Culture BBC adds "Pidgin English" to its roster of foreign-language editions - It can't be April Fool's Day again already, can it?!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40975399

A new language service for digital platforms in English-based Pidgin for West and Central Africa has been launched by the BBC World Service.

Pidgin is one of the most widely-spoken languages across the region, even though it is not officially recognised.

The launch is part of the World Service's biggest expansion since the 1940s, following a government funding boost announced in 2016.

Pidgin will soon be joined by 10 more new services in Africa and Asia.

The WS also plans to offer more mobile and video content and a greater social media presence.

It will also enhance its television services across Africa, including more than 30 new TV programmes for partner broadcasters in sub-Saharan Africa.

Arabic and Russian programming will also be boosted in the 2020 project.

What is Pidgin?

• A mix of English and local languages enabling people who do not share a common language to communicate
• West African Pidgin English was a language of commerce spoken along the coast during the Atlantic slave trade in the late 17th and 18th Centuries.
• Widely used in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea
• Primarily an oral language, without a standard agreed written form.

On the one hand, I think I can see where they're coming from with this decision, but on the other hand...

Why dem dey call Hurricane human being name

Di biggest storm wey United States of America never see for 13 years don land for Texas.

Dis Hurricane Harvey don scatter plenty houses and tori say e even don kill five people.

Hurricane Matthew wey bin happen for 2016 kill plenty people and scatter house join wen e happen.

Harvey and Mattew na human being name, so how hurricane dey take get dia name sef? In short, why dem dey give hurricane name at all?

...what in the actual living fuck.

 

[Feline Darkmage]

the way they spell it seems a little...
racist.

 

[MG 192]

Is there a Kiwi who knows Pidgin English by chance?

Because I'm getting a racist vibe here. It doesn't help that according to BBC, Pidgin has no standard written form.

 

[Intelligent Calcium]

I hope the BBC does Engrish next.

 

[millais]

I particularly enjoyed this BBC Pidgin article, it is a real barrel of laughs. https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/world-40997001

Indian woman divorce husband because dem no get toilet
One woman for India don get permission from court to divorce her husband because im no gree build toilet for dem house..

The woman wey dey for her 20's don dey married to her husband for five years, but na for inside bush she dey poopoo.

Indian law dey only allow divorce for limited circumstances like beating or wicked behaviour.

The lawyer for di woman tell AFP news agency say the judge say to dey make di woman poopoo for outside na one form of torture.

Times of India talk say di court say: "We dey spend money dey buy tobacco, liquor and mobile phones, but no ready to construct toilet to protect the dignity of our family.

"This no be only physical wickedness but also na shock to the modesty of woman."

Indian media say the woman been don file for divorce since 2015.

To piss and poopoo for open field dey common for villages for India. The government don set target to give every house toilet by 2019, but dat work never really get head.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

 

[Nisse Hult]

Mup da doo didda po mo gub bidda be dat tum muhfugen hurricane cof bin dub ho muhfugga

 

[The Fool]

I applaud their efforts to try and write articles that can be read by niggers, but they forgot the emoji spam, so they still won't be able to understand it.

 

[Ti-99/4A]

tfw Ebonics is easier to understand than this.

 

[DeadwastePrime]

what the fuck is pidgin english and why the fuck is it hilarious to read?

 

[Arkangel]

I somehow feel less informed about the world having read this.

 

[Hodor]

I feel a loss of words at how racist this is.

 

[millais]

Mup da doo didda po mo gub bidda be dat tum muhfugen hurricane cof bin dub ho muhfugga

Bix Newz

 

[Mysterious Capitalist]

To piss and poopoo for open field dey common for villages for India

Hilarious

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

And here I was, looking forward to reading about threesomes in the French presidential palace.

link

For France President Macron wife no bi first lady

• 21 August 2017

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Image copyrightAFP
Image examplePlenty people bin no gree make Mrs Macron get office as first lady
Wife of French President, Brigitte Macron, go get new official title but nobody go take mouth call her "First Lady."

E pass 300,000 people for France wey sign petition say dem no go gree make she get official title as First Lady.

French people no still want make Mrs Macron collect any money from France to do any of her waka-waka.

Na all dis one make the Presidency present "transparency charter" wey go show everything wey Mrs Macron go dey do; the paper still show say na her husband, President Emmanuel Macron, wey go dey give her money to use.

Dem say Mrs Macron go dey do things for civil society wey concern education, health, plus women and children matter.

Dis charter na new thing for France, and for inside am dem call Brigitte "the head of state's spouse."

 

[Joan Nyan]

I really doubt anyone on Earth finds this easier to read than standard English

 

[Trilby]

I really doubt anyone on Earth finds this easier to read than standard English

It's rather disgraceful, really.

 

[neverendingmidi]

I wonder how many speakers of pidgin can read regular english just fine? I mean pidgin is a dialect, like comparing a cajun drawl to a New York accent, yet we don't spell things differently for each region. Now if pidgin used local words it the way that there is differences between American vs. British (spanner/wrench, lorry/semi truck) that's one thing, but mangling it entirely seems pretty stupid and racist.

Hell, how many people who use pidgin are actually literate in it vs. literate in english at all.

 

[XYZpdq]

This is basically like what Haitian Creole is compared to French, right?

 

[Diesel Boogaloo]

This is basically like what Haitian Creole is compared to French, right?

I'd say the difference between Haitian and French is larger. Haitian has much more African grammar features that look completely alien for a French speaker. Different spelling systems separate those languages even further.

Speaking of Haitian, Haiti had one of the worst literacy and education rates in the world, because they were using French as the sole language of instruction of schools. Imagine being a kid, going to school and barely understanding single words of what the teacher is saying. They are currently switching the curriculum to Haitian.

The most basic issue was that the current educational system did not successfully educate the average Haitian who spoke only Haitian Creole. The Haitian education system was built on the idea of the superiority of the French language over any other language, and the profound inferiority of Haitian culture to that of the French culture. This concept of superiority were born in the minds of the elite during the years of slavery and were re-enforced when the French Catholic Church was allowed to return and begin establishing schools as a result of the Concordat of 1860. The classical education, more commonly called an "academic" education was meant to prepare the elite for further education in France. There was heavy emphasis on the literature of France and rhetoric and very little science or practical education such as engineering and the learning tended to be rote. The language of instruction was French which was further re-enforced at home, among friends and in their reading materials down to food labels in their pantries. Non-elite students did not have the benefit of speaking French at home. In the schools that served the non-elite, French was still the language of instruction but there was a good chance the teacher was not fluent and the teaching became even more rote. Further down the social ladder, the quality of the teacher's either Creole or French was even less certain

Given that African are getting better and better access to the internet, text-based means of communications are reaching lower and lower classes, so unless West African Pidgin starts dying out, we can more and more Pidgin content showing up online. If not for that democratization, the middle classes would slowly switch to pure English, like the Haitian middle class mostly switched to French.

But there's nothing wrong with finding West African Pidgin or any other pidgin funny. Every language sounds at least a bit funny to related languages.