Thread by @yinkanubi

I once attended an int'l finance training. We had participants from many African nations. They brought in a Nigerian expert to take a session. His presentation was filled with colloquial words like "Abi", "Shebi". The non Nigerian's were puzzled. The Nigerians were embarrassed.

I had to explain to the non Nigerians what the words meant and that they're better off just ignoring it because it's "local" speak. One of them said to me 'Yinka, I can hear you clearly & understand every word u say. But that dude, I can't understand one word'. The others nodded.

It's important to know your audience and determine the best way to reach them. It's more important to learn public speaking & presentation skills. While in some settings it's okay to use colloquial knowledge in a formal setting, you must be sure that your audience will understand

One meaningless word introduced in a sentence can distort the entire meaning. I used to have a French colleague who always says the word that sounds like "dunk" after every other sentence. I became so fixated on that word that it usually distracted me from whatever he was saying.

Anyway, point is don't just communicate, communicate effectively. Effective communication is a two way information sharing process which involves one party sending a message that is easily understood by the receiving party.

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