The following may be of interest. One might add to his points te research showing that children learning two languages at home have cognitive advantages over those learning just one - and what better (and easiest) languages to pass on than those the parents speak?
Don Osborn Bisharat.net The Importance of Language By Okezie Chukwumerije http://www.gamji.com/NEWS1822.htm Is it necessary for Nigerian children to learn Nigerian languages? Many would be tempted to brush off this question as unserious, but it is becoming an increasingly topical question among Nigerians, especially those living abroad. Recently I attended a party in California where there were lots of Igbo children, or more specifically children whose parents are of Igbo extraction. I noted that not a single one of them could speak the Igbo language. I brought this to the attention of their parents, and an argument ensued on the importance of teaching our children our native languages in a foreign land. Majority of the revelers were of the view � whether colored by guilt or shame, I am uncertain - that it was unnecessary to do so, some even going to the extent of questioning the need to teach their children what they consider a dying language. It is instructive to note that this problem is not peculiar to Nigerians living abroad. I know of Nigerian children resident in Nigeria who cannot speak any Nigerian language. For some Nigerian parents it is a badge of honor and a sign of sophistication for their children to speak � often poorly � English language exclusively. Growing up back home, I knew of at least a couple of families in which children were discouraged from � and sometimes punished for � speaking their native language. It was de rigueur in some quarters to speak English exclusively. On the diaspora, it is remarkable that immigrants from other parts of the world teach their children their native languages. In San Francisco where I live, I come across very few Chinese Americans who do not speak at least one Chinese language. This is true of even fourth and fifth generation Chinese Americans. From childhood, Chinese Americans are encouraged to learn and speak a Chinese language at home. Some are sent to special language schools for this purpose; others are sent to China for special language and cultural studies. That Chinese American children speak Chinese does not make them any less American than other American children. More importantly, it does not make them less fluent in the English language, neither does it adversely affect their academic success. On the contrary, Chinese Americans excel both in academic performance and in professional accomplishment. The same goes for Jews, most of who insist that their children learn Hebrew, and many of who send their children to Israel to study and to learn Jewish culture and tradition. One can only envy the determination and diligence with which these ethnic minorities encourage their children to immerse themselves in their rich heritage. Rather than emulate these ethnic minorities, who have after all made substantial contributions to the political and cultural life of the countries in which they settled, many Nigerians are reluctant to teach their children our languages. Is it expediency, shame, or plain laziness that prevents some Nigerians from teaching their children their native languages? Whatever the real reasons, what is clear is that the arguments against teaching our children our native languages are not in the least compelling. It is important to teach our children � at home and abroad � our languages and the rich cultural history they embody. One of the arguments made against teaching our children abroad Nigerian languages is that it is of no use. At the party I attended, many of the parents said they saw no usefulness in teaching their children Igbo. With whom would the children speak the language? Most of their playmates do not speak Igbo, their parents say. Had I not heard this point made repeatedly and seriously by friends, I would have considered it risible. These children have parents and relatives that speak Igbo. There is a substantial Nigerian community that speaks the language. Back in Nigerian, there are many more that speak the language. So it is not a problem to find those with whom children can speak the language. The stronger response to the question of the usefulness of learning the language is that those who ask the question seem not to understand that language is not just a vehicle of oral communication. It is also vehicle for communicating culture and tradition. There is a lot about Igbo culture and tradition, for example, that is embedded in the Igbo language. Igbo sayings (ilu), the nuances of the language, the terminologies, the modes of address, the inflections of the language, are all ways of communicating our culture. Growing up back home, when we used to sit before our elders and listen to them tell us about Igbo myths and folklore, we listened not only to the stories as told, but to the music and poetry of the language. The stories resonated with us, not just because of the morality they sought to convey, but also because in hearing our language spoken, and spoken well and richly, we felt a connection with those who had spoken the language over the millennia, who told the same tales, and whose voices we could still hear in the melody and cadence of the language. I have seen so much modernization in our culture, but I am yet to hear traditional libation poured in the English language. No doubt, advocates of the English language would see no problem in pouring libation in English language. After all the words can be translated from the traditional language into English. But to do so would be a disservice to the long line of ancestors who, using the language and drawing from our rich cultural heritage, have used libations to communicate with our ancestors and to assert our connectedness to the past and our relationship with the land. Our Christian and Moslem brothers might question the necessity of participating in some of these cultural practices. This is not the place to contest some of their views, but if we must practice our culture, we should do it properly. To separate our children from the language of their ancestors is to isolate them from the embrace of our rich tradition and heritage. True, there is part of our heritage that is easily communicable in foreign languages, but there are substantial parts of it that are inextricably embedded in the traditional languages. The other argument used against teaching our children our