Why do Nigerian taxi-drivers talk to each other in English?

Archeron

ardle1 wrote: »

Huh, am tinkins dey is all from Brixton innit!

I read that in a Jar Jar Binks voice.

kingchess

dotsman wrote: »

Yes, and became even more backward in the first few decades after the foundation of the free state. It's well documented, I don't see why there would eb a question here.

On a social scale, we were extremely conservative and dominated by the church. On an economic scale, we had no noticeable industry, ...... Why you always want to compare little old Ireland of 1920-1960 to the French and German empires is beyond me.

because in 1920 we were ,on paper at least,a main part of the the British empire,as in the united kingdom of GB and Ireland,

XxMCRxBabyxX

UCDVet wrote: »

Fair enough. I used words like 'sad' and 'depressing' - not 'irrational' or 'illogical'. Maybe Nigeria benefits from the continued use of English and maybe avoiding English out of pride or emotional isn't the optimal thing to do.

But I still think it's a bit sad.

I think the variety of the tribal languages should be taken into account. The languages can differ hugely even in close areas so, due to the consequences of colonialism, English became a common language between the tribes and so it stuck as the one that they could communicate with each other in.

Edit: To add, if they had wanted to avoid English and choose another national language they faced the risk of a fight for hierarchy amongst the tribes which wouldn't be much better. Then, of course, other tribes would then have to learn that additional language.

dotsman

kingchess wrote: »

because in 1920 we were ,on paper at least,a main part of the the British empire,as in the united kingdom of GB and Ireland,

Yes, I know. I don't understand your point?

kingchess

you are saying that we were backwards while we were part of the uk and spoke English?and the reason we are not backwards etc now is because we speak English?and that English is necessary to be a successful country,maybe I am taking you up the wrong way??

Nodin

dotsman wrote: »

Yes, and became even more backward in the first few decades after the foundation of the free state. It's well documented, I don't see why there would eb a question here.

On a social scale, we were extremely conservative and dominated by the church. On an economic scale, we had no noticeable industry, resources, strong internal economy or historic/trade relations except with Britain (where the same people who were pushing the Irish language agenda were the very same ones who went to economic war with that one single trade relation we had!!!). Why you always want to compare little old Ireland of 1920-1960 to the French and German empires is beyond me.

The language had nothing to do with either our success or our failure as a state.

dotsman

kingchess wrote: »

you are saying that we were backwards while we were part of the uk and spoke English?and the reason we are not backwards etc now is because we speak English?and that English is necessary to be a successful country,maybe I am taking you up the wrong way??

Where did I say that? Again, I point to ...

dotsman wrote: »

How did you pick that up from reading that post?

The whole point was that Ireland was (thankfully) an English speaking country when it achieved independence. If we had reverted to Irish (as a significant number of fools wanted) for emotional reasons (to undo our past colonial experience), we would have remained a backwards, inward looking country.

Nodin wrote: »

The language had nothing to do with either our success or our failure as a state.

It was an incredibly huge part of our success. If we had reverted back to Irish, we wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone!

Culturally, all our television, music and movies would be home grown. Can you imagine how backwards we would have remained if all that had happened. Miley kissing Fidelma in a barn would still be the most controversial and raunchy thing we would have seen! As much as people may groan about the amount of American, Australian, British & Canadian tv that dominates here, it was these very shows (along with music and movies), with their mainly liberal views that played a huge part in our social awakening. Without them, we would still be relying solely on the parish priest for our views on homo-gneasachs, masturbation, pre-marital sex etc.

