YORUBA SPEAKER” CONTESTS” WITH BIG MONEY PRIZES!- YES EVEN IN TRINIDAD,BRAZIL YOU TOO CAN SAVE YORUBA! -USA BLACKS CAN LEARN YORUBA AND HAVE THEIR CHILDREN TAUGHT YORUBA TOO!

FROM YORUBALAND.ORG
Sister Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade
The death of Yoruba language?
By Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade
“Kilo happen? Ma worry. Mo understand. Kosi problem. Mo sorry gan. Ma expect me. Ke e nice day” – (a GSM conversation)
Surely this is not Yoruba that this man is speaking? Definitely not! Yet everyday Yoruba speaking people are killing Yoruba like this. Is this the new (English) pidgin for Yorubaland, joining other sections of the country, who have spespamed in killing their own Nigerian language by using mainly “pidgin” in the name of “communicating” with other groups? Oyinbo culture has brought Nigerian culture to its knees in so many ways – now a foreign language seeks to kill our own God-given languages, using Nigerians as the executioners! Eewo!
That English, the ready-made weapon of British-American cultural imperialism, is not just trying to destroy African languages, but is attacking all other languages worldwide, I agree. Ojoogbon Akinwunmi Isola, the newly-appointed Chair of Oyo State Arts and Culture Board, related to me during a discussion with Ojoogbon Babatunde Fafunwa, the problem the French are having with English. He stated that the French government had recently warned all French broadcasters to stop polluting French with English, as is now popular in general French conversation, or face dismissal. But I doubt whether the French would think of slaughtering their language to the extent that Yorubas daily have begun to do.
The greatest tragedy in Yorubaland today however regarding language is the dominating trend to speak only English to their children, making it their first language, then sending them to private nursery school, who only teach in English and causing Yoruba children to value English above all other languages! (After all their WAEC will not be in Yoruba, one highly-educated Yoruba man told me!) And see the result! In effect,that child has become an Oyinbo child and no longer a Yoruba child.What are the grim onsequences of this disturbing trend? The first problem that will result is a change in that child’s behavior with respect to discipline and respect for his parents and others.. The English-speaking child will never become great in creativity nor in leadership in the Nigerian context; he or she can never become the President of Nigeria for example. Is it possible to have a Nigerian President who cannot speak his Mother-Tongue effectively? These English-speaking children will rudely use English to disrespect all and sundry (after all English does not have pronouns of respect for anybody). Hear them saying “Shut up Daddy! – Give me back my candy!” in an authoritative way. And hear this one told by Oloogbon Ishola – an semi-literate (in English)) parent says to his child, “Say hello to Daddy”. The child replies “Ye ‘llo Daddy”. Olodumare! Yoruba children now do not know proper Yoruba and even as a result of this mixture do not know the real Yoruba words for “ma worry”, “check result” etc.. Ask them or some of their parents and they will tell you they don’t know the original Yoruba for the popular phrases that many literate and non-literate leaders and followers commonly use throughout Yorubaland.
As a Black-American, who has come back to her Yoruba roots these past 26 years in Nigeria, I want to break down in tears over this “iyonu”! How can Yorubas kill their own language? What sort of curse is this? Obviously the curse of european-american imperialism/colonialism/slavery! As a result I have declared “War Against Destroying Our Nigerian Languages” from today. And it must start from Yorubaland. Are not the Yorubas the “wisest and the greatest”? As everything good seems to start from Yorubaland in Nigeria, “let it be so”.
I am appealing to all full-blooded Yoruba, as of today to consciously seek not to mix English with their Yoruba. Yoruba leaders must slowly speak, watching their tongues, not to include any English words inside their Yoruba. It has gotten to a state where such leaders cannot avoid mixing English as they speak Yoruba and their every sentence includes whole English phrases! The late Yoruba leader, Oloye Bola Ige was a pure Yoruba language speaker and other Yoruba leaders should follow his example. This is a “War Against English words entering Yoruba”!
All clubs and organisations in Yorubaland should hold bi-annual and annual Yoruba Speaking Competitions for the “Best Yoruba Speaker”, with heavy monetary prizes (N20,000 plus) to get Yorubas to consciously practice speaking Yoruba without any English mixture. Yoruba broadcasters are guilty of promoting this deadly trend. Yoruba stations must have quarterly courses in Correct Yoruba Speaking for they are one of the biggest offenders of mixing heavily English into Yoruba. In schools Yoruba teachers must stress the importance of not mixing Yoruba. All private schools in Yorubaland must be required to have classes in Yoruba language from nursery through secondary school levels. There is a “famous” private school in Lagos, owned by Lebanese (or is it Syrians), which does not teach Yoruba on the secondary school level, as required by law. Law enforcement is necessary with frequent unannounced inspections on this crucial issue. And any student who fails to pass Yoruba in Yorubaland must not be allowed to graduate!
