Owing to the popular demand of BiafraNigerians, I've opened this thread to serve as a Virtual School of BiafraNigerian Langs and Lings (VSBLL).
I will encourage forumites to make regular inputs either in the form of writing words/sentences in vernacular and their meanings in English or by asking/answering questions.
Improving our language skills is our business.
Today's lesson is very simple:
Efik/Ibibio: Okuk = Ego in Igbo = Money. please note that K is 'almost' silent in Okuk.
PS: Ego = Okpogo in Ohafia/ogbo axis. See what I mean?
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
Sure, you have my blessings....just be sure to give us the meaning in English.
Goodmorning: Ibola chi - Igbo Isala chi - Igbo Igbapele - Ohafia(opened up for the new day? Nnawo - Ohafia and response is Nnantu Mesiere - efik/Ibibio response in mesiere nde
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
Tamuno : Kalabari/okirika Bari : Ogoni Abasi: Efik/Ibibio Obasi: Ohafia Chineke: Igbo(God the creator Chukwu: Igbo(Almighty God Ogene: Urhobo Osanobu'a: Eshan Olisa: Aka'Igbo
"Akwo Abasi anam nkpo" Means the supreme God has done it again!
Kpukpuru Odudu eyen Abasi = All power belongs to God.
Bro Enobong,
Where you dey? before I butcher our language finish. Help !!!
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
Permit me to add a little: Nwa-anyi (woman) okpoho (woman) Nwu nye (wife)
Nwata kiri (a kid) Nwata obele (a kid) Nwa ndu (a kid)
Imecha la? (are you finished?) Imesi go? (are you done?)
o siri gini? (what did he/she say?) k'ife o ku? (what did he/she say?) k'ihe o ku?
Ezi (outside) Ilo (outside)
weta (bring) kuta (fetch)
be akwa (to cry) kwa akwa (to cry)
ogbono (soup) agbono (soup)
isha (shrimp) ide (shrimp)
chi e ji go (it's dark) ochichi a gba go (it's dark)
The one below is one of my favorites: Nwua miri (drink some water) La miri (drink some water)*** Hu miri (excrete some water) Nyua miri (let out some water) ***East of the Niger, the word (La) is hardly ever used with drinking anything at all. It is however quite commonly employed west of the river.
N'di na wo = Good morning N'dor na wo = Good evening Fie na wo = Goodnight Woe zor = Welcome Efo'a? = How are you? Ee, mefo = I'm fine Enyo nam = She is good for me Igbo tor woe menye = I am an Igbo N'kekea ne nyo = Have a good day Miaga fo nu = Talk to you later
Igbo: Me = mu onwem, munwa Ngwa/Aba = ma, ogwem Opobo = ikem
Typical opobo solidarity statement = ikem na ike gi wu oli, meaning you and I are one, but literally translates my bum and your bum are one!
Abasi odiong fi, tutu nkpong = Efik/Ibibio: God bless you, till tomorrow.
[ June 08, 2001: Message edited by: Ohafia Udumeze ]
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
In Boston, ’ The Ikemba ended his speech by professing in an unapologetic manner his love for his ethnic identity. “I am so proud to be Onye Igbo. I am known along the corridors of Aso Rocks as one who said he is not Onye Igbo but he is, in himself, Igbo gbori gbo. That is my choice. I will continue being that Igbo Gbori gbo until our position reflects our talent.’
Nna, OU, help me out here; what does ‘Igbo gbori gbo’ mean?
Ekene dili.
PS: It is great to note being a proud Igbo is still the vogue.
Sorry I took long in getting back to you..was away for the weekend.
My intelligent guess is that Igbo gbori Igbo is more like an onomatopaeic expression close to "Igbo bu Igbo" implying that the addressee is a fanatical, and unrepentant and typical Igbo.
I'll be quite interested to hear a more confident explanation.
Rgdz,
OU
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
posted
Ohafia & Co, Great idea! Sorry I arrived this section late. Just yesterday at a friend's child's birthday party, there was this German man who got married to an Igbo lady just this March. During our introduction, he asked one of the male vitors which part of Nigeria and what tribe he is, he replied "I am a Deltan". While we were discussing after introduction, this same German fellow aked the fellow who had earlier introduced himsef as "Deltan" where he actually com from (tribe) to which I jokingly replied "Hausa". The man who earlier identified himself as "Deltan" immediately and rather agrily said he is "Igbo", we all burst into laughter. To avoid causing the fellow in denial further embarassment, I explianed to our inlaw that infact he is from the Igbos who live on the Niger delta of Nigeria. When my fellow "Delta" brother tried in vain to explian to our inlaw that there are "real Igbos", that he is "Ika Igbo", our inlaw asked him if he understand when his wife who comes from the "real Igbo" (Imo State) speaks to which he answered in the affirmative, to the amazement of my "Delta" brother, our inlaw who has travelled widely told him that what he was differentiating linguistically i.e. dialects exist in every language--including the German language. But there's a standard written and spoken version of every language, Igbo included. He finally told my brother from west of the Niger to always identify himself as Igbo because he knows of tribes in Nigeria who do not understand or speak Igbo but he "Deltan" was not among them. I did introduce this website to our very informed inlaw. I think we will be doing great service to our inlaw and other non Igbos if after giving the different version of the Igbo dialects, etc, we can trim it to the standard written version of the language. Thanks.