Economically, one of the reasons why Irish people have been so able to emigrate is their ability to speak english. This has played a huge part in supporting the economy during bad times and the returning emigrants, with their experince/skills adding to the economy during the good times. Of all the foreign multinationals who have come here, being English-speaking has been an essential part of that. There are lots of other low tax countries, many even lower, but Ireland being a low tax, low cost, highly skilled, english speaking member of the EU is what made us stand out (now that we are no longer low-cost or highly skilled makes our ability to speak English fluently is even more critical). Speaking of "highly-skilled" - there's not that much demand for solicitors, accountants, engineers, scientists, software developers etc who can only speak Irish. In fact, someone wanting to become a software engineer who only speaks Irish (and who has an aversion to all things English because an english man called their great-great granddaddy a mean name) is going to have a pretty hard time learning the necessary skills.

dd972

Used to work in a place where two young Egyptian temps only spoke English to each other, not a problem but used to wonder why.

kingchess

kingchess wrote: »

you are saying that we were backwards while we were part of the uk and spoke English?and the reason we are not backwards etc now is because we speak English?and that English is necessary to be a successful country,maybe I am taking you up the wrong way??

dotsman wrote: »

How did you pick that up from reading that post?

The whole point was that Ireland was (thankfully) an English speaking country when it achieved independence. If we had reverted to Irish (as a significant number of fools wanted) for emotional reasons (to undo our past colonial experience), we would have remained a backwards, inward looking country.

there,you say we would have remained a backwards,inwards looking country.remained,remained, remained-you get it now??

RobbingBandit

Was thinking of inventing an app and lots of people on this thread would be my target market. I will call the app Just What the **** are these Foreign ***** behind me really saying?! , I think it is self explanatory, once Kickstarter sets up in Ireland I guess a good few here will back me, yes?

harry Bailey esq

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Except the Afrikaans.

But they're dutch?

MRnotlob606

my nigerian friend only speaks in English

jimmycrackcorm

I'll happily answer the op if he sends me his bank details so I can deposit several million Euro

Shakespeare's Sister

Why should two or more people bother speaking to each other in the language of the country they've moved to? As if two or more Irish people living in a non English-speaking country wouldn't converse among themselves in English.

Merrion

..probably because English is their lingua franca.

Nodin

dotsman wrote: »

Where did I say that? Again, I point to ...



It was an incredibly huge part of our success. If we had reverted back to Irish, we wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone!.

Childishly simplistic nonsense. The Japanese became a world power in 50 years, they didn't drop Japanese to do it.

Rabies

porsche959 wrote: »

In my experience Nigerian taxi-drivers generally converse in English, is it because English is a default language because all the tribes speak different languages or what?

Ohhhh. Those sneaky black fellas taking our jobs and language.

I curse them for coming to this country and learning the language and working for a living. Bastards!! Not a single on of them can be true Irish, sure no black person has ever been born here... Everrrrrrrrrrr

dotsman

kingchess wrote: »

there,you say we would have remained a backwards,inwards looking country.remained,remained, remained-you get it now??

My head is getting sore from banging it against the desk.

kingchess

Rabies wrote: »

Ohhhh. Those sneaky black fellas taking our jobs and language.

I curse them for coming to this country and learning the language and working for a living. Bastards!! Not a single on of them can be true Irish, sure no black person has ever been born here... Everrrrrrrrrrr

is that what the Maori say to the new zealanders:D,this thread is going all over the place

kingchess

dotsman wrote: »

My head is getting sore from banging it against the desk.

stop banging your head and focus about what you are trying to say,good lad

Nodin

dotsman wrote: »

My head is getting sore from banging it against the desk.

That would explain the bizarre posts allright.

Lou.m

porsche959 wrote: »

In my experience Nigerian taxi-drivers generally converse in English, is it because English is a default language because all the tribes speak different languages or what?

There are hundreds of languages in Nigeria for cultural and linguistic unity the official language is the former colonial language which is English.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

porsche959 wrote: »

Probably will go back to where it started on page 1, which was thinly disguised attempts to smear thread starter as a wacist, led by the aptly named "Electro-bitch", who I cannot help but notice has thanked every single one of those cowardly little slurs.

I think would be best if mods close it. A question was honestly asked and then answered by some of the more rational posters, and in mean time, a bunch of trolls got their kicks from putting words in my mouth.

