What was meant by "shouganai"

[skakee]

My friend ask me a favor regarding his children but I turned him down. His ex-wife is also a friend of mine and she had know about the request. She is known to be at times unreasonable and quick to anger. There was a possibility that my turning down the request would make her angry with me.

I sent him a text message: "Do you think your ex will get mad at me?" He replied "She is the way she is, might or she might not. Shouganai"

He is a native Japanese speaker. I'm just a beginner student of Japanese.

Wht do you think he meant by "Shouganai"?

[hatch_jp]

しょうがない Shouganai

I can't help it.
That's life.
There is no choice.
I have no choice.
It is inevitable.
There is no other way.
etc...

[skakee]

Well, yes, that's what the JapanesePod101 lesson, and other resources on the web say. But what was meant in this particular situation?

[Psy]

Here it means "there's nothing that can be done [to change the way she'll behave.]" "It can't be helped" is a good general way to put it into English.

[skakee]

I took it like "that's life" and therefore "that's your problem." And felt offended. Was I mistanken?

[QuackingShoe]

You're probably mistaken. Try never to assume offense by someone who speaks a different language than you. Misunderstandings will have you be offended by absolutely everything.