When Saying No Wahala Causes Wahala: Communication Essentials

Quick translation for those unfamiliar with Nigerian Pidgin English.?Wahala (pronounced Wa-ha-la)? is a Nigeria Pidgin English word that literally translates to Problem in standard English.?Nigerian Pidgin English is spoken by a large percentage of Nigeria’s population, both the educated and uneducated.?It is spoken in both formal and informal settings.?And it is very popular even though it is not formally taught in schools.?To understand how popular the language is, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) started a radio station in West Africa that broadcast only in Pidgin English.

With that translation out of the way, let us go back to the wahala at hand. The word wahala can be used in different contexts.?A typical example from my past (when I worked in Nigeria) would be, my Boss could ask me, how a project was coming up, and I could reply and say “Oga, wahala dey, ….??….. ……”. Which translates to ‘Sir, there are problems/issues, ….. …. …… “?.?Another popular way this unique word is used is to convey positive affirmation to a request by putting the English word “No” before it.?Borrowing another example from a typical conversion I would have had in the past, A Senior colleague could ask, “can I get this report in the morning” and I would respond positively “Oga, no wahala, I go send am”, which you can guess means “Sir, no problem, I will send it”.?or to be very brief, I usually would just say “no wahala” and my colleague would understand I just confirmed I would meet up to that request.??

It would seem I had got into the habit of giving positive feedback by saying “no wahala” to a lot of the requests made of me.?Because I found myself still using this informal way of saying no problem in the early days after I relocated to North America and started working with people from different cultures who did not have the shared background of understanding Nigerian pidgin English. But this time instead of getting an understanding look when I uttered “no wahala”, I got quizzical looks, or” I beg your pardon” or “I do not understand” from my work colleagues. Getting this non-expected feedback, would quickly make me realize I had used unfamiliar language with my new colleagues.?But most understood after I explained the origin of the word.?

I quickly got out of the habit of saying no wahala to avoid the wahala of explaining the meaning of the word. I came into North America before the pandemic started. When I look back at those pre-covid 19 days, where a lot of the meetings and interactions were done face to face, I see the importance of visual cues to confirm that the intended message or meaning has been received.?Good two-way communication requires both parties to understand and confirm understanding of the message delivered.?I wondered in this Covid Era of Zoom meetings how many communications have gone astray because of the limited ability of parties to get non-verbal feedback to their message being delivered.?As for me, to avoid the misunderstanding wahala, I have resolved to have the video on (as much as possible) when I join Zoom meetings.??