The Yoruba Press must be commended for indeed holding the banner high and not polluting Yoruba with English, especially Alaroye.Alalaye, Ajoro, Iroyin Yoruba, Akede must also continue the struggle to save Yoruba language. More effort however must be made to eliminate “pasito”, professor ,”dokita” words as most of them have genuine Yoruba words that can be enlisted and popularised among their readers. Aworerin must be resurrected by Alaroye, for use in all schools in Yorubaland as it was in the ’50s to inculcate love of Yoruba language among children. Yoruba departments in Nigerian and foreign universities must start churning out more research on modernising Yoruba for technical, scientific and other vocabulary and making it available through special courses for the media and the general Yoruba public.
Tiwantiwa(uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/tiwantiwa),created by Sister Molara Wood in London,must be commended for keeping the purity of the Yoruba Language intact.More Yoruba websites are needed on the worldwide web.
Yoruba writers must begin to write and publish bilingual publications.For any publication they publish in English, its Yoruba equivalent must be done. In the same book (Yoruba-from the front, turn upside down, English from the back) is one way to do it or in a title simultaneously released. More books, magazines, other publications like club histories, year books must be published in Yoruba. (Do you know that Alaroye sells many more copies than English newspapers in Yorubaland?) For example why is a prominent Yoruba Club issuing their history in English? If they must have English, then it must be a bilingual edition, in Yoruba from the back. Who but Yoruba should promote publications in Yoruba? We must stop promoting a foreign language over our own God-given language.
Yoruba music too, has been assaulted by Yoruba artists, unknowingly killing Yoruba language. The mixture of English has reached a new high in Fuji. Yoruba Gospel has started mixing English inside Yoruba songs within Yoruba cassettes, adding along side complete English songs! Olodumare! Such artists must be warned – no more killing of the language in this manner. If it is English you want then put that on an English cassette. Do not replace our God-given Yoruba in a Yoruba music cassette!
Yoruba movie practitioners are perhaps the biggest offenders and must take up this challenge to save Yoruba language. English mixing should absolutely be banned in all Yoruba films. I have not researched the topic but I suspect that Hausa, is probably the most unpolluted language in Nigeria, and in all their films that I have seen there is no English there at all.
The beauty of the Yoruba language must be showcased by having more Yoruba Cultural Festivals to be held by all clubs and organisations in Yorubaland annually. Odua’s People Congress and other enforcers of law and order in Yorubaland must be in the vanguard, not only by stressing among its members that Yoruba should not be polluted but by holding bi-Annual Yoruba Speaking competitions for the “Best Yoruba Speaker”. They must lead the way in correct Yoruba speaking and have literacy classes for all their members to learn to read in Yoruba and encourage them to speak Yoruba in the home to their children: Yoruba must become again the first language of Yorubas at home and abroad.
All legislatures in Yorubaland should switch to using Yoruba as the first language of communication for their deliberations. If English has to be listed at all it can be the second language of communication!
Finally a private, Yoruba school system must be set up. These schools will teach all subjects in Yoruba from nursery up to the university eventually. If it must be like a “mushroom school”, starting with nursery school first and adding class by class this must be done. This Yoruba Academy can be supported extensively by Yorubas abroad, eventually having board houses were Yoruba children from abroad can join their counterparts here, including all “classes of children, street children etc.) This Yoruba Academy will inculcate Yoruba culture into our children also. With the help of our Yoruba scholars we can build on Ojoogbon Babatunde Fafunwa’s successful “Mother-tongue Education” project at University of Ife in the 60s. Afterall, even UNESCO has proven that Mother-tongue Education is the best for all children.
Let Yoruba Language not die! God has given the Yoruba race a language to be proud of, anywhere in the world (there are at least 60 million or more Yoruba speakers throughout the world). Let’s not destroy it with our own mouths! Let us pass it on in its richness to our children, daily in our home. Let us proudly speak it daily, read it daily, champion it daily. Yorubas cannot remain great without our language. And let us be in the vanguard of saving all Nigerian/African languages.
Biu, Ogoni, Urhorbo, Igede, Ogoja, Ebira, Idoma, Efik, Tiv, Langale, Tangale,Ikwerre,Kagona, Kutep, Oron, Legdo, Bubiaro, Esan, Afima, Itsekiri, Ijaw, Edo, Ikenne, Joba, Gwari, Ibo, Igala, Hausa, speakers are you listening?
*Mrs Olade is the Chief Librarian of African Heritage Research Library, Adeyipo Village via Ibadan.