That was very funny about your deltan mate, we have a lot of them here in Texas.
A guy that was born and raised in Enugu, that I went to high school with and came here around the same time with, that has never even been to Delta state or his village in the old Bendel, suddenly went to a few Anioma meetings and completly changed. B4 you talk to him, he will call you Onye Igbo and then tell you 'Aboru kwa m onye Igbo' like I give a sheet where he is/was from or who he thinks he is. Of course, I have slowly reduced the freqency of our interactions.
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her.
posted
Some of these our Igbo brothers in NigerDelta amaze me. Whether u are Ika Igbo or Igbo makes no difference. U are still Igbo. Igbo bu Igbo. If they are not then what tribe are they. No body recognizes them as non Igbos so they should stop wasting their time and energy differenciating. The leader of the Ikwere Mr. Okwukwu has already said that all Igbos are Igbos. We all have different dialects but we still understand each other.
My friend who lives in Bayelsa told me that the Igbos over there understand him very well even though he doesn't speak their dialect. He is the one that finds their dialect difficult.
In Igbo land u have, Awka dialect, Ujari, Asaba, Ikwere, Echie, Abua, Agbo, Agboor, Arochukwu, Enugu, Onitsha dialect, etc. It will be insane for an Awka or Arochukwu man to think he's not really Igbo just because he has a different dialect.
We ahve American English, British English, Australian and and they are still the same people.
The Huasa/Fulanis don't see any difference between South-South Igbos and South-East Igbos. They don't even se any difference between the minorities and the Igbos. Ask a northerner in the north or Yoruba he'll call and Ibibio man, Igbo (Ibo) man.
posted
There are more chances of learning thru' Colo and/or Enobong than Ikpatt. Ikpatt will feel so inferior that he won't want to speak his language, at least not publicly, lest he offend Aremu.
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Ikpatt, Could it be that you would love to be let off the hook? Uhh...fat chance for you.(Lol). You promised, so I'm gonna hold you at your words. You know, OU does have a point or two, anyhow. I agree that Enobong could be the best bet for checks and balances on your teachings. As for Colo, he'd be more inclined to aligning with you....should you turn mischievous on me.
What does this Anambra expression mean: "Ife awolu ogoli azua n'afia"
Pardon me if I wrote it wrongly, but it's an expression I'd love to master.
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
posted
I admit, I did not know this forum existed 'cos I never visit any other but political discussion boards and read Newspapers.
Thanks for inviting me. Be assured my contribution will not be misleading. I know you guys will crosscheck every word I teach you before using in public. That is good. I'll be nice.
Lesson One: Aka uke - Where are you going Aka Uke - Taxi motorcycle (aka alalok in Annang dialect) Akparawa - Young adult male Nka ifere - Young adult female Abadie - How are you Idiok nkpo - Bad/ugly thing (as in Bia...)
Hey, have some humor and fun y'all. Check out above and if you confirm all OK, then I'll post more.
For once in your cyber-career, methinks you've earned a "thumbs-up". More More More!
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
Abadie? Biafra idiok nkpo, you say? You'll sing a different tune soon.
Good to know that you've finally made it to our Ibibio/Efik language class. Now that you've pledged that this class will be exciting, I'm stepping right in.
Could you translate the followings:
I am You are We are They are She is He is It is Very good Old man/woman Good afternoon/evening/night Take care/See you later
posted
Ohafia Man; Did you say "Thumbs up ...."? For once, I thought my computer had serious problems. I will bask in the praise while it lasts for few minutes. Thanks my man! I feel like crying.
Amanda; The Ibibio/Efik is so rich that when you make a slight mistake or take away few letters, meaning might change and you'll be on your own at that. For example, I wrote Akparawa not AkparaTA. Be careful.
I am - Ami ndo (Ibibio); Ami ndi (Efik)
You are - Afo odo (Ibibio - in pronounciation, the 'o' in 'odo' may be silent.)
We are - Nyin ido (Ibibio)
They are - Mmo edo (Ibibio)
She/He is - Enye odo. 'Enye' is universal and there may be no gender specific word. However, any gender specific/notifying word may substitute 'Enye' in this case.
Very good - Eti-eti. Application: You have done a 'very good' job - Ame anam 'eti' utom.
Old man - Akan-eren ('Eren' or 'eden' is masculine for male
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