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Nigerians in Asia, what lang. do they use | ||
Tags: Igbo | African languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Po-ru Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5480 days ago 173 posts - 235 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Spanish, Norwegian, Mandarin, French | Message 1 of 14 04 April 2010 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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There are a lot of Nigerians in Japan and recently in China as well. I have also heard
of a large number of Nigerians in Indonesia, India, and some other Asian countries. In Japan I have heard them speaking to each other but I can't tell the language. Since Nigeria has many languages, but 4 primarily that are used, I was wondering what they generally speak amongst each other when they come to Asia. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 2 of 14 04 April 2010 at 2:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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I only know one Nigerian personally, and he speaks Igbo if I recall correctly. (Plus he's learning Japanese.)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| elvisrules Tetraglot Senior Member BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5469 days ago 286 posts - 390 votes Speaks: French, English*, Dutch, Flemish Studies: Lowland Scots, Japanese, German | Message 3 of 14 04 April 2010 at 2:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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They normally use Nigerian Pidgin, it's pretty much the lingua franca of Nigeria and West Africa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_pidgin 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Po-ru Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5480 days ago 173 posts - 235 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Spanish, Norwegian, Mandarin, French | Message 4 of 14 04 April 2010 at 5:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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Does anyone else have any personal experiences?
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| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5703 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 14 05 April 2010 at 5:10am | IP Logged | ||
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I know quite a few Nigerians. I only know what 4 of them speak of the top of my head.
3 - Hausa 1 - Igbo (do?) BUT - the other Nigerians I know speak two or three different languages. (Besides Hausa and Igbo/do) and I dont know what they speak. I'm sure other countries are like this, but I'm going to have to recommend that you simply ask the Nigerians what language they are speaking if you want to know. (Are you 100% sure that they are Nigerians? -- the majority or all of them?) Africa, has, I have heard, over 2000 spoken languages and/or dialects* its darn near impossible to know which one any one person can speak with out just asking them. When I was in Senegal as a child, the main language* was Wolof, but there was also Hausa, Poole and two other minority languages spoken by some families. Also French was the language of education and sophisticated business and Arabic was used also, mostly for religious purposes. (* Language/dialects -- linguists can fight over that if they want, I don't profess to know and cant honestly say that I care. I'm a language hobbyist, not a linguist and I wont run the risk of insulting some ones native tongue by calling it the wrong thing, and call me bitter, but I'm tired of know-it-alls, jumping down my throat because Country X 'actually' has only z# of languages and y# of dialects, blah, blah, blah! A few times I've mentioned someone's mother tongue was a dialect or asked if it was a language or a dialect and its offended or upset them. I think I've decided that the opinion of the body of speakers is more important to me than the academias view on things that they dont LIVE every day.) Sorry about that rant tacked on there, needed to get that out of my system... ) EDIT: Sticky '0' key, Africa has 2000+, not 200. Sorry about the misprint! Edited by global_gizzy on 08 April 2010 at 1:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5809 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 6 of 14 05 April 2010 at 10:03am | IP Logged | ||
Actually that the number of Nigerian languages. Africa as a whole has 2000 languages! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| elvisrules Tetraglot Senior Member BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5469 days ago 286 posts - 390 votes Speaks: French, English*, Dutch, Flemish Studies: Lowland Scots, Japanese, German | Message 7 of 14 05 April 2010 at 2:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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There are 100s of Nigerian languages, but the big three are:
-Yoruba -Hausa -Igbo These three languages and their area of influence form three linguistic regions within Nigeria. If you're from one of those regions, whether you are from one of the three tribes or not, it's likely you'll have at least some knowledge of the major tribal language of your region (i.e. Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo). The exception to this is probably Lagos, the formal capital and a huge trading spot, which is a big melting pot. The official language of Nigeria is English, but even inside the cities few people speak it fluently (though almost everyone in the cities can speak it at least basically). The lingua franca is definitely pidgin (English), often called Naija (also a nickname for the country). I've heard about Nigerians from different tribes in Japan speaking pidgin to each other, so that confirms it being used abroad. The exception is upper class Nigerians (less than 1% of the population) who may only speak English, have little knowledge of their tribal language and can't speak pidgin. (my family belongs to this category) Edited by elvisrules on 05 April 2010 at 2:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Po-ru Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5480 days ago 173 posts - 235 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Spanish, Norwegian, Mandarin, French | Message 8 of 14 07 April 2010 at 10:50am | IP Logged | ||
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But my curiosity is when Nigerians immigrate to China or Japan for whatever reason. What
language do they speak at home to each other? What language do they speak when they meet other Nigerians? Since Nigeria is so linguistically diverse, I don't expect there to be an answer, but which languages DO they use the most in these situations? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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