Nigerians and Accents

Anya Bloggie,

For a while now, I’ve been wondering… What’s the deal with #accents? Why are some of us super ashamed of how we sound to the point that we create made up accents?

I remember the first time I ever heard a Nigerian faking an accent. It was a radio personality on Cool FM. I don’t know if this person felt oppressed by the accent of the American on the station, but, homegirl was a huge turn off and I gradually changed my listening time to avoid her accent. The next one noticeable one for me was a contestant on “Big Brother Naija.” This girl had every accent – American, British, and Indian, at the same time! Her reason for the Indian accent? She had Indian neighbours when she was little. Imagine!

Being a Nigerian in diaspora, I have heard and seen a lot of my people twist their tongues and lose all sense of pride and strength by sounding what I can only describe as constipated and confused. I have heard forced accents that make both my belly and face cringe. I have even heard the ones that make me afraid to follow the conversation for fear of getting lost in transit.

To be fair, I know how frustrating it is when you’re in diaspora and people refuse to listen to you because they hear a hint of an accent that is different from theirs. They instantly tune you out so they can quickly say “I don’t understand you.” In response, your whole being gets tired of repeating yourself or being made fun of and you cultivate a way of speaking that might be easier for them. But as I’ve grown older and paid more attention to the overall international experience, I’ve found that there are subtle things we do unknowingly that make us lose our sense of pride.

As I’m a Nigerian and only truly know the Nigerian experience, I’m going to only speak about Nigerians. This of course doesn’t mean that other nationalities don’t relate or do the same thing.

The Choice of an Accent

In my humble opinion, if you were born in Nigeria and finished primary school there, your true accent is a Nigerian accent. By the time you’re 9/10, you have fully developed your speaking voice and your birth accent should have taken root. It doesn’t have to be thick but it’s somewhere in there. Therefore, when I meet people who went to secondary school or even Uni at home, and they want to speak to me (a fellow Nigerian) in a new accent, I’m genuinely confused. I once met a JJC (Johnny Just Come aka newbie) who introduced himself to me using a fake British accent. At the time, he didn’t know I was part of the student orientation group and would need to check him in to the session. By way of introduction, he told me he was from England. Meanwhile, two seconds ago, he was talking to his brother in pure, unadulterated Yoruba and his Nigerian accent was present. I just laughed and said, “I think right here, it says you’re Nigerian. Welcome.” Luckily, he dropped the British gig throughout the time I knew him.

What I absolutely dislike about people who have chosen to change their accent and are attempting to erase anything that might link them to their past, is seeing them visit or move back to Nigeria and only using foreign accents. If truly you cultivated an accent to be understood, then you know what it means to struggle to understand and be understood. Why now do you want to feel superior and switch accents even when you’re in your home country? I just don’t get it.

If truly we pick up accents as we go, and the picked-up ones are supposed to become our defaults, why then do all these British, Spanish, Haitian, Indian, French (and the list goes on) entertainers, not lost their accents after living in the U.S for eons? Why are there Nigerians who sound the same until the end of time even after living abroad for over 50 years? Could their own accents somehow be stronger than ours? I don’t believe so.

Conversely, what I do love about these accent folks is when either an event, alcohol, or even a word causes them to lose control of their acquired accents. It’s such a joy when I can scream “gotcha!”

The Decision to Succumb to Any Accent Other than Yours

I recently called the Nigerian consulate in the US and was beyond baffled to hear an American accent delivering the welcome and call options for the consulate. I mean why? Just why? Never ever have I called an embassy and not been greeted by the country’s accent. I didn’t have any expectation when I was calling but my heart wouldn’t stop being disappointed. I began to wonder if in every country we have a consulate, our callers are greeted by the country’s accent or if we have narrowed down our accent options. A part of me really wants to do this research. As if that wasn’t enough, the operator answered in a British accent. WHhhhyyyy??!!

Luckily, when I called another consulate in the US, I was greeted by a very polite and nice Nigerian accent. It was music to my ears and my belle was full. There might be some hope after all.

Children in Nigeria Speaking with Non-Nigerian Accents

One thing that has confused me a lot (like a lot a lot) lately, is discovering that Nigerian children who have never left home, are speaking with either British or American accents. I’m unable to understand how when a child lives in a country, the entire country’s accent(s) passes the child by. Like how is this possible? Is it that the teachers are all international and yet again, instead of their accents bending to ours, it has become the case that our children are bending to the teachers’ accents? Or are parents paying money for accent schooling? Exactly how is this thing happening? If anyone knows, please tell me because I’m highly baffled. Are we now not even going to give our children a chance to open their mouths and be identified as Nigerians while in Nigeria? Tell me please, what chance do they have outside Nigeria? This lends itself nicely to my next and last issue for now...

Adults Cowering to Children’s Accents

I’ve also witnessed parents and other adults struggling to talk to children using their Nigerian accents. Before I even get into anything, let us please acknowledge that these are children that the parents gave birth to o! If your own child’s accent is oppressing you, honey, the world is the place where you will lose yourself. This is the one situation where you have the power to introduce their little ears to other accents so that they can pick up conversations and not go about asking people to repeat themselves. I’ve also witnessed people who can’t seem to control themselves whenever children from “the abroad” come visiting. I guess that’s probably where it starts… they try to mimic the children’s accents to converse with them. Given the chance, these youngins will learn a bit of whatever language is spoken to them. But instead, you have a situation where you think the children can’t understand your Nigerian accent whereas, they have more trouble understanding your hybrid accent.

I will admit that I too have a developed a little American accent. It comes out only when I’m speaking with Americans. I never put too much effort into developing it so it’s very easy to know I’m not an American. I can’t even tell you when it started but I’ve never wanted to not be identified as Nigerian so that must be what helped. Another thing is also the realization that if I let the breeze blow me, I’ll lose my roots. 

One thing we fail to notice is that there is a wide range of accents even among the accents we try to emulate. For instance, listening to a Bostonian is not the same as listening to a Texan but they're both American. Ergo, even among Americans, there is an accent adaptation that occurs when people move. A book that shows some of these internal and external struggles people in diaspora face, is Chimamanda’s “Americanah.” I strongly identified when the character questioned her conforming to a different society. In a different way, Mark Angel shows us what can happen when you come back home using a fake accent 😃.  

This week’s jam is “Foreign” by Falz and Simi. Enjoy the comedy and lesson of the song!

Emesia,

Tonia