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YORUBA LANGUAGE IS DYING!-THIS OMOWE SAYS STOP MIXING YORUBA WITH ENGLISH!-ADALU YORUBA KO DA! -FROM GLOBAL EXCELLENCE MAGAZINE,NIGERIA

YORUBAS! - THIS OMOWE SAYS WE MUST STOP MIXING YORUBA WITH ENGLISH,DESTROYING IT- FROM GLOBAL EXCELLENCE MAGAZINE,NIGERIA

OMOWE MOSES MABAYOJE   FIRST IN DASHIKI

 

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‘WE MUST PLACE VALUE ON THE YORUBA CULTURE’ -America based Lecturer, Moses Mabayoje

Posted by globaluser in Cover Stories on August 1, 2013 11:43 am / 0 Comments

Moses Mabayoje, a Nigerian from Ibadan, Oyo State, is a teacher of Yoruba Language in one of the universities in America. He studied at University of Ibadan to Master’s level and was pursuing his Phd before he left for America. In this Interview with AKIN SOKOYA, Mabayoje speaks on his passion for the Yoruba tradition, his family and many more. Excerpt.

Please, introduce yourself.
My name is Moses Mabayoje. I’m from Ibadan, Oyo State in Nigeria but I live in the United States of America. I am a teacher of Yoruba Language in one of the Universities in America. I’m teaching at Rodgas University; a State University of New Jersey. I’m also into study abroad programmes. I bring American Students once to learn the Yoruba language or who want to perfect their knowledge of the Yoruba language in Nigeria precisely to The University of Ibadan where we started the Yoruba language centre in 2010 with five students who have been studying Yoruba at the University of Winscon Madisson in America. They’ve been in Yoruba Class for about three years but they came for what we called immersion; to know more about the language and the culture of Yoruba and they were in Nigeria for nine months. And after that, they became better speakers of the language and they appreciate the Yoruba language more. I studied at University of Ibadan to master’s level I was pursuing my Phd before I left for America.

To what extent has the students been cooperating in learning in a simple way?
They are very serious and are putting all efforts and attention. We have a three months programme called African Language Initiative. The two months programme is called Yoruba Good Study Abroad. The one year programme is called Yoruba Language Flagship. We bring them to Nigeria and pair them with Yoruba host parents. The students will mix-up with them. At times, they would even be bearing their names. At the end of the programme, we see a great improvement. Language is not learnt in the classroom. Though, we introduced it in the classroom but we learn it in the society.

In spite of Yoruba language being taught in our schools in Nigeria from primary schools, yet the students don’t seem to understand it deeply, what do you think is wrong?
I was a teacher in Nigerian secondary schools for about 30 years and I’m an author. I have a book jointly written with some scholars for the students but our students have two major problems, one has been corrected.

