The American students are actually treading a path that many Yoruba parents will never encourage their children to tread. Due to civilisation, the usage of the language has become a taboo in many homes, let alone going to the university to study it. But this is not so for Lauren Halloran, Caraline Harshman, Kelvin Barry, Kelly Moses and O’Neil Keegan, all undergraduate students of the University of Wisconsin, United States of America. Apart from studying the language, they have even adopted Yoruba names. Halloran is Abike, Harshman is Titilayo, Barry has adopted Kayode, and Moses is Akinwumi while Keegan’s Yoruba name is Kolade.
Yoruba Language is the language of about 40 million people living in the South West geo-political zone of Nigeria.
But the language is being threatened with extinction because of the poor disposition of some Yorubas to it. Yoruba Language and culture enthusiasts including Prof. Wande Abimbola, Prof. Akinwumi Isola and Prof. Ayo Bamgbose had at various forums, expressed fears that if care was not taken, the language might go into extinction in some years to come.
However, these students, who are currently at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, for a one academic session language immersion programme, were part of guests that witnessed the Yoruba Day organised for pupils of Vivian Fowler Memorial Girl’s College, Lagos recently.
The school’s proprietor, Chief Leila Fowler, said that the Americans were invited for the event to motivate pupils and parents to embrace the use of Yoruba Language in their homes and in school. As each of the students from the University of Wisconsin spoke the Yoruba language with such dexterity and passion, with the American accent, the audience was forced to clap and scream for joy. “Americans speaking Yoruba, our mother tongue! Should this be a slap in the face of Yoruba girls who can’t even say a word in Yoruba?” a parent sitting close to our correspondent asked rhetorically.
The Americans have been at the UI since September 2010 to sharpen their understanding of the Yoruba language and culture. This involves living with Nigerian families for close to one year. The Nigerian families signed an undertaking to speak to the students in Yoruba as well as encourage them to speak the language.
Before coming to Nigeria, they had been learning the Yoruba language at the University of Wisconsin, in the US along with their major courses for close to three years. At their first day in the Yoruba class in America where they were taught by professors from Nigeria, they were given a list of Yoruba names to pick from, and were asked to choose the appellations that best suited them.
And since then, they prefer being called their Yoruba names.
Interestingly, they eat Yoruba food, greet in the Yoruba way, and speak the language better than many Yoruba-born persons.
Kayode, when asked what his best food was, said in Yoruba, “Any day, any time I will go for Oka and Abula (Okro and Amala). It’s divine and I love it. Nigeria is one place I’ve always wanted to live. So, being here is like a dream come true. I wouldn’t trade this opportunity for anywhere else.’’
Being endowed with an unbeatable talent and skills on how to beat the talking drum came as a surprise to the audience. “I developed an intimacy with the language by listening to radio stations, reading Nigerian newspapers, and also watching Yoruba movies. I always listen to Radio Lagos 107.5FM from the US. That really helped in getting to know the Yoruba accent.
“Also, I leant through the Yoruba films, you can watch any type of Yoruba movie on YouTube from America.”
Titilayo, who was the most outspoken of the group, said someday, she wants to become a West African correspondent for one of the top media houses in the world.
“I want to be able to communicate in various African languages without any barrier. After mastering the Yoruba language, I’m going to pick up other African languages,” she said.
Living in the ancient city of Ibadan, she said, had been an interesting experience, bringing her closer to the Yoruba culture and its components,
“My experience in Nigeria so far has been better than what I expected. I never thought I would become a motivation for kids to take pleasure in learning their mother tongue. It has been a big experience. Everyone has been so warm and welcome. Well, I hope this challenges people to know that the Yoruba language is a beautiful one, and Yoruba-speaking parents especially should ensure that they teach their children how to speak the language. If I can do it, so can they,” Titilayo said.
Kolade, the most reserved of the group, said because of his nature, naturally he didn’t think he could stay in Nigeria other than the stipulated time his course required, but because of the warm nature of Nigerians, he might change his mind.
“I’m more of the quiet type, I don’t really like talking. Nigerians are really great at making you feel at home. A lot of people don’t know much about Nigeria, that’s why they have the impression that the country is wild and dangerous. But I have discovered that this impression is not true,” he said.
On some of the challenges he faces, one of their teachers, Mr. Moses Mabayanje, said despite the passion he has for his job, teaching foreigners was harder than teaching Nigerians. “I have passion for what I do, but it can be challenging teaching foreigners than Nigerians who already have an idea and the nitty-gritty of the language. For foreigners, you have to start from the scratch. Also, I have to make sure that the five of them master the Yoruba language,” he said.
Responding to fears that foreigners would one day have to teach Yoruba people their mother tongue, he said, “There is every possibility that this could happen. It may look like a joke, but it could happen. However, I don’t think this would happen as a result of me teaching foreigners the Yoruba language; rather it will be as a result of parents failing to teach and imbibe in their children the Yoruba culture.”
Also, Yoruba author, Olarotimi Makanjuola, said children now prefered speaking either the British English, or most especially the American English to their peers and parents, and that in some years’ time, there would be nothing left of the Yoruba culture if caution wasn’t taken.
“Would our grand children know the English meaning of the Yoruba word, ‘Wa’? Almost everywhere this issue is brought up, people lament on the neglect of the Yoruba language. As they speak, you can hear the pain and sadness in their voices. Very soon, the whites are going to be the ones teaching our children their mother tongue,” he said.
However, the Chairman, Association of Yoruba Language and Culture Teachers Association, Lagos State, Mr. Atanda Olawale, has called on parents and stakeholders in the education sector to fight against the extinction of Yoruba language.
He said, “The greatest tragedy regarding language is the dominating trend of parents wanting to speak only English to their children, making it their first language, and then sending them to private schools which only teach English. This makes these children to value English above other languages.”
“When I heard about the story of the five students from University of Wincosin who are currently in UI studying Yoruba, I was not so shocked because I’ve always said that if we are not careful, the Yoruba language will soon become extinct. Then we will have foreigners coming down here to teach us our own mother tongue,” he said.
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