I CAN SPEAK AND WRITE IT TOO BUT IT WASN'T EASY: MY IGBO LANGUAGE JOURNEY ___WK242 EP1

Weekly Featured Contents - Week 242 Episode 01: Language

How easy do I think my language is to learn? If I had to learn to read and write it from scratch, will I be able to do so easily?

My language is Igbo and honestly, I love my language with my whole heart.

I grew up in a house where we must speak Igbo. My mama made it a rule. In the morning, before you eat, you must greet in Igbo. If you speak English at home, she will look at you and say "Asụ Igbo biko." So from small, Igbo entered my head well well.

I can speak it, and I can also write it. I learned both. But let me not lie, it was not easy at all. It took time.

When I was in primary school in Awka, we had one Igbo teacher, Mrs. Okeke. She was very strict. She would write on the board - a, b, ch, d, e, f, g, gb, gh, gw, h, i, ị, j, k, kp, kw, l, m, ṅ, nw, ny, o, ọ, p, r, s, sh, t, u, ụ, v, w, y, z. She will say "repeat after me." And we will shout. 36 letters, not 26 like English.

That time I hated it. I will ask myself, why all these letters with dot below? Why ṇ, ị, ọ, ụ? What is their use? But Mrs. Okeke would beat our hands small and say "if you remove that dot, you have changed the meaning."

And she was right. For example, if you write "akwa" without correct marks, nobody knows if you mean bed, cloth, egg, or cry. You must put the tone. You must put the dot. You must be careful.

Writing Igbo is like cooking bitter leaf soup.... You cannot rush it__ You must wash it well, wash it again, taste it, check it..... Small mistake, the whole soup will be bitter. Same with Igbo writing, small dot mistake, the whole sentence changes.

But because I kept learning, today I can write it. I can write a letter to my grandmother in the village in proper Igbo and she will read it and understand. I can write my market list in Igbo. I can chat with my sister on WhatsApp in full Igbo with correct spelling - kẹdụ, kedu ebe ị nọ, biko bia.

If I had to learn to read and write Igbo from scratch today, will it be easy for me? Yes, it will be easier for me now because I already have the base..... My ear already knows the sound. My mouth already knows the tone. So my hand will just follow.

But for someone who did not grow up hearing it? For my friend who is Yoruba, who wants to learn Igbo? Ah, it will take time......It will not be easy__Because Igbo is not just letters, it is feeling.... You must hear it, you must feel the tone, you must know when to raise voice and when to lower it.

I thank my mama for forcing us to speak Igbo at home.... Because many of my mates in Lagos, Abuja , port-harcourt they can speak English fine but they cannot speak or write their own language. And that is painful.....cause whyyyyyyyy nh

So my language is easy for me because I learned it from childhood with love and beating small...... But if you are starting from zero today, you will need patience, you will need someone who will correct you everyday, and you will need to live among Igbo people.

Image source AI