## From Yoruba game shows to online Shona classes, young Africans are finding pride in mother tongues

Speak English on this Nigerian game show and you could lose money.

That simple rule is at the heart of Masoyinbo, a Lagos-based Yoruba game show whose name translates to “Do not speak English.”

Contestants are tested on Yoruba language and culture, with prizes worth thousands of dollars at stake. But the programme is also part of something much bigger happening across Africa and its diaspora: young people are showing renewed interest in learning, speaking and celebrating African languages.

From Yoruba entertainment in Nigeria to online Shona classes connecting Zimbabwe with Canada, the African languages trend is turning mother tongues into sources of pride, digital content and even new business opportunities.

Yoruba becomes entertainment in Lagos

Masoyinbo is one of the easiest examples to picture.

Created by host Olalekan Fabilola in 2024, the show challenges contestants to answer questions about Yoruba language and culture without slipping into English.

Diaspora Nigerians have also participated in and followed the programme.

Fabilola told the Associated Press that the show's success reflects what he sees as an “age of cultural resurgence,” with people increasingly interested in understanding where they come from.

The Yoruba game show turns language preservation into entertainment rather than treating it like a classroom lesson.

That approach matters because younger audiences are already spending hours watching videos, challenges and games online. Putting an indigenous language into those formats allows culture to compete for the same attention.

Diaspora Africans are reconnecting with home

The revival is not limited to people living on the continent.

AP reports that second- and third-generation Africans abroad are increasingly using online lessons, social media and entertainment to reconnect with languages spoken by parents and grandparents.

In Canada, 15-year-old Nyashadzashe Machingura is learning Shona online from a teacher roughly 13,000 kilometres away in Zimbabwe.

She told AP that she previously felt left out when family members spoke Shona because she could not understand them.

Learning the language has changed that.

Her conversations with her grandparents in Zimbabwe are becoming longer, while speaking Shona has given her a stronger sense of connection to her heritage.

In another example, Tomi Adeshokan, a New Jersey resident with Nigerian roots, has been working on improving her Yoruba.

After losing some of her everyday exposure to the language, she even joined Clubhouse during the COVID-19 pandemic simply to hear people speaking Yoruba. She later began taking lessons with Fabilola and attended a recording of Masoyinbo while visiting Nigeria.

Those stories help explain the diaspora language revival.

For people growing up thousands of kilometres from their family's country of origin, language can provide a direct connection that food, clothing and music alone may not fully replace.

Language learning is becoming a business

The new interest is also creating opportunities for entrepreneurs.

In Zimbabwe, Shungu Constance Chidovi left her banking career to concentrate full-time on ZimbOriginal, an online platform teaching Shona through methods including storytelling, book clubs and learner exchanges.

According to AP, she teaches about two dozen students across countries including Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and Scotland, charging $50 a month.

Her business started after readers of a blog she created about Zimbabwean traditions began asking whether she could teach them Shona.

That is another sign of how digital platforms are changing language learning.

A learner in Toronto, London or Sydney no longer needs a teacher living nearby. A smartphone and internet connection can connect them directly with someone thousands of kilometres away.

Why the online revival matters

There is also a bigger digital issue behind the excitement.

Africa has between 1,500 and 3,000 languages, according to figures cited by AP from UNESCO. Yet less than 2% of African languages have a meaningful presence in the online ecosystem.

That matters increasingly in an era shaped by search engines, social media and artificial intelligence.

Languages with little digital content risk being poorly represented in technologies used for translation, education and communication.

Social media can help push in the opposite direction.

TikTok videos explaining Yoruba phrases, Instagram posts celebrating local expressions, online Shona lessons and programmes like Masoyinbo all create spaces where African languages are not treated as old-fashioned.

They become content.

And once younger people start making jokes, entertainment, educational videos and businesses in those languages, preserving them becomes less about looking backwards and more about making sure they have a place in modern life.

That may be the most important part of the current revival.

Young Africans and members of the diaspora are not simply learning how their grandparents spoke.

They are finding new ways to make those languages useful, visible and culturally relevant today.