Understanding the Igbo Language & Providing Professional Igbo Interpreters and Translators
Global Interpreting understands the importance of working in the Igbo language. For over 10 years, Global Interpreting has worked with the Igbo language as well as hundreds of other from around the word. We are a one stop full language service provider. Offering Over the Phone, Video Remote, Face to Face, Transcription, Document and Website Translation in 150 languages including American Sign Language (ASL) nation and worldwide.
Igbo is a Niger-Congo language with around 20 million speakers that are mostly in Nigeria and are primarily of Igbo descent. Igbo is an official language of Nigeria and is also spoken natively in Cameroon. It is written in the Latin alphabet, which was introduced by British. Secret societies such as the Ekpe use the Nsibidi ideograms which were invented by the Ejagham and were used to represent other languages like Efik.
The first books to publish any Igbo words was Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf den Carabischen, published in 1777. Shortly after wards in 1789, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was published in London, England, written by Olaudah Equiano, a former slave, featuring 79 Igbo words. The narrative also illustrated various aspects of Igbo life based in detail, based on Olaudah Equiano's experiences in his hometown of Essaka. Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart which concerns influences of British colonialism and Christianmissionaries on a traditional Igbo community during an unspecified time in the late 19th or early 20th century, was published in 1959 written by Chinua Achebe. The bulk of the novel takes place in Umuofia, one of nine villages on the lower Niger. It possibly is the most popular and renowned novel that deals with the Igbo and their traditional life.
The wide variety of spoken dialects has made agreeing a standardized orthography and dialect of Igbo very difficult. The current Onwu orthography, a compromise between the older Lepsius orthography and a newer orthography advocated by the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (IIALC), was agreed in 1962.
Igbo is a tonal language with two distinctive tones, high and low. In some cases a third, down stepped high tone is recognized. The language's tone system was given by John Goldsmith as an example of suprasegmental phenomena that go beyond the linear model of phonology laid out in The Sound Pattern of English.
Igbo is a Niger-Congo language with around 20 million speakers that are mostly in Nigeria and are primarily of Igbo descent. Igbo is an official language of Nigeria and is also spoken natively in Cameroon. It is written in the Latin alphabet, which was introduced by British. Secret societies such as the Ekpe use the Nsibidi ideograms which were invented by the Ejagham and were used to represent other languages like Efik.
The first books to publish any Igbo words was Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf den Carabischen, published in 1777. Shortly after wards in 1789, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was published in London, England, written by Olaudah Equiano, a former slave, featuring 79 Igbo words. The narrative also illustrated various aspects of Igbo life based in detail, based on Olaudah Equiano's experiences in his hometown of Essaka. Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart which concerns influences of British colonialism and Christianmissionaries on a traditional Igbo community during an unspecified time in the late 19th or early 20th century, was published in 1959 written by Chinua Achebe. The bulk of the novel takes place in Umuofia, one of nine villages on the lower Niger. It possibly is the most popular and renowned novel that deals with the Igbo and their traditional life.
The wide variety of spoken dialects has made agreeing a standardized orthography and dialect of Igbo very difficult. The current Onwu orthography, a compromise between the older Lepsius orthography and a newer orthography advocated by the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (IIALC), was agreed in 1962.
Igbo is a tonal language with two distinctive tones, high and low. In some cases a third, down stepped high tone is recognized. The language's tone system was given by John Goldsmith as an example of suprasegmental phenomena that go beyond the linear model of phonology laid out in The Sound Pattern of English.
History
The Igbo people first used Nsibidi ideograms invented by the neighboring Ekoi people for writing. These ideograms existed among the Igbo and other related groups before the 16th century, but died out after it became popular amongst secret societies such as the Ekpe, who then made Nsibidi a secret form of communication.
Usage in the Diaspora
With the devastating effects of the Atlantic slave trade, Igbo was consequently spread by enslaved Igbo individuals throughout slave colonies in the Americas. These colonies include the United States, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Belize, Barbados and The Bahamas among many other colonies. Examples can be found in Jamaican Patois: the pronoun /unu/, used for 'you (plural)', is taken from Igbo, Red eboe describes a fair skinned black person because of the reported account of a fair or yellowish skin tone among the Igbo. So meaning only comes from Igbo.
Who are You Going to Trust with Vital Igbo Language Needs?
The Igbo language is an important language worldwide. It is vital to understand the general nature and specific idiosyncrasies of Igbo. For over 10 years Global Interpreting has provided outstanding Igbo translators, over the phone, face to face and conference interpreters nation and worldwide.