Our Children Now Need Interpreters To Understand Their Mother Tongue — Anayo Nwosu

By Anayo M. Nwosu

Oyiboka, the crown prince of Aniaghaa town has been seriously worried. His name gives him away as Igbo and it ends there.

Oyiboka cannot speak his people's language even though he could understand some common expressions like : "nne, ukwu gi di nkili", "ife gi asogbuo m" and "aru m kwu oto".

His ancestral throne is by heredity hence he shall succeed his father as the Igwe or the king of his town.

I was naturally drawn to him at the Schiphol International airport in Amsterdam, Netherland waiting for our KLM flight to Washington Dulles airport in Virginia, USA. He looked very Igbo and I was happy to see a brother in far away Europe.

Oyiboka, a surgeon in the USA couldn't sustain our discussion in Igbo and I got the hint within a second of our chat and switched to English.

I had seen many of his type before in the U.K. and in Lagos where I live and even in my house, with my kids.

"Nna, I blame my mum for this," Dr. Oyiboka opened up with his story that touched my heart.

"My mum wanted us raised with high foreign content as she believed learning Igbo and speaking same would make us less international in outlook.

"She banned Igbo speaking in the house and insisted that we attended American International Primary and Secondary Schools in Victoria Island, Lagos where we were taught by Americans and Europeans and she proudly would tell her friends that we spoke only English.

"She carefully selected her house-helps from non-Igbo speaking tribes to avoid vernacular contagion just as she limited our interactions with "uncultured" relations.

"That was so many years before my grandfather, the Igwe, died and my father had to relocate to the village to succeed his father.

"Even at that, my mum remained in Lagos with us until we, the children, were "exported"  to the US and Canadian universities.

"It is still befuddling to me why my father was not foresightful enough to insist that we learn and speak Igbo knowing full well that I, as his first son, would one day become the king of my town. But the man loved my mother to pieces and never opposed her in child upbringing matters.

"My mum was the CEO of the home front while my father made the money.

"We the children, especially me, are now bearing the brunt of my mother's and by conspiracy, my father's neocolonial inferiority complex or mentality.

"Now my father is getting old and would soon move to the departure lounge to join his ancestors, I get nervous.

"Unfortunately, my mother could not live long to see a social destitute she has made of me and my siblings. She died four years ago but not without my respectfully pointing out to her how she "un-Igboed" us. I feel like someone whose identity has been bleached.

"The whole thing seriously affected my self confidence as I can't think or dream in Igbo like my people. Would my ancestors speak to me as they do to the reign Igwe in Igbo in my dreams?

"How would I manage, when I succeed my dad as the Igwe? Would I always be interacting with my subjects in English or be breaking colanuts in Latin or French?

"The worst part is that the youths of my town think that I'm either reclusive or arrogant without knowing the enormous challenge faced by a man saddled with the duty of cooking "ukwa" or breadfruit meal for the first time or a first time pregnant woman in labour.

"My siblings don't have to worry as they have since accepted their fate by integrating themselves into the American and Canadian societies after their university education. They are Nigerians in names but not in language or culture.

"But, I love my people and would love to identify with them and speak our language as their prince and their future king.

I had never seen a man so honest and crestfallen over an issue that is rather a showoff in many Igbo families, especially those who live in the urban areas.

By not speaking Igbo to their children, most ignorant but highly educated, Igbo parents consider themselves as having progressed or been civilized. Still their U.K, USA and Canadian visa applications are not granted for deactivating their wards' Igbo speaking capabilities. They are "based on other logistics".

"What about your wife and children?" I enquired to ascertain how extensive Dr. Oyigboka's malaise was.

"Bros, I had to contain the disease to only myself", he continued," I married a lady from Agukwu Nri Anambra state. The town is as historic as their comprehensive Igbo culture.

"It was a careful search in which the key decision factor was a lady who was born and raised in Igbo land and the one who could speak and write Igbo.

"My wife is the Igbo teacher at Nnewi High School, Nnewi. She prepares students for school certificate examinations. We wedded last year and I have filed her papers at the US Immigration to enable her join me in Washington D.C.

"She has promised to teach me and my kids the Igbo language and I hope to get to a proficient level before I am required to come home to ascend the thrown of my ancestors", Dr. Oyiboka said with a gleam of hope in his face.

I was happy that my new friend was wise enough to identify his problems and put machinery in place to solving them.

Trust doctors, many of them could solve their own problems too.

Understanding what is being spoken to them in Igbo by my children is no longer enough. I have gone a step further. I have hired Igbo teachers in the  various schools my kids attend to take them on Igbo speaking practicals.

In my house, all requests to me must be made in Igbo otherwise no deal.

Do you have the same problem as Dr. Oyiboka or as me?

Many parents can no longer pass on sensitive information to their children in Igbo language in the midst of strangers. This is horrendous!

"Nke a bu madu inokwa be ya nokpoor mkpuru amu" meaning that "our disabling the mother tongue speaking capabilities of our children is a self-inflicted wound on ourselves." It is also a security issue.

Any man who can't speak his mother tongue is disabled. Yes, disabled!

Imagine your child as a politician aspiring to a high political office, who could not communicate with his extended family, kinsmen and townsmen in his mother tongue.

That child is by design, a destitute in his mother tongue!