The Perfect Mediocrity - Chronicles Of My Language Skills

A few years ago, someone expressed displeasure with the accent with which I speak ENGLISH LANGUAGE. He argues that I speak like I was born/bred in a developed English-speaking continent, whereas I have spent only a few days in some. First, I thought he was right to think that I was ''forming" until I started pronouncing "the" as Di.

Then it became clearer. He's right to think the way he does. It's only clear that he isn't used to hearing a typical Nigerian speak the English Language with the right tenses and pronunciations. Not when teachers have replaced oral English classes with what's referred to as "phonics" (hopefully, I spelt that correctly).

But here's the twist, something he perhaps failed to realise. I am an Igbo girl who was born and raised in the western part of Nigeria. Lots of kids like me can barely speak one local language fluently. Yet, I speak Yoruba with a Yoruba accent and get applauded. I speak Igbo - Anambra and general Imo dialect (and even write) to the amazement of many. I speak Hausa better than several people who stayed as long as I lived in the North (sometimes with Hausa accent). All these attract commendations, but when it comes to fluency in English, applauds give way to words like "forming" and "fake".

Then I wonder why one would think of it as a problem when I suddenly start sounding like the

English. I don't have to have lived abroad to know that the word "the" should be pronounced with the tongue between the upper and lower teeth. I'm a fast learner. That shouldn't be hard to figure out. I didn't initially seek a career in mass communication without the knowledge that I am one of the few who can get their diction right.

I'm trying so hard not to make this post about me. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that:

• We are so used to negativity, bad deeds and failure that positivity, good deeds and #success suddenly sound like too much luxury - one that is nearly unaffordable. 
• People have become so suspicious that even reality seems unreal to them. 
• We have lost the sense of honesty so much that an honest person almost gets mistaken for a lunatic. 
• We have given up on #faith so much that we constantly lose belief in our abilities.

So Here's what I have decided to do differently... I will do what should be done, speak fluently (maybe not French, Swahili or Urhobo), try and make good deeds feel affordable, and strive to succeed but above all, I WILL STAY POSITIVE. 

Negativity can only make one judgmental. One who is judgmental will quickly lose sight of the facts.