10 months later, I finally understood why I got a room of Nigerians balling uncontrollably during a training in Enugu after I shared a very serious (and hopefully inspiring) story about a farmer in Kano being able to improve his productivity with d.light lantern... No one told me the truth, but apparently "productivity" means "sexual productivity" around here. At the time, my colleague just told me that they think I have a funny accent, but now the truth came out after I met a Taiwanese couple who have lived in Nigeria for a long time who broke it down for me!
While English is a common language in Nigeria, common people usually speak pidgin English, which despite of its English origin, it might as well be a different language. I am constantly confused when I am dealing with blue collar Nigerians. For example, if you ask someone "have you eaten?"...they'll answer "I don chop"...which, actually does not mean "I don't eat" (chop = eat), but means I have eaten (I guess maybe it came from I done chop)...SO, if I don't chop = I have eaten, then what's I have not eaten? I have not eaten = "I never chop"...confused? So am I! Usually I'm pretty good with picking up languages, even Swahili is going OK...however, sadly, I don't really see the light at the end of the tunnel for this pidgin English business...I don't quite get the logic...yet...
Here are some examples of useful and some funny pidgin English, some courtesy of a post from matador network:
- How Bodi? / How You Dey? – How are you doing today?
- Wetin? – What?
- Abi Na Wetin - What is it this time?
- Na You Biko - You the man!
- Aba Made - Fake
- Abeg – Please, but usually not a repentant plea. Example – Abeg! No waste my time!; Which means Please! Don’t waste my time!
- Abi? – Isn’t it?
- Na so? – Is that so?
- Shak - drink
- Chop - eat
- Bodi dey inside clothe - I'm surviving
- Eh eh - no
- Ah ah - for Goodness sake
- Dey go - keep going
- E - it is
- Fit - can
- Dey - is/am/are
- I no no – I don’t know
- I no sabi – I don’t understand
- I dey fine – I’m fine. I’m doing well.
- Wetin dey happen? – What’s going on? What’s happening?
- Wahala – Problem/Trouble. Example – Why you dey give me wahala? Which means why are you giving me so many problems?
- Comot! – Get out of here!
- Gi mi – Give it to me.
- I Wan Chop – I want to eat
- Come chop – Come and eat
- I no agree – I don’t agree, I disagree
- Vex – Upset. Example – Make you no vex me! ; Which means “Don’t upset me!”
- Dem send you? – Have you been sent to torment me? (I will likely be using this one frequently)
- Wayo – Trickery. Example – That man be wayo; which means “that man is a fraud!”
- Butta my bread – Answered prayers. Example – “God don butta my bread” which means God has answered my prayers
- Listen well well – Pay attention
- Go slow – Traffic jam
- Enta voicemail - Stolen/Cannot be found (Enta = enter)
- Grammar - something confusing and just don't want to have any more of. "e.g. that one you dey talk na grammar, I go still do wetin I wan do"
- Airforce 1 - flying witch (e.g. e girlfriend mama na airforce 1 = my girlfriend's mom is a flying witch)
- I go land you slap – I will slap you!
Other Resources:
This is great! What's really interesting is that I have a friend here in Qatar from the Solomon's Islands, and their version of pidgin is so similar!
ReplyDeleteGood luck learning!
When I went to Jamaica, it was like 4 days in before I realized that it wasn't just an accent that made them impossible to understand!
ReplyDelete