Many African native languages are in danger of disappearance in one or two generations. "Yigil I Hop" mission is to help us reconnect with our roots by making it easier to learn our native languages. It inspires us and gives us the power to reverse the trend before it is too late.
Like many other African immigrant communities, in a typical Basaa Bati Mpoo household in North America, the parents speak their native language more or less to each other; most of the times they do not write it; the children only speak French, English or other foreign languages between them and with their parents. This is also more and more true for households in Cameroon especially in urban centers. Rural areas have started seeing this trend too.
We are already in a warning mode. This trend has been going on for a while. Our native languages are in danger of obsolescence or even complete disappearance in a generation or two. Only a very small number of people will speak or write them and mostly in academic circles. Our native languages are crucial for preserving our cultures and traditions. So it is the very survival of our cultures and traditions, which is in danger.
Yigil I Hop mission is to allow us to reconnect with our roots by making it easier to learn our native languages. It inspires us and gives us the power to reverse the trend before it is too late.
Yigil I Hop started informally in September 2019 with The Ntamack Nguidjoi family of Gatineau, Canada and their neighbor decision to teach the Basaa language to their children. They decided to hold a 15 to 30 minutes learning session each end of the week (Saturday or Sunday). Very quickly these sessions became a rendezvous for the children and their parents to get together to do something funny and educational.
In March 2020, with the generalization of remote learning imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic, they saw an opportunity to extend the experience beyond their families, with the adequate communication tools (WebEx, Teams, Zoom, etc.). Word of mouth soon led progressively the experience to expand to other cities like Montreal, Quebec and oversees. Today, the network includes families throughout Africa, North America and Europe.
Yigil I Hop has morphed into a more ambitious project. They want to develop a platform that makes it easy for families, especially in the diaspora, to learn their native languages and reconnect with their roots, by integrating the learning process in their routine and joining a larger community with the same purpose.
In addition to the weekly hour learning session, participants can join the Yigil I Hop WhatsApp forum where they can ask questions related to the language and culture. There is also a Youtube channel where videos of classes and other videos with original content are available. They have received a tremendous help from a tribe dignitary who donated two dictionaries: French-Basaa and Basaa-French, authored by Dr. Pierre Emmanuel Njock to improve their teaching. They will be releasing their first interactive video very soon. Mr. Ntamack Nguidjoi has written a bilingual French Basaa comic book “Myteey – Une histoire de Reconnexion”, relating and giving his active solution approach of one of the major concern we find in most families of our communities. It is available at Amazon around the globe. You can also buy the kindle format.
You do not have to be Basaa to join the network. While it is funnier and encouraged to join as a family, especially when you have young children, anyone interested in learning an African native language can join. Joining is free. The primary language of all participants beside Basaa is French, which is the language of teaching as well. Some participants also speak English. That is the case of the founder Ntamack Nguidjoi.
Their vision is to grow the network to be able to have some classes in both English and Basaa to make the experience memorable and also to teach other native languages. They empower their members to be active participants. Some of the classes are dispensed by volunteer parents with their children. The WhatsApp forum is a community where members help one another.
To join the network, send an email to yigil.hop@gmail.com. Yigil I hop will then send you a registration form. Once you return the registration form, you receive an email confirming your registration, with the two dictionaries (Basaa-French & French-Basaa) attached and you will receive the WebEx link to attend classes. You are also added to the WhatsApp forum, which is a useful tool of Yigil I Hop‘s communication and learning. If you do not have time to attend Sunday classes, you can catch up via the Youtube channel. The class recordings are posted on the Youtube channel every Tuesday. They are going to communicate soon on the frequency of posting of interactive videos.
With the Yigil I Hop platform, you have no more excuses. You have the power to save our native languages and reconnect with our roots. Don’t wait any longer. Join today.
