Common English mistakes Nigerian speakers make, and how to fix them for a global audience
Nigerian English is one of the largest varieties of English in the world, and nothing below is "wrong" in Lagos or Abuja. But with a global audience — a UK employer, a US client, an IELTS examiner — some Yoruba-, Igbo- and Hausa-influenced patterns cause confusion or sound informal. These are the ones to switch when it matters.
The big ones. 1) He/she mixed (Yoruba "ó" and Igbo "ọ" are gender-neutral): "My mother… he" → "she". 2) "I am coming" when you're leaving → "I'll be right back". 3) "Borrow me your pen" → "lend me your pen" (you borrow; they lend). 4) "Next tomorrow" → "the day after tomorrow"; "as at now" → "as of now"; "the both of us" → "both of us". 5) "Sorry" for sympathy when it isn't your fault ("Sorry!" when someone trips) → "Are you okay?" — in global English "sorry" claims fault. 6) Nigerian-only usage: "flash me" (give me a missed call), "on/off the light" (turn on/off), "pick a call" (answer), "escort me" (come with me), "senior brother" (older brother), "well done" as a greeting. 7) "Discuss about", "cope up with", "revert back" → "discuss", "cope with", "revert"; "I'm not understanding" → "I don't understand". 8) "Th" as /t/ or /d/: "tink", "dat" — tongue between the teeth. 9) Vowels: "bird", "bed" and "bad" merging into one; "work" and "walk" sounding alike — stretch "bird" and "work" with a long central vowel. 10) Rhythm: Nigerian English gives syllables even weight and a high pitch; global listeners follow stress — "deVELopment", "comPUter", with unstressed syllables reduced.
A list won't fix these; making them out loud and being corrected in the moment will. Airi is built for that: she hears the pattern, fixes the one mistake that matters in her reply, and keeps the conversation going. Speak with her daily and these stop being habits within a few weeks. Free to start, no card.
A quick example with Airi
Nigerian English expressions that international listeners misread
Nigerian English has its own settled vocabulary, and dictionaries record it: the Oxford English Dictionary added 29 Nigerian English entries in its January 2020 update, among them "next tomorrow" and "severally". The catch is that a listener outside Nigeria may give the same words a different meaning. These are the ones most likely to cause a real misunderstanding.
| Common in Nigeria | For a global listener, say | Why it gets misread |
|---|---|---|
| "Didn't you get my email?" "Yes." (meaning you did not) | "No, I didn't." | In Nigerian English "yes" can mean "what you said is correct". Elsewhere it means you got the email. |
| "I have told him severally." | "I have told him several times." | Outside Nigeria "severally" means "separately", as in the legal phrase "jointly and severally". |
| "They greeted themselves." | "They greeted each other." | Yoruba "ara wọn" covers both ideas. English keeps "themselves" for an action you do to yourself. |
| "They are calling you." (about one elder) | "Your father is calling you." | Yoruba uses the plural "wọ́n" to show respect to one person. A global listener pictures several people. |
| "I was held up in a go-slow." | "I was stuck in traffic." | In British English a "go-slow" is a workers' protest, not a traffic jam. |
Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa grammar habits to switch in formal English
These patterns follow the way Nigerian languages build a sentence, so they survive even in highly educated speech. Examiners and international recruiters mark them as errors.
- Articles. Yoruba puts "kan" (a, one) and "náà" (the) after the noun, so "a" and "the" often go missing in English. Say "I want to be an engineer", not "I want to be engineer", and "A man is waiting", not "One man is waiting".
- Uncountable nouns. "Equipment", "furniture", "advice", "information" and "luggage" take no plural -s and no "an": "some advice", "two pieces of equipment".
- State verbs. Research on Nigerian English (Gut and Fuchs, 2013) found -ing used with verbs such as "have" and "know". Internationally these stay simple: "I have two brothers", "I know him well".
- Two determiners. "That my friend" and "this your phone" mirror Yoruba, where a possessive and a demonstrative sit on the same noun. English allows one: "that friend of mine", or simply "my friend".
- Small words after verbs. Keep "to" after "allow" ("This will allow me to attend"), and use "on" after "congratulate" and "insist": "Congratulations on your promotion."
Sounds Nigerian speakers swap, by first language
Which sounds give trouble depends on your first language, because each one lacks different English consonants. Find your row, then say the pair slowly before you speed up.
| First language | Typical swap | How to make the English sound |
|---|---|---|
| Yoruba | "van" sounds like "fan", "zoo" like "Sue" | Yoruba has no /v/ or /z/. Keep the mouth shape of /f/ or /s/ and switch your voice on; a hand on your throat should feel a buzz. |
| Yoruba | /h/ dropped or added: "house" as "ouse", "eye" as "high" | /h/ is only a breath before the vowel. Drill pairs: "eat, heat", "air, hair", "old, hold". |
| Hausa | /p/ and /f/ trade places ("problem" as "froblem"); "very" sounds like "berry" | For /p/, close both lips and pop them open. For /f/ and /v/, rest the top teeth on the lower lip and let the air flow. |
| Hausa | "think" sounds like "sink", "this" like "zis" | Bring the tongue tip forward to the edge of the top teeth, then blow. |
| Igbo (some speakers) | /l/ and /r/ trade places: "clinic" as "crinic", "pray" as "play" | For /l/ the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the top teeth. For /r/ it curls back and touches nothing. |
Word stress that Nigerian English places later
Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa are tone languages: every syllable carries its own pitch. English instead makes one syllable in each word longer and louder and lets the rest shrink. Studies of Nigerian English describe a steady tendency to move that stress toward the end of the word, which can make a familiar word hard to recognize.
- "MAdam", not "maDAM"
- "CHALlenge", not "chalLENGE"
- "BIScuit", not "bisCUIT"
- "HYgiene", not "hyGIENE"
- "FIREwood" and "BEDroom", not "fireWOOD" and "bedROOM": compound nouns stress the first part
Make the strong syllable longer, not just higher, and let the weak one go quiet: "madam" ends in a quick "dm", not a full "dam".
A short Airi routine for Nigerian English speakers
Airi does not grade your sounds or score your accent. She answers out loud and shows one small fix at a time, so you can rehearse these switches in real sentences. Your free credits cover about eight minutes, enough for the first two or three steps.
- Set the scene: "I speak Nigerian English. Role-play a client in another country, and when I use an expression only Nigerians would understand, show me the international version."
- Ask for five negative questions in a row ("Haven't you finished?", "Didn't she call?") and answer each one in full: "No, I haven't" or "Yes, she did".
- Describe your office or home using "equipment", "furniture", "advice" and "information", all without -s.
- Tell her about an ordinary morning and work in the stress words from the list above.
- Pick your row in the sound table and put both words of a pair into one sentence: "I left the fan in the van."
- Each time a fix appears, say the fixed sentence back before you answer her next question.
How to get the most from it
Decide he or she before you speak
Yoruba and Igbo pronouns cover both. Pick one.
Borrow from, lend to
Lend me your pen. I borrowed his pen.
Tongue between the teeth for 'th'
Think, that, three — not 'tink', 'dat'.
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