A foreigner's perspective of our English not pidgin but Nigarian English. Who said Nigerians dont have anything in common



My first day at the office a insurance representative came in to discuss something and as he was leaving, he called Jim “Sir” and I guess for a lack of a better word, I was referred to as “Sista”. There are some other peculiar aspects of Nigerian English, for example instead of “Welcome (to Nigeria)” they say “You are welcome” – I am getting used to it but it takes a while to realize that you needn’t say “Thank you” to get a “You are welcome” in response
For starters, my American accent is completely useless – where I pronounce “t” as “d” – which is basically all “t”s – water, later, better etc. – they don’t understand. So I have to consciously pronounce “t”s as “t”s and it sounds very unnatural to me “wader” becomes “wata” and so on. Yesterday I caught myself speaking like this to Juan, an American. Embarrassing.



Now, the funniest part of Nigerian English is the aptitude toward switching “C” and “S” in words with both. So, “disc” (as in a CD) becomes a “diks” – a mosque is “moks” , ogygen mask is a “maks”, office desk is a “deks”and most often – ask is “aks”. “Barbara aksed me when we were leaving to Lagos.” They say it very fast so you don’t pick up on it the first time but if you listen in it’s so funny! Emeka, my colleague was explaining some of the bookkeeping stuff to me and said something with “ks” and I had a really hard time not bursting into laughter – I had to make it look like I was coughing!


There also seems to be a respect for long words. So instead of “Why was there no salary increase this year?” you hear “There was no salary INCREASEMENT this year?” or on the plane “Make sure you have all your belongings before leaving the plane.” is “Ensure you have all your belongings before DISEMBARKATION.”


Confusion between when to use “each other” and “ourselves”. Two people are not looking at each other, but at themselves here. Not “we know each other” but we “know ourselves”. Past tense: with irregular verbs where the present resembles or is the same as the past tense, another syllable gets added for emphasis, I suppose. So, “I split the salary into half” becomes “I splitted, ”, same with “I got stuck in traffic” is “I got stucked…”


More clarification on the “sista” issue I brought up. I aksed my friend Isabelle whether they also call her “sista” and she started a litany about how lucky I am when they still call me sista because starting around your 30s, sista becomes “auntie” – a sign you are getting older. So Isabel is wishing she would still get called sista. I was happy for a couple of days until I got called auntie at the market… L devastating.


More about language. Ok, the first couple of days I thought people were just plain rude. Then my colleague Sebastian explained to me that in the local languages, there are no equivalents for the words “Please” and “Sorry” (and many others, probably, like “excuse me”). Quite the contrary, if you use these words, you will NOT be understood! First, it’s shocking when you hear a mother on the market tell a 6-year old: “Put in the fridge!” – and a couple of weeks later you go to Abache barracks and you hear yourself saying: “Bring beer!” Today, I said to someone “Count the money!”
Maybe it’s just too hot to bother speaking in longer sentences.


Another one – “I will be right back” is said “I’m coming” (they haven’t even left yet!) – Maybe I am not used to hearing “I’m coming” in public places, is all….

If something is good, it’s “good”. But, if something is better, it’s “more better”. Using the word “now” gets things done sometime within the next 24 hours. If you need something immediately, you have to aks for “NOW NOW”. You should see us use it within the expat community. Niels said yesterday: “We are leaving now, are you coming along?” The first thing I said was: “Are you leaving now or now-now?” It does have the desired effect though; using it gets things done, well, now now.

Lenka Beňová, utorok 1. marca 2005 14:09


Čítajte viac: http://benova.blog.sme.sk/c/4039/Nigerian-English.html#ixzz0aPhtu6SX

KnowAll:

A foreigner's perspective of our English not pidgin but Nigarian English. Who said Nigerians dont have anything in common 
. . .
More about language. Ok, the first couple of days I thought people were just plain rude. Then my colleague Sebastian explained to me that in the local languages, there are no equivalents for the words “Please” and “Sorry” (and many others, probably, like “excuse me”). Quite the contrary, if you use these words, you will NOT be understood! First, it’s shocking when you hear a mother on the market tell a 6-year old: “Put in the fridge!” – and a couple of weeks later you go to Abache barracks and you hear yourself saying: “Bring beer!” Today, I said to someone “Count the money!”
Maybe it’s just too hot to bother speaking in longer sentences.
. . .

Poor thing has become a true 9ja!
Gimme tori!

KnowAll:

Another one – “I will be right back” is said “I’m coming” (they haven’t even left yet!) – Maybe I am not used to hearing “I’m coming” in public places, is all….

If something is good, it’s “good”. . .

. . .We sort of get the drift. . .
3 big gbosa for bedmatic lingo!!! Das why we are 140 milla
www.nairaland.com/attachments/180447_ROTFLMAO_gif3d0c775232c7f27cf80592785b9635b6

Abeg lef we jare!

Dhiz should be in d jokes section. . .

@poster,
Your American English isn't better than ours, i hope you know that?

@poster,
Your American English isn't better than ours, i hope you know that?



I am not an American, the lady in the article is an American, at least it is good to know that there is someting called Nigerian English we have something in common.

I am coming oh , when u are actually going. uhm

@poster,
I have aksed you to stop posting these rubbish so stop now now!, lol


Seriously though, where the 'sista' they work? Cos Il have a problem with them if its every one in the coy that speaks like this.
When I saw 'Nigerian English' I thought reference will be made to pgin English. But most of what's listed above are just simply accent issues and direct translation from our mother tongues to English most of which is corrected by proper primary and secondary school education.

^^^^^^

I am coming to answer you in a moment.

@poster. lol. hahahahhaha. I've heard this for 23 yrs so i'm used to it. lol.

Another one – “I will be right back” is said “I’m coming” (they haven’t even left yet!) – Maybe I am not used to hearing “I’m coming” in public places, is all….


another funny one is when they say "ooo" at the end of each sentence. " i want to eat, ooo"; "i'm taking the bus o" lol. its all cute tho.

@Poster

Your corrections have been noted, and thanks for all the research you have done on Nigerian English.

But in my opinion, Nigerians speak good English compared to many other countries in the world where English is their only language.

Every community has peculiarities in its spoken English.

There is no doubt the American lady is like the pot calling kettle black. Her English is no difference from the poor Nigerian English she critcised in her post.
Examining her post very carefully, one will find a few mistakes which for an American lady are unforgivable. I agree, however, that the Nigerian English to a larger extent is affected by the effect of our mother tongues. This is evident in the transposition (2nd sense of OALD7) of expressions from the local languages into the English language. It still must be said, however, that there exist in Nigeria, the standard Nigerian English, but few people speak it; roughly 10% of the Nigerian population use this English which is similar to the Queen‘s.
What I see as the cause of the bastardised use of English is the “I-DON‘T-CARE“ attitude of Nigerians towards English; afterall, it is not my mother tongue. We fail to make use of good books like “Common Errors by Users of English“ by Dr. Joy Eyisi, which seek to correct the marred English spoken by most Nigerians. What most Nigerian fail to understand is that poor use of the English language reflects how well a person is educated or cultured. The half-baked English in which we express ourselves seems to have become firmly established in its incorrectness that we find it difficult to go back to the standard English.
If the spoken and written English of the present generation is damaged already, care must be taken to make sure that of the coming generation is not. This is the responsibilty of the government but the Nigerian governments have no time for such an ardous but prospective investment; they are engulfed in the flames of corruption ergo, only perhaps, the parents and teachers can help save the situation.