#PIDGIN ENGLISH BIBLE FULL#

#PIDGIN ENGLISH BIBLE FULL#

Pidgin is where our inventiveness will be on full display.This translation, published by the Bible Society of the South Pacific, was published in 2008. One day when language experts examine this period, the English language wonвЂ™t tell them very much about Africans. In comparison, Ghana has only ever contributed Harmattan and a few diseases (like kwashiorkor) to the English dictionary. The appsвЂ™ uniqueness lies in its narrative, enhanced with background music in tune with the particular story. 9jaStarвЂ™s Pidgin Bible can be best described as dramatic, as voice actors play various roles as in a drama piece.

In Ghana, new words emerge on an almost monthly basis: dumsor (off and on) came out of nowhere to beautifully and simply describe our persistent electricity problems a meme about hustling gave us kpakpakpa. 9jaStarвЂ™s Pidgin English Audio Bible is enhanced with a 24 hour radio service besides its audio Pidgin rendition. 13By dis taim di Jus dem Fist of Passova don near well well, so Jisos kon go Jerusalem. It is the absence of rules that makes Pidgin incredibly adaptive. 12Afta dis, Jisos wit en mama and En brodas wit en discipols kon go Capernaum. Years later, their descendants are some of the most regular contributors of new words and terms to English. There is some irony here: Africans sold into slavery were not allowed to speak their languages, forcing them to use Pidgin to communicate and making them good at shaping new words. Today, mainstream English dictionaries have new words added every year вЂ“ such as selfie, bling and bootylicious вЂ“ to explain new ideas and phenomena. With more than 250 ethnic groups speaking over 500 languages and dialects, English is the countryвЂ™s official business language, whether youвЂ™re actually on business or just on safari. William Tyndale once had to apologetically explain why he felt the need to print the Bible in a language as backward as English. Pidgin English remains the great equalizer a way of communicating on a base level that cuts through bullshit. Wazobia FM has been broadcasting entirely in Pidgin to NigeriaвЂ™s 75 million Pidgin-speakers for almost a decade, a fact certainly not lost on the BBC World Service in its biggest African market. Advertising in Pidgin вЂ“ once unthinkable вЂ“ is now commonplace. Marketers and the media are cottoning on. And as you neednвЂ™t be literate to speak it, across