Preserving Heritage: Embracing Esan, a Nigerian Language, in the Digital Era
Being from a minority tribe is great, but it comes with some limitations. If we ignore them, we just might lose our culture forever.
Hi, I’m Ranehobasi Egbe, and I am from Nigeria. I was born to a Bahumono father and an Esan mother. You are probably hearing about these tribes for the first time. Let me give you a brief education.
Nigeria is a country situated in the western region of Africa. She consists of 36 states. She is also a multiethnic society, consisting of more than 250 ethnic groups and over 500 different languages. Out of all these ethnic groups, there are three major ones: Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa. English is the official language of Nigeria.
I grew up in Lagos, the country’s largest city and commercial capital. I speak English with a minimal understanding of Yoruba. I don’t speak any of my native languages. My mom is fluent in Esan. I hear her speak Esan when she’s talking to her siblings, and it sounds so rhythmic and interesting.
People of the Esan tribe speak the Esan language. They are from Edo State, located in the South-South zone of Nigeria. They are a minority tribe with about a million people in the population.
Recently, I embarked on a quest to learn the Esan language. I thought it would be very challenging. I live in Lagos, where Esan speakers are rare and learning resources for the language are not available in a bookstore.
To my surprise, there were learning resources on the internet! On YouTube, I found this lady, Aunty Mabel. Aunty Mabel posts lessons for people who want to learn the Esan language. Her videos also led me to an app for learning the language. An app!
There is an app called Izesan!, which is a language-learning app. It offers lessons in Esan and other African languages. Izesan! is very hands-on and interactive. So far, I have had a great experience learning. I am challenging myself to be fluent in 2 years.
It is amazing how instrumental technology is. It feels great to see your culture represented on a larger scale. Technology will be vital in preserving rare languages. The desire to learn these languages will be achievable because there will be documentation in the form of apps, online videos, e-books, etc.
By making these languages accessible to indigenous speakers on the internet, a better user experience is being created for underrepresented groups. It has also inspired me to be a part of propagating the culture through technology.
It’s important that we don’t lose our culture because it is beautiful and it is who we are. We should be able to pass it down to the generations to come. With the help of technology, the Esan language will never die.
