Vous parlez Francais? (Do you speak French?)

I have always loved languages and wish I could speak as much languages as possible. Although English is our official language in Nigeria, we have 3 main ethnic languages which are Ibo, Yoruba and Hausa. Fortunately, I speak 2 out of the 3. The first, Ibo, which is my mother tongue and then Yoruba, which I was privileged to grow up with having been born and lived in the south-western part of the country most of my years.

I am currently learning to speak Hausa and have also have realized that I have more task ahead…which is, learning to speak French! While in secondary school, I dropped French out of my chosen subjects because my teacher at that time was very strict and for this reason, the French students were very few as many students wouldn’t choose French as a subject. I had regrets at the end of the day because I lost that opportunity!

I have just returned from the Republic of Benin and Togo where French is their official languages and have come to realize that it absolutely pays to be at least bi-lingual.
My stay in these countries in the course of my visit was very interesting! I didn’t speak their language, and only very few of them could speak mine (English). Luckily for me, my friend who I traveled with is got French skills so she did all the rescuing in times of need for translation and negotiation!

While in Togo, I met some Nigerians who traveled all the way to the University of Lome to study the language and some exchange students which I found really fascinating!
I am happily learning to speak French, and I encourage you out there to make it a point of duty to learn other languages besides your country’s official Language…as you would one day find it useful.
As a Global Citizen, what more can I say than…Il faut apprendre francais. A tout a l’ heures!!