What are the problems?
The problem is that when we separated the language with literature. What we are teaching in the language is more of applied linguistics. If you know about a language, you can explain the structure of the language, you can pick some words in the language and write up but that doesn’t mean you can speak it. That is what has been happening since 1984. Now we’ve brought the rhythm and the literature back into it and also the culture. That would help the students to learn the speaking right, and also write better than when it’s only language. That is why I say one of the problems is been solved. The second problem is that looking at English as a language that you must learn, speak at the detriment of your own language. In Nigeria, there are many families that their children don’t speak Yoruba language. The family came to America and we are living in the same house, it was my children who have being living in America who started teaching those children Yoruba, whereas they first came fresh from Nigeria. As parents we have to wake up. English is called a feeler language: Many nations are struggling not allow English to tell their own language but Yorubas are not conscious of that. You can see few of filmmakers are insisting on the language, but many of them don’t care we have to talk to this class of people too. We have to tell them the danger of what they are doing. You can do your Film in Yoruba language and subtitle in English or make it in English and subtitle in Yoruba. You don’t mix. Though you can switch from one language to another but it should not be too much. We are losing many other things but we must not lose our language, so our government has to wake up. In many Universities that offer Yoruba as a course, you hardly see students coming to study it. The students who are studying Russia, French are more than those studying Yoruba, why? If we abandon our heritage, it’s like we are uprooting ourselves from our source. Look at Japan, China, Korea and even the Arabs; they hold their language in esteem. If you are good in your languages you will be better in English, but if you are not good in your language, you will even speak quack English. In Nigeria, many of us speak bad English, imagine a parent who does not have a secondary education but wants to speak English to his/her kids.

What advice would you give to our filmmakers who muddle up English language with Yoruba?
It’s because the society they are producing for is an hybrid, they mix languages and they want to give them what they want. Few of the filmmakers are insisting on the language but many of them don’t care, but we have to wake them up and tell them the danger of what they are doing. You can subtitle but it should not be too much. When it is too much you are killing your language.

SPEAK YORUBA ONLY AT HOME, BRIBE YORUBAS TO SPEAK UNDILUTED YORUBA BY HAVING BEST YORUBA SPEAKING CONTESTS ALL CLUBS,SCHOOLS,ORGANIZATIONS WILL SPONSOR WITH BIG MONEY PRIZES,SET UP YORUBA SCHOOLS TEACHING ALL SUBJECTS IN YORUBA,PROMOTING ALL YORUBA CHURCH SERVICES-SAVING YORUBA LANGUAGE- MY ARTICLE IN OYO EXTRA NEWSPAPER,NO. 1,2012

SAVE YORUBA LANGUAGE! AND ALL NIGERIAN AND AFRICAN LANGUAGES THIS WAY! -NOW YOU CAN SEND TEXT AND THEY WILL GET IT BY VOICE IN YORUBA AND ALL OTHER AFRICAN LANGUAGES!

Ife researchers unveil local language text-to-voice application – 234next

Move over twitter. Nigerian texters unhappy that their messages can only be accessed by people able to read in English Language can now breathe easier as local researchers have concluded work on an application that renders texts in local languages in audio.
To help secure, protect, and bring back most of the local languages that are going into extinction, Information and Communication Technology researchers at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, last week unveiled the technology through which texts are converted into voice messages in Nigerian indigenous languages by the recipient’s handset.
The research work is led by Tunji Odejobi, a local computer expert in constraint satisfaction and programming and Rick Wallace, a professor at the Cork University, Ireland.
“Even if you don’t even know how to read and write in the formal sense of it, the technology can leverage that,” Mr Odejobi said.
“So technology has redefined what we call literacy now. But the key item in this is the use of language. If you want to a local language that doesn’t speak your language, then you can use technology to get your mind across to such people. That is what we have done. You can use what we are doing today to achieve such communication in various languages between the sender and receivers of a message. If we don’t do this, we are just going to kill our languages silently. It can help smoothen the culture by having common language of communication and giving other languages a place to showcase their values and culture too,” he added.

test

Source: 234next news

August 15, 2011 By Bunmi Awolusi Leave a Comment Section: Summary+

 

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IGBOS HAVE BEATEN YORUBA ON THIS ONE! -PASSING LAWS TO SAVE AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND KEEPING THEM FROM DYING!- ANAMBRA STATE,GOV. OBI,BLACK ON!