languages is that it adversely affects their ability to learn English. There is the belief that children who speak only English at home and who are immersed in everything foreign and European somehow grow up to speak the language better than those who first learn their traditional languages and then learn English as a second language. It is this kind of argument that is used by those in Nigeria who discourage their children from speaking a native language at home. I recall that back in high school, many of those who attended federal government schools prided themselves on their ability to speak only English. It was a badge of honor - a sign of accomplishment � to speak English to the exclusion of any Nigerian language. Looking back, I do not see that those who spoke only English did generally better than others in English composition or English examinations. Neither do they now speak better nor write clearer English than those who learnt their native languages before, or while, they learnt English. Those of us who went to university in Nigeria should know that at the university level the ability to speak or write English well does not correlate to whether or not one spoke English to the exclusion of native languages. Overseas, children of immigrants who speak the language of their parents do not necessarily communicate poorly in the English language. Jewish, Chinese, and Indian children perform excellently at school despite the fact that most of them are able to speak the native languages of their parents or of their ancestry. In fact, there are studies that suggest that the ability to speak a second language helps in the comprehension of one's primary language, because the learning of a foreign language forces one to focus on the formal and structural differences between the languages. Modern research on parenting and childhood development provide another argument against the suggestion that learning a native language impedes the ability of children abroad to learn English. Modern research shows that parents have little influence on the language development of their children as compared to the influence of their peers. It is from their peers that children mostly learn the major language of the place where they live. This is why although most of us first generation immigrants speak English with heavy Nigerian accents, our children do not speak English with the same accents. They learn the local accent from their peers. We can draw from this the conclusion that children who live in an English speaking country can learn to speak English effectively from their peers who speak English, regardless of the language they speak at home. You can see this clearly in the language development of Nigerian children abroad who are taught their native language at home. Most of them speak the Nigerian language very well, and they speak English as well as their peers who speak the English language exclusively. The conclusion to be drawn from this is that children can only benefit from learning a second language. Since learning a second language does not disadvantage children in terms of learning the primary language of their environment, this bilingualism (or multilingualism even) is beneficial to the children as it opens them to different cultures and different ways of looking at the world. Anyone who has ever read a book in the language of the author and then read the same book in translation would realize that a lot � of beauty, of style, of substance, of depth, of nuance � is lost in translation. A child who is able to read in, and speak, the language of his parents has a larger access to the parent's heritage and culture than does one who is unable to do either. Most Dutch people speak at least three languages: Dutch, English and French. Many also speak German. I am yet to hear the Dutch suggest that their children speak Dutch poorly because of all the other languages they have to learn. On the contrary, the Dutch rightly consider it an advantage for their children to be proficient in a variety of European languages. This proficiency promotes their engagement with European culture and civilization, and also makes it easier for the Dutch to travel between cultures. I suspect that one of the reasons that some of us are reluctant to teach our children our native languages is that there is a part of us that is ashamed of our Africanness. There are those among us who associate Africa mostly with negative images. We are reluctant to be seen as Africans. Some of us will go to considerable lengths to give the appearance of being black Americans. Many would even claim that they are from the Caribbean. All in an attempt to put some distance between themselves and our mother continent. We consider most things African inferior. We have internalized the negative stereotypes of our people and we externalize this by distancing ourselves, and our children, from our culture and by denigrating things African. Those who think this way see no reason to teach their children Nigerian languages. Why burden them with an inferior culture? When you burrow a bit deeper, what most Nigerians who resist teaching their children Nigerian languages really believe is that there is no use in teaching their children an inferior language and tradition. While some African Americans are beginning to see the necessity in identifying with their African cultural history and tradition, sadly some Nigerians are going the opposite route, by running away in shame from our culture and heritage. There is no reason to be embarrassed by our culture. We have a rich culture and tradition. We have a lot to be proud of. Like most cultures, ours has some tendencies that if unchecked would impede our social and economic advancement. But all cultures are malleable. The most successful cultural traditions are those which have borrowed from more successful cultures to enrich theirs. Our challenge is to enrich our culture, to modernize it, and to leave it for our children in a better shape than we found it. Language is an important way of communicating identity and culture. We disserve our children by denying them the access that language provides to the rich cultural heritage of their ancestors. Knowledge of their heritage would help give them a sense of bearing and a grounded perspective in a world that is stubbornly cruel to black people. Okezie Chukwumerije San Francisco, California ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/TpIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! 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