poor english knowledge

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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:21 am

how can be lads' knowledge english so poor ? isn't it one of the official languages in Nigeria ? They do have some swearing skills though Very Happy

but how can they pose with obviously humiliating signs ? Don't they understand ? Don't they notice that there is something fishy ? Or don't they care ?

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:30 am

MTCN.

That's the only four-letter word that matters in all cases. It can reduce a man to his knees, or worse.

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:42 am

There are many languages in West Africa, English isn't necessarily a lads first language, and even where it is, a wierd pidgin version is usually spoken, and for a "proper" English speaker it can be very hard to fathom, although you'll recognise and pick up on several key words. There's also French, pidgin French, Igbo, allsorts really. And on top of that there are manifold dialects.

They won't understand some of the crazy signs, granted, but that's more of a cultural thing... colloqialisms and slang are very different there than they are in other parts of the world.
Dutchbait's current avatar is a great example, (shield your eyes if nervous):
On his sign, there is mention of a purple helmet and penetration. Now to some English speakers that is clearly a metaphor for sex... but to someone in Burkina, a purple helmet is probably still just a gaily coloured head protector, rather than the top of a penis.
They will of course have their own slang for such terms.

I actually think most lads do well with their English, some of them are quite articulate. I claim to speak some German and French, but every time I go to those places I embarrass myself whilst trying to communicate, and I'm supposedly better educated than lads... so you have to give credit where credit is due I suppose.

Your English is excellent by the way. Wink

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:52 am

English may be the main official language in Nigeria, but remember that many Lads may have it only as a second language after tribal tongues.

Remember also that nothing can stop someone from just being plain bad at written English... I've seen enough examples of that!

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:58 am

Quote:

Don't they notice that there is something fishy ? Or don't they care ?

A lot of the time lads will play along with jokers even if they don't believe the underlying story. As long as the victim pays out, it doesn't matter what they've been saying.

Their English is highly variable, as others have already mentioned there are many highly educated people involved in the scamming business. The truly impressive ones usually only become directly involved on the very high-level scams, but there are numerous cases where it comes time to pay and suddenly the scammer's English becomes much better: someone's been brought in to close the deal.

It may also be the case that some scammers actually choose to use poor English as a tactic to give their victims a sort of feeling of superiority and invulnerability. I'm not sure how much I buy this line of explanation but it's been bandied about now and again.

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:03 am

@ TheKnightWhoSaysNi.

You'll be suprised how many lads come from non-English speaking countries. Next time you get a few scam-letters, run them through a header analysis and check it out. I get as many emails from French speaking countries in West Africa as I do English.
Like Mugatu says: credit where credit's due. Some lads are also able to scam in multiple languages - not exactly the sign of an idiot.