Nigeria: Igbo Language Law Debuts in Anambra
By Chukwujekwu Ilozue, 7 June 2010

Onitsha — Principals of secondary schools in Anambra State who promote pupils from Junior Secondary School III (JSS III) to Senior Secondary School I (SSS I) without the pupils passing Igbo language are to be removed from their positions and fined N5,000, for each of the pupils so promoted.

Also, any state or privately owned tertiary institution in the state which is found not to have established an Igbo language department or made Igbo language a mandatory general studies course by September, 2011 shall pay a fine of N100,000 for every month in which the offence continues.

These are some of the punishments prescribed by the newly enacted law, which is cited as Igbo Language Enforcement Law, 2010, which came into force on May 11, 2010.

It would be recalled that Governor Peter Obi signed the Bill into Law on the day he launched Suwakwa Igbo (speak Igbo) designed to enhance wide usage of Igbo language to save it from extinction.

At the public signing of the Bill into Law Obi also announced the stoppage of corporal punishment to students who speak Igbo in schools in the state and announced that Igbo Language would henceforth be compulsory in all the categories of educational institution in the state just as English and Mathematics are.

Among other things, the law prescribes that Igbo language as a subject must be passed by an Igbo student before he can be promoted from JSS III to SSS I in all secondary schools in the state; every state or privately owned tertiary institution in the state must establish an Independent department of Igbo language a mandatory general studies course in the institution and that any state or privately owned tertiary institution within the state and which is found not to have established an Igbo language department, or made Igbo language a mandatory general studies course in accordance with the provisions of the relevant sections by September, shall be liable to a fine of N100,000 for every month in which the offence continues.

Also, a head of the relevant department who finds a staff of that department dressed in Western attire in contravention of the provisions of a particular section of the law shall send that staff home to change into an Igbo traditional attire.

Also, from the commencement of the law, every Wednesday in every week shall be observed as Igbo day. That means that every staff of the state public service shall dress in Igbo traditional attire and all businesses and transactions in all offices and departments of the public service, including proceedings in the legislative chamber shall be conducted in the language.

However, the law excludes some professional bodies like judicial officers and nurses which are bound by the law.

The explanatory note of the law states that it is meant to ensure and enforce such level of fluency and vibrancy in the usage of Igbo language as befits its status as one of the three officially recognized indigenous languages of Nigeria pursuant to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 such that the language will once more be proudly spoken and written by Ndigbo in Nigeria and the Diaspora, and used for broadcasts in reputable international media.

Recently, Governor Obi also promised to build Chief Chiedozie Ogbalu Igbo Language School that will cost the government N50.5 million for specialized and holiday programmes in Igbo.

YORUBA RUNU! -IGBOS HAVE MOVED TO SAVE THEIR LANGUAGE WITH A LAW TO ENFORCE USE OF IT! - CAN YORUBAS WHO SLAVISHLY LOVE ENGLISH DO THIS KIAKIA! SE PATAKI GANGAN! -YORUBA IS DYING DAILY!

