Introduction

Hello Steemians!
Hurray! Week 2 of the steemit engagement challenge is here again. I hope we enjoyed the week 1 contest. If you didn't enjoy it, don't worry, this week promises to be awesome and impactful. My name is Kehinde Micheal and I am from Nigeria. My username name is @msquaretwins here on this platform. It is another great privilege to be participating again in the steemit contest this week. In this contest, created by Urdu community, I will be discussing majorly on language, and how it is important in connecting people together. I hope you will find this article interesting. Happy reading!

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What is Language

Simply put, Language is a means by which people communicate with one another either through spoken words or written word. Language make people to interact with each other and makes them to relate with one another. It is the language that makes us to know what someone wants or do not want. In the next topic, I will write how language is the number one thing in connecting with family, neighbors, citizens, and people from different part of the world.

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How language connects an individual to his family, Specific Society and Globe

The number way to connect with people is through language. This is the requisite that makes people to connect. If you understand language of people, you have gotten a way into their heart.

Language connects family together in a unique way. It makes father to tell the wife, and his children his mind toward a specific thing. It also makes wife and the children to be able to cooperate with the father. Without a common language in a family, it will be difficult to understand one another. If the family members do not understand each other, it may destroy the home. In a situation where a wife does not understand the language of the husband very well, and that language is only the language the husband can say, it may be difficult to communicate some issue or trash some issue out.

Another importance of language is that it makes an individual to feel belong in a community. Nigerian is blessed with so many tribes, and ethics group. The predominant languages in Nigeria is Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa and the general language and language of instruction in school and colleges is English language. But we have some people who only can speak just their mother language, for such individuals, it is always difficult to connect with people in other community especially those that don't understand their language.

Globally, language makes us to relate with people who are far from us. For instance, German is the official language spoken in Germany. But many also speak English, for me to relate with them, I must speak English because I don't understand German. With this we can communicate and relate with each other.

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My Mother tongue and Languages ​​in My Country

Like I have said in the beginning of my post, I hail from Nigeria. Nigeria has so many ethics group, but the major or predominant group are Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. I belong to Yoruba group. In Yoruba land, our language is Yoruba. Therefore, my mother tongue is Yoruba language. The Hausa people speak Hausa language and Igbo people speak Igbo language.

Apart from my mother tongue, I also speak English. I can speak and write English fluently.

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In which language did you study in school to university and which language do you prefer in the education system in your country and why?

Starting from my primary education, to my secondary and Higher Institution, English language was the medium of instruction. I could remember during my primary education, how our teachers use to flog and student who speak any other language except the language of instruction.

Talking about my opinion on language preference for education system in my country, I will go English language. The reason is that Nigeria people speak many languages and the official language in Nigeria is English language. I believe with English language, everybody Will be able to relate and communicate with each other. Teachers will be able to teach the students and students will learn with understanding irrespective of the mother tongues. Therefore, English language is fit for Nigeria education system.

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How one language or more than one languages plays an important role in the development of society.?

In my opinion, I believe that one language play an important role in the development of a society, organization or nation. Having one language will help every member of an organization, society or nation to reason together, contribute their asset, energy and potential to develop their society.

For instance, something happened in the Holy book, then the whole world spoke one language. So, people called themselves together to build a tower that would reach heaven. Because their language was one, they met together, discussed and started the building of the tower. The work kept progressing and the tower was about reaching heaven.

Then God said, nothing will be impossible for these people if they keep speaking the same language. God now came down and confuse them such that they did not understand each other language again. As a result of that, they could not finish the project which they started. Can you see the power of one language in the story I just narrated? That is what one language can achieve in any society, organization or country.

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How does culture relate to language?

Culture and language go with each other. When we talk about culture, we will talk about behavioral pattern, social pattern and mental pattern of the people in a particular culture. I want to say that the language we speak affect the culture some how.

For instance, Yoruba language is a language of respect. When you speak Yoruba and you are talking about third person to someone, the person can know if the person you are talking about is older than you or not. When you speak of the same person in English language, the person will not know unless you specifically tell him. Other languages like Igbo and Hausa also have some ways they affect the culture in the community.

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Would you like to prefer writing in your own language at the time of writing posting on steemit, if yes why and if not why not?

My answer for this question is No. My mother language or tongue is Yoruba, but I prefer writing on many platforms including steemit platform in English. There are many reasons why I like writing in English. One of the reasons is ability to reach large audience. There are many people from different part of the world on this platform. Many people from different nations are represented on this platform, and they don't understand Yoruba. If I write my article in Yoruba, I will not be able to reach many audience.

Someone may say if you write in Yoruba, the audience or users will translate it to their prefer language. Translation does not actually bring the real meaning of what user write in his mother tongue especially, Yoruba language. I have tried translating Yoruba to English, but the accuracy is not up to 60%.

Apart from that, Yoruba language is a language that if the reader do not understand the core of the language, even if the speak Yoruba, may not understand what the writer is talking about. Therefore I prefer writing my article in English language on this platform.

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If you want to promote your language in the world, how will you do it? and if you already done, then how much success have you achieved?

If I want to promote Yoruba language to the people across the nations of the world, I will think of an initiative that will be beneficial to people irrespective of their location. For instance, I will create scholarship opportunity for Master and Ph.D. students and I will include basic knowledge of Yoruba language as one of the criteria for applying for the scholarship. This will help many students who wish to apply to learn the basic thing about Yoruba language.

Another way I will promote Yoruba language is through charity on social media. Social media is very powerful. Powerful in the sense that it brings the world together. I will upload the video of myself on social media while I introduce the charity I want to do for people. I will make sure I speak my language in some part of the presentation, by this I will promote my language to my audience from different part of the world.

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Conclusion

In this post, I have explained reason why language is important in connecting with family, neighbors, citizen and people from different part of the world. I also discussed about the Languages in Nigeria where I am from. I also wrote how culture relate to language and lastly, I discussed the reason why I don't like writing on social media platform and steemit platform using my mother tongue. Thank you for reading my article to the end.

I invite @fredquantum, @ijelady, @beautybb @jueco, @olabillion @ebuoluwani to take part in this contest.