I hail from the southern part of Nigeria, Delta State in particular, and my tribe is situated close to the part of the state often referred to as Delta Ibo. However, under normal circumstances, there is nothing like that. It is just people trying to associate our tribe with the Igbo, which the 'oversabi' people refer to as Ibo. It's Ukwuani/Ndokwa, and we have our own language, although it bears some similarities to the Igbo language, there is a huge difference between the two.

The language is a simple one and very easy to understand because of its slight relationship with the Igbo language, which is one of the notable languages in Nigeria. So, as long as one can easily pick up some understanding of the Igbo language, one can easily get along with ours, particularly when it comes to understanding and not necessarily speaking it.

So, when it comes to learning to understand the language, especially for those who cannot speak it, it is very easy because, one way or another, every Nigerian is familiar, to some extent, with the Igbo language through music, films, books, and interactions with people from different backgrounds.

Sometimes, I feel we are being cheated when I consider how easy it is for people to understand our language, unlike many other languages where a knife would almost need to be used to cut through someone's ear before the language can sink in. Lol.

Back in the days, we had this particular family who were our neighbours in the neighbouring compound. They were from Kogi State, and just a few months after moving into our community, all of them had started speaking our language, although not fluently. They were no longer strangers in the land because of how well they had mastered the language.

There's another thing that shocks me a lot: the husband of one of my aunts, who is an Urhobo man, couldn't speak the language before they got married, but now speaks it fluently. I'm always jealous of how easily people learn and understand my language.

Would it be easy for me to learn if I weren't used to it?

As it stands, I'm not particularly good at learning or understanding languages, but if I weren't from that part of Nigeria and had the opportunity to live there and adapt to the language, I would have found it very easy to learn.

When I stayed in the eastern part of Nigeria during my NYSC, it was easy for me to understand the Igbos whenever they spoke because my language is closely related to theirs. Even if I hadn't been familiar with the language before going there, I would have learnt a lot before leaving because the Igbo language also appears to be quite easy to get along with. That's my own opinion, though.

The funniest part was that I had a lot of Westerners around me, and I wanted to learn the most prominent Western Nigerian language, which is Yoruba. But that language appeared very difficult to learn, so I gave up almost as soon as I started. Lol.

Thanks for reading.

Photo: Chatgpt