Biko nu, onye obula jisie ike subakwa Igbo! ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: chinelo ugochukwu To: asa-usa@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thu, July 1, 2010 4:03:02 AM Subject: [IgboWorldForum] When Promotion Of Igbo Language Got The Biggest Boost Ever     To: IgboEvents@yahoogro ups.com Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 11:02 PM    When Promotion Of Igbo Language Got The Biggest Boost Ever By Chukwujekwu Ilozue       The former Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Professor Pita Ejiofor, has almost devoted his entire life to the promotion and survival of Igbo language. Ejiofor said he began the crusade when it became a shame that most children of Igbo extraction could neither speak, nor write their language. This is coupled with warnings from the United Nations and a study by the Oxford University which revealed that if no extra effort is made, Igbo language will go into extinction. Thereafter, Ejiofor championed the cause for the revival and sustenance of Igbo language among Igbo people in Nigeria. This led to the formation of ‘Otu Subakwa Igbo’ (a group that champions speaking of Igbo language)  on February 14, 2006.  As his campaign spread throughout Igbo land, Subakwa Igbo soon changed to Suwakwa Igbo, which Ejiofor explained is the central Igbo spoken across the entire Igbo land and he has devoted his time and resources to the course ever since. Ejiofor has a fore-runner though, in late Chief Chidozie Ogbalu who was one of the foremost promoters of Igbo language and culture through writing of several text books in Igbo language. Also before now, the State House of Assembly passed a resolution entrenching the conduct of the House business in Igbo language on Wednesdays.     Nevertheless, the biggest boost to promotion of Igbo language and culture ever was recorded Wednesday, Afor market day, 26 May, 2010 when Otu Suwakwa Igbo was launched at the Women Development Centre, Awka by Governor Peter Obi. That day, Obi not only  threw the weight of the state government behind  Otu Sawakwa Igbo, but publicly signed into law a Bill  to Enforce the Speaking and Writing of Igbo and Wide spread Usage of Igbo Language among Ndigbo in Anambra and Diaspora. It is to be cited as ‘The Igbo Language Usage Enforcement Law 2010’, which had earlier been passed by the state House of Assembly and was supposed to have come into force on May 11.. The law provides that Principals of secondary schools in Anambra State who promote pupils from Junior Secondary School III (JSSIII) to Senior Secondary School I (SSSI) without those pupils passing Igbo language are to be removed from their positions and fined N5,000, for each of the pupils so promoted. Also, any state or privately owned tertiary institution in the state which is found not to have established an Igbo language department or made Igbo language a mandatory general studies course by September, 2011, shall pay a fine of N100,000 for every month in which the offence continues. Among other things, the law banned administering of corporal punishment to students who speak Igbo in schools in the State. It made Igbo Language compulsory in all the categories of educational institutions in the State just as English and Mathematics.  Also a head of the relevant department who finds a staff of that department dressed in Western attire in contravention of the provisions of a particular section of the law shall send that staff home to change into Igbo traditional attire. However, the law excludes some professional bodies like judicial officers and nurses whose dress code is bound by the law. From the commencement of the law, every Wednesday in every week shall be observed as a week’s Igbo day. That means that every staff of the state public service shall dress in Igbo traditional attire and all business and transaction in all offices and departments of the public service, including proceedings in the legislative chamber shall be conducted in Igbo language that day. The explanatory note of the law states that it is meant to ensure and enforce such level of fluency and vibrancy in the usage of Igbo language as befits its status as one of the three officially recognized indigenous languages of Nigeria pursuant to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, such that the language will once more be proudly spoken and written by Ndigbo in Nigeria and Diaspora, and used for broadcasts in reputable international media. Besides, Obi promised to send a bill to the House of Assembly to make it compulsory for job seekers on Grade Level 07 to possess at least a pass level in West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination or National Examination Council of Nigeria (NECO) or General Certificate of Education (GCE) and other qualifications for other levels. Local Government Heads of Department should organize seminars and workshops on Igbo language, while the communiqué produced by Otu Subakwa Igbo should be implemented. At the event, Governor Obi also promised to build Chief Chidozie Ogbalu Igbo Language School that will cost the government  about N50.5million, for specialized and holiday programmes in Igbo.  Last week Obi followed up his promise to build the Language school by launching it. The Chidozie Oghbalu Igbo Language Centre, he said is a school where children who do not know how to speak the language take short courses during holidays. In his four page address written and delivered in Igbo at the occasion, Obi told the audience that as they have themselves heard that Igbo language will go into extinction in a few years to come did not sound nice. He said that no other tribe will save Igbo language except Igbo people themselves and time is now to do that as time and tide waits for no one. After asking the audience which was chaired by the Chairman of Traditional Rulers’ Council, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe comprised about 70 traditional rulers, Ohaneze Ndigbo chieftains  and many other dignitaries if they wanted Igbo language to survive and they chorused in the affirmative, Obi gave 12 options to promote the language.  