Long hours in traffic, the never ending hustle and bustle of Lagos are the most common challenges people encounter in Lagos. But for some people who can’t speak Yoruba, a major language in the state, that is one big extra challenge. The Yoruba language is such that, the way a younger person speaks to an older person is different from the way they’ll speak to their mates. The ‘e’ in the language is a sign of respect where as not putting it in sentence could also mean a total disrespect when speaking to an elder. INFORMATION NIGERIA has put together 8 things anyone who lives in Lagos but cant speak Yoruba totally gets…
-How you take a crash course when bae finally decides to take you to meet his/her parents and the way you study some basic Yoruba words that could save your life.
-How you look when someone calls you ‘omo ibo’, without bothering to ask if you’re Edo, Ijaw, Urhobo, Efik of Tiv.
-How confused you look when an elderly Yoruba person needs your help but you don’t understand a word he/she is saying although you wish you could help.
-When you go to spend the weekend at bae’s house and everyone starts speaking Yoruba, and all you can do is smile but what you really want to do is hit a hammer on their heads for not respecting the fact that they have a foreigner in their midst.
-When almost everyone in the market just jumps straight into Yoruba language without recourse to the fact that people from other states live in Lagos too
-When the danfo conductor says ‘owo da’ (where is your fare), but you just stare like a zombie because you have no idea what he’s saying.
-When you are watching a Yoruba movie on one of the local channels but they somehow forgot to subtitle it.
-The look an elderly Yoruba person gives you when you speak Yoruba to them but refused to acknowledge the ‘e’ when referring to an older person.
Who can relate???
