Tuesday, February 15, 2011

What's with the accents? Abeg park well....

Someone just tweeted 'some radio presenters and their funny accents,putting r in everything.There is a God'. Yeah right,there is!!!!
I think Nigerians should quit breathing down on presenters necks and get real for God's sake. We're yet to deduce the difference between good English and 'American or British accent'. To start with,people who criticize presenters all the time obviously have never heard a Brit talk before. Because if you have,you sure won't equate some people's diction with foreign accents. Presenters are not meant to speak everyday English.They pronounce words the 'correct' way. And obviously,some people find that absurd. I was speaking with my Uncle the other day and i pronounced 'Challenge' the right way. He replied saying 'o ti join bandwagon awon oloyinbo abi? Kini chaaalleenge?' It's even more distasteful when fellow broadcasters and literates are involved in this annoying criticism. Of course i won't say i don't hear some broadcasters speak like they've got a candies stuck in their mouths all because they want to sound foreign.Putting r in every word. One even pronounced 'egg' saying 'errgg'. But who are we to blame? The society. Yes i said it! We all tuned to Coolfm when they started with the foreign accents and all. We all dumped Raypower/Radio Nigeria/Star FM/Eko FM because they were too 'Nigerian' for us. So everyone started learning how to sound foreign.Now,that 'foreign' is second skin to some people. I know of a particular radio presenter who handles the afternoon belt in a popular radio station in Lagos who has never lived in the UK/US but speaks good English,nice diction and all. Some people listen to her and say she's got 'a British accent'. She has a good diction and should be appreciated instead of misconstruing her good diction for 'fake accent'. No one has ever questioned that;not even her employers. After all that's what they want. But if another presenter speaks that way,people get their knickers in a twist.
I know an American/British accent when i hear one and it's not my fault that some people can't tell the difference between good diction and faking an accent.
Oh!How about our artistes? You're yet to observe that right? Do they have 6 heads? A good percentage of them came up with accents right after Banky W relocated to Nigeria. They even sound worse when their diction is poor. You disagree? Listen to Jaywon/Tony Tetuila/P-Square and a lot of them without bias.
Sure they need to take a cue from Tuface Idibia who doesn't care if he sounds like a cow herder or not..LOL (with due respect to him and the mallams)
But on a serious note,I'm not down with the subjective criticisms. It's being mischievous on your part when you tell me i sound British/American when i obviously don't.
To those people out there who appreciate a Nigerian that speaks good English without any form of bias;i say thanks and may God bless you. And to that illiterate who feels every good diction sounds 'American/British' to him/her; don't you think you need a vacation? And quit watching those pirated American movies!!!
On a final note,let me ask you this,what is Nigerian English? How is it supposed to 'sound'?How should a Nigerian sound/speak? Oh,you've never thought of it? Alright,please do and get back to me...

5 comments:

  1. Nice one joooooooooooooooor! Dont mind them,its because they are jobless. If they are not,they won't have time critising u people.
    Go on girl,u are real!

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  2. "Quit watching pirated American movies" --- LWTMB!!!

    Wetin konsain u, Nike???

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  3. Dis is hillarous nd pretty brainfull but nobody of ur personality can scale through critics,bt wat u will do for me is dat,dont take a secound look at them,they are enemy of progress dat doesnt have anytin to offer,d truth is we lov u, wat u do, nd hw u do it,am a pratical example.wit dis write up am so so lmao nao.

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