Among them Obi said is that when two or more Igbo people are discussing their language of communication should be Igbo and not even an admixture of Igbo and English. Parents should use Igbo to communicate to their children at home and should at all times avoid such sayings as “say hello to uncle”, or “Junior does not understand Igbo”, as that is an insult to Igbo language. As the state has already declared Wednesdays as Igbo week’s day when traditional dresses and businesses are conducted in Igbo, government he said was adding Tuesday to it because things have spoilt a lot. The various towns and villages should write and present their address to government officials in Igbo. They should also write programme of events, orations, citations all in Igbo in ceremonies. He asked state owned radio and television stations to emulate their counterparts in the North and in the West in promoting the use of local languages The Igbo video cassettes produced by Otu Suwakwa Igbo are to be mass produced by government and sold at give away prices to workers to listen to with their families and apply what they learn from them. Traditional rulers as custodians of Language and Culture should strive to protect the language during ceremonies and while receiving dignitaries of other states. Obi announced immediate offer of employment for all holders of Bachelor’s degrees, Higher National Diploma and National Diplomas of Igbo language. He also announced annual award of N250,000, N200,000, and N100,000 to the three  best Igbo students in Secondary Schools in Nigeria.  He also gave cash donations and scholarships to University level to the two best Igbo students in WAEC recently namely: Mr. Kevin Anozie of Holy Child Secondary School, Isuofia, and Mr. Chika Echeta of Bishop Onyemelukwe Secondary School Onitsha. Obi praised Otu Suwakwa Igbo for committing their intellect, efforts and resources in sponsoring, spreading and sustaining of Igbo language. He announced that from then on, government will give the group monthly subvention and recognize the efforts it has made so far.   Expectedly Prof. Ejiofor could not hold his joy that his dream of attracting enough attention and assistance in his struggle to keep Igbo language alive has come true. He thanked Obi for his interest in Igbo cause.  Using statistics, he sought to prove that Igbo Language is retrogressing and that only Igbo people will stop the retrogression.  The President of Ohaneze Worldwide, Ambassador Ralph. Uwechue who was represented by the Anambra State chairman of Ohaneze Ndigbo Dr. Atamuo thanked the governor for his commitment to Igbo cause and the able way he pilots the affairs of the State and asked him to use his position as chairman of South East Governors’ Forum to follow his footstep. Obi’s efforts in sustaining Igbo language has not passed unnoticed. A writer from Imo state, Mr. Eugene Iwuamanam described it as ‘innovative and a very sound idea of the Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi (Okwute) Obi to encourage sustenance of Igbo language and culture, it is no gain saying that he has written his name on the moon and sun”. Iwuamanam said Obi “has become an illuminating arrow that God perfected and shot directly into ala Igbo to illuminate its four corners, bringing loaves of bread of hope to the hopeless, and heal long time gaping wounds of despair”. He said he has read and heard several empirical achievements of this governor which shows that he leads even when his peers turn inwards looking into and out for their pockets. ‘Some times one feels like wishing that ala Igbo should return to the former East Central State with one Governor called Peter/ Okwute Obi”, he wrote.  Also a community leader, Chief  Azubikes Okoye, who is also the President General of Agulu Peoples Union commended the measure and particularly Prof. Ejiofor for his committment to the project and the wonderful work he is doing through Suwakwa Igbo organisation. Okoye lamented the gradual dying of  Igbo langauge and blamed parents who would rather make sure their children learn English and other foreign langauges than Igbo and described as scandalous, a situation where in an Igbo family,  English is the official language of communication. He said that the signing of the law to promote the usage of Igbo in Anambra and Diaspora was a mastersroke by Governor Obi and everybody who is Igbo should be proud of the Governor, especially as he showed practical seriousness over the matter, by making Igbo language compulsory in all the schools, private and public, in the State; by making  the langaueg  a compulsory part of the General Studies in the higher institutions in the State; by offering annual cash awards in his personal capacity to the best candidates in Igbo language in all the secondary schools in Nigeria; by abolishing corporal punishments for those that speak igbo in their schools, among other measures. He singled out the building of Ogbalu Igbo Langauge School by the Governor as one project all Igbo sons and daughters should encourage.  Like Atamuo Chief Okoye appealed to Obi to use his good offices as the Chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum to persuade other Igbo Governors   to replicate what he has done in Anambra State in their states. He also encouraged him to put on the agenda for the South East Governors forum future meetings the issue of Igbo langauge and culture#

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Fw: [IgboWorldForum] When Promotion Of Igbo Language Got The Biggest Biko nu, onye obula jisie ike subakwa Igbo! ... From: chinelo ugochukwu To: asa-usa@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thu, July 1, 2010...	Nnanna Agomoh mnagomoh	Jul 1, 2010 8:22 am