Eh, the posts made me laugh, they were funny and obviously taking the piss. If you can take the time to type a post calling me a bitch, maybe you can manage to type "official language of Nigeria" into google next time, probably for the best if you're going to go taking smart-arsed replies in After Hours so personally.

Rabies

kingchess wrote: »

is that what the Maori say to the new zealanders:D,this thread is going all over the place

We Pākehā came here and stole their land



Silly natives!

Joe prim

As a gesture of support for the peace process, and of brotherhood for our unionist brethren, all immigrants to Ireland should be required , as a condition of residency, to learn Ulster Scots. This might not achieve a lot, but it would be very funny, and we all need a laugh.

anotherposter

catallus wrote: »

But not all Nigerians are taxi drivers.

some are the prince of nigeria too

thelad95

Joe prim wrote: »

As a gesture of support for the peace process, and of brotherhood for our unionist brethren, all immigrants to Ireland should be required , as a condition of residency, to learn Ulster Scots. This might not achieve a lot, but it would be very funny, and we all need a laugh.

How Ulster-Scots is an official 'language' is beyond me. With all the campaigning for it to be an officially recognized EU language, I thought it would be some sort of combination between old Irish and Gallic but it basically involves speaking in a combination of a Scottish and Ulster accent with a few of those Scottish words and phrases thrown in like 'dinnae'. Some Ulster Scots phrases here, some of which we use, some of which are hilarious.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/words

Frank Lee Midere

Well this is sad. The guy just asked a question. The next time I want to know why people from a British colony speak English I won't be asking yez gougers.

Frank Lee Midere

thelad95 wrote: »

How Ulster-Scots is an official 'language' is beyond me. With all the campaigning for it to be an officially recognized EU language, I thought it would be some sort of combination between old Irish and Gallic but it basically involves speaking in a combination of a Scottish and Ulster accent with a few of those Scottish words and phrases thrown in like 'dinnae'. Some Ulster Scots phrases here, some of which we use, some of which are hilarious.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/words

Do they have any pamphlets in Ulster Scots?

thelad95

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Well this is sad. The guy just asked a question. The next time I want to know why people from a British colony speak English I won't be asking yez gougers.

This is After Hours. There are other forums where you probably could've gotten a more serious response. Try some of these

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=576

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=127

and on a more serious note your best chance of an actual reply would probably be here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1332

Frank Lee Midere

thelad95 wrote: »

This is After Hours. There are other forums where you probably could've gotten a more serious response. Try some of these

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=576

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=127

and on a more serious note your best chance of an actual reply would probably be here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1332

Ah, where people can't read. Or get sarcasm.

RickyWed

Better thay speak english if their own language all the people would just complaint - aaaa you in english speaking country so speak that way

allibastor

porsche959 wrote: »

In my experience Nigerian taxi-drivers generally converse in English, is it because English is a default language because all the tribes speak different languages or what?

They need to pick up the lingo for the dole office.

No, a good deal of the drivers do actually speak English as a first language, They also want the custom from people so they will speak the common language that there customers speak.

it is better than being in Tesco and having 4 Polish people working on registers having a full conversation in polish over the heads of customers

RickyWed

That right I dont like when those Polish people speak their language thats not very professional though. Management should do something about that, I am foreign living in Dublin but never speak anything else than english at work even with the same nationality people, simply its unprofessional.

allibastor

RickyWed wrote: »

That right I dont like when those Polish people speak their language thats not very professional though. Management should do something about that, I am foreign living in Dublin but never speak anything else than english at work even with the same nationality people, simply its unprofessional.

Many work places have put in place a policy of this, as it creates mistrust between co-workers when they cant understand each other.

it should also help with Job prospects. I am all for speaking your native language and keeping your traditions alive, But I have met Polish and other eastern Europeans who have been living in Ireland 5 or more years and still only have a very basic grasp of the language as they have not socialised or integrated at all.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.