Chronicles of Sebastian - Now You're Talking!!

A few weeks ago, Nigerian’s First Lady Patience Jonathan gave an emotional speech on the Chibok girls that sparked a great controversy. The issue was not necessarily what she said, but how she said it. She used Pidgin English, asked “only you waka come?” and ended her speech with her now famous exclamation “There is God-oh!!”. While some Nigerians thought that her choice of language was rather inappropriate for a First Lady, others felt this made her appear more genuine.

                                                  
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Whatever your opinion may be, the discussion shows the significant role language plays, especially in a multilingual country such as Nigeria. Whether consciously or unconsciously, language shapes our way of thinking and perceiving the world and people around us. So let’s take a look at some “language lessons”:

1. Words can have different meanings in different contexts. In my first weeks in Nigeria, I got confused by a lot of words. Someone asked me “How far??” and I asked him “How far is what from what?”. Then he was like “Jeez man, how are you doing?”. Another friend told me “I am coming” and off he went… lol When a fellow-students asked me which courses I am 'offering', I told them that I’m just a student, I don’t offer any courses. Only later did I realize that they were probably talking about taking courses. I could go on and on: How I thought “taking a bath” means lying in a bathtub, how 'reading' is not just restricted to reading books, but studying in general; how NEPA and light are synonyms for electricity; how passport is not your ID, but a picture of yourself; how brother/daddy/aunty are often titles and not just family members; how “having tried” is a recognition of success (not of a failed attempt), yet how “Well done!” does not actually refer to accomplishments; how “flashing” people has nothing to do with torches, how “taking a drop” makes your taxi ride more expensive… You get the idea, as a foreigner you just have to get used to all these shades of meaning. I had a lot of fun making mistakes and learning these gradually. 

2. Nigerians love code-switching! As in, they switch between many languages effortlessly. A LOT. Whether in everyday conversations, songs or sermons: My German mind was bewildered by all these different languages in just one or two sentences. When I first heard the beginning of “Mma Mma” by Frank Edward, I thought “nice, an English song I can understand”, until the song went on: 

You lifted me
Then gave me a song
Agama turu gi mma mma
Knowing that 'mma' is a flexible word for basically anything good and praiseworthy, I somehow figured things out and continued singing…

Once, while I was taking notes in an English sermon, a priest suddenly struck up an Igbo song. When the congregation also joined in cheerfully, I was like “Wetin dey happen here?” lol… I think the frequent code-switching reflects a general attitude of not bothering too much about fixed rules, of living rather free and improvised than strictly in one certain way. It’s a token for the diverse colonial and pre-colonial factors and circumstances influencing Nigerians.

                            

4. Nigerian text messages require serious reading. Another challenge: texts and facebook messages. I’m telling you, after I received my first heavily abbreviated messages, I was like “Chai, this is not easy-o.” They went something like this: “Lngst tym. Hw r ur ppl? u thnk dis s a gud idea? dnt u av class nw? Im wf my gf now. xpktn u at church tmrrow. slp wel”.
It took me some time to decipher these messages, but wf tym I gt betta at d readng nd nd, bt I stl nid hlp 2 wrt lyk dat. :-)

5. Learning another language helps you to connect. Admittedly, I don’t know much Igbo and Pidgin. All I know are just a few chunks I’ve picked up along the way. Yet, even these small phrases always made (and still make) Nigerians so happy. When I use kachi fo instead of just “Good night!”, many of my Igbo friends burst into laughter. Just recently I met a Nigerian who didn’t know I went to his fatherland. So when I asked him abi? in the midst of our first conversation, he was puzzled and started to laugh with his new “broda”!
You don’t need to be perfect, but by using a few high frequency words of a foreign language, people will appreciate your efforts. It’s just a small token that you care about their culture, making it easier to connect with them. 

                           

6. Speaking Pidgin and slang can be great fun! Learning some Nigerian words and idioms did not just help me to connect with people, but also with the lifestyle and the culture at large. Many Nigerians have this rough way of speaking and writing, this no-nonsense approach without much “beating around the bush", a clarity and confrontational style that I had to get used to, but now I’m beginning to love and use myself. For instance, if you believe someone spends too much time on education, you can express that by saying, “In my opinion, her idolization of education seems unbalanced.” In Nigeria, you can just say “She reads too much book”. It may express the same idea, but the latter just sounds funnier and more straight to the point. The same goes for “The sun is too much!”, “She is looking for my trouble-o”, “Rain is beating me”, “doing anyhow”, “you’re shining!”, “be going” (or carry go), “Wetin concern government”, “419!”, “I will slap you!”, “Lai Lai”, “God forbid!”, “You don’t mean it!” etc. They signify a rather rough approach to life.

Back in Germany, some of these phrases are often on the tip of my tongue, yet I obviously cannot use them. If my friend tells me something bad, I wish I could say “Eh-ya”, but he wouldn’t get it. Sometimes I still say “Yes now!” emphatically or I add an “o” to the names of my friends (Steffi-oo), since this way of engaging people and using emphasis has become part of me.

                              

7. Language is a way of identifying yourself. If Nigerians want to appear before the Western world, they speak English. Among the family in the village, most people switch to their native tongue (Hausa, Efik etc.). In busy towns or among peers, “broken” is often used as a lingua franca. When some parents don’t allow Pidgin in their home or constantly speak English to their children, they thereby also make a political and personal statement, signifying where they (wish to) belong.
I believe that all languages have their own benefits: English opens up a wide door for education, for interacting with people from abroad, for consuming English books, movies, songs etc. The ethnic languages carry the cultural heritage each tribe has and help Nigerians to identify with their roots (that is why Chinua Achebe uses a lot of Igbo words in his novels). The advantages of Pidgin and slang are outlined above.

8. We need empathy to communicate well. I strongly believe that empathy, the ability to put yourself into someone else’s shoes, is a core virtue that really helps us to understand each other and to avoid a lot of conflicts. Being able to adapt to another person’s language and the way he or she uses it is a key component of good communication. Example: We once had a white lecturer coming to our university in Enugu and I remember how my friends did not really understand him. The way he presented his topic and interacted with the audience, his choice of words: all of that was not wrong, but just not appropriate to the context. 

Oftentimes I could tell from the (lack of) nodding and the facial expressions whether my Nigerian conversational partner really got me. The longer I stayed, the more God helped me to use my speech, intonation, words and trains of thoughts in such a way that I could get my points across. This required a lot of close listening (not close marking though lol ;) ) and a general commitment to good communication.
This applies to many situations: talking with someone of lower education (who might not understand fancy words), talking with an elderly person (who might not know technology well), talking with a non-Christian (who does not know why people cover things with the “blood of Jesus”), talking with a foreigner (who wants you to speak slowly so he or she can get you)… God tells us to love all these people and one way of doing so is by trying hard to understand and to adapt your speech and actions to their personal understanding and environment.
Jesus models that perfectly: He got along with the lowest of the lowest, but He could also talk theology with Nicodemus. He constantly used images and parables from the Jewish environment he lived in. His speeches were powerful (Matt 7:28) because they were clear and full of grace and truth (John 1:17). May He empower us to use the language(s) He gave us wisely and powerfully :-)

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Amen and Amen to that Sebs. Thanks for another wonderful and humorous post and for bringing home the importance of using communication as a powerful tool for showing love and being neighbourly - even in the simplest of ways. 

It was really funny reading all the phrases and words Sebs picked up from Nigeria, I had to ask him if he was really sure he spent only 6months in Enugu! :-D

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For all previous Chronicles of Sebastian posts, please click HERE.. Join Sabba again next week Wednesday..I look forward to what he will be sharing with us!
Please visit Sebastian's blog http://seb2nigeria.wordpress.com/ It's in German, however you can use 'Google translate' if English translation is required - Lovely lovely blog!

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