OPINION: Nigerians Confidently Speak Fluent But Bad English | Whilst Ghanaians Timidly Speak Good English But Not Fluent

Nigeria was colonized by the British – likewise Ghana, but sometimes I wonder why Nigerians confidently speak bad English without any whit of shame and also feel disgraced why Ghanaians speak good English but timidly as though a soldier is holding a gun at them to speak.

In the case of Nigerians, the most common word we are all aware they ‘murder’ is the pronunciation of the word DOCTOR. Per the English Lexicon, doctor should be pronounced ‘dŊktә’ but Nigerians, have for only God knows the number of years they started speaking English, always pronounce Doctor wrongly as ‘dŊkt כ:’

Don’t Nigerians do Oral English literature in their higher educational institutions? Or don’t they pay attention to the English (when they speak) regarding the correct manner in which the English words are supposed to be pronounced? Or better still don’t they watch CNN, BBC or Hollywood movies?

But having a Nigerian partner and having also watched a lot of Nigerian movies, I’ve come to realize the reason and concluded that: Nigerians confidently speak fluent but bad English whilst Ghanaians timidly speak good English but not fluent. The reason is simple! Very simple!

On the Ghanaian part, Ghanaians generally love to impress the next person when speaking English –which I consider as a sign of INFERIORITY COMPLEX anyway. The Ghanaian would do all he or she can to speak with a Western phonation.

Due to that, when most Ghanaians are speaking English, they are not fluent, because there’s always pressure on the speakers mind to organize his or her thought, tune into a so-believed-sweet-tone, and delivery. So at the end of the day, the speaker stutters and lacks clarity in the message conveyed. Confidence is also mostly a challenge with most Ghanaians when it comes to communication!

However, Nigerians largely don’t have that attitude of impressing the next person when speaking English. When a Nigerian is speaking English, you can clearly see the fellow is flowing with ease and is focused on conveying a message – not to tune accent into something else to prove any point! No matter how highly educated a Nigerian is, he/she speaks English with their thick local accent. Their confidence (which sometimes comes out as arrogance) is top-drawer!

Consider a TV news bulletin which is a voice pop for instance – if a Ghanaian is interviewed, you would hear the fellow speak good English but fluency is almost zilch. The fellow will stutter through. Sometimes I feel ashamed as a Ghanaian watching such voice pops!

Due to that, I don’t feel comfortable watching a TV voice pop news bulletin involving Ghanaians – and I mean the semi-literates and the literates! But in TV voice pop news bulletins involving Nigerians, the interviewees speak the English language with confidence and clarity. Though they spoil most of the English words, I admire their sense of confidence and clarity.

Maybe my little advice to my Nigerian brothers and sisters is that, the fact that one speaks with his or her local or native accent, does not mean one should pronounce words of a foreign language wrongly at all time. Yes ACCENT affects PRONOUNCIATIONS but the two are independent!

At the end of the day, one understands what you (Nigerians) say – which is the basic injunction in communication (ability to hear and understand) but the words in the language must also be mentioned right. Can Nigerians change this English-language-treason? Well, in all the above, there is exceptions but mind you, I’m stating the rule and not the exception.

I tease my partner everyday due to the way she ‘murder’s the Queen’s language and she too mocks me for speaking English one-by-one like a class one pupil reciting poem on stage. We laugh slap happily at each other. That is the beauty of language. But in case you don’t agree, you may share a though. Until then…MOTWUM!!