IGBO AUTOMOBILE TERMINOLOGY: A PANACEA FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN MECHANIC WORKSHOPS IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

Effective communication between all stakeholders holds the key to smooth operations, qualitative service delivery and customer satisfaction at automobile mechanic workshops. It enhances team collaboration. It increases efficiency and productivity, leads to improved customer satisfaction, better conflict resolution and improved safety and quality control, among other benefits. Communication at automobile mechanic workshops in the South-East of Nigeria has been anything but effective, due mainly to the deficiency of many Igbo mechanic youths in the use of English. This study adopted a mixed method approach- relying on written literature sources, observations and responses from oral interviews, to reflect and report on the barriers to effective communication in the aforementioned region. The study reveals lack of standardized communication practices and misinterpretation of customers’ needs, as well as a correlation between communication challenges and workshop performance, identifying as causes, the inability of many, including mechanics of Igbo origin, deficient in English, to express themselves in Igbo, due to lack or paucity of equivalent terms for the expression of many automobile concepts in Igbo. it concludes that effective communication is essential for the smooth operation of automobile mechanic workshops in the South-East of Nigeria, and recommends the development of a bilingual (English-Igbo ) glossary of comprehensive automobile terminology.