The other day, I was bragging about my proficiency in the Yoruba language when I was in the junior forms in secondary school. I hardly knew my nemesis was nearer than I thought.
So on Sunday, we were asked to read some lines of the Lord’s Prayer in church. When the chairman of the church’s board told me I was among those picked for the task, the first thing that came to my mind was the Day of Pentecost and the earlier incident at the Tower of Babylon.
On both occasions, people spoke in various tongues.
Fortunately for me, I went to church with my phone. Please don’t tell anyone that I had to make Google my friend. Most of us have been so anglicised that we can not do the things we used to do without effort when we were kids.
If we can’t speak our language, can we pass down our culture?
Did you know some parents would even prevent their wards from communicating in their mother tongues?
Like I said earlier, we normally think in our mother tongue before translating our thoughts to the “borrowed” language. Academics did not only say it, they put it into practice. Could you believe that if science is taught in the mother tongue, our kids will be more successful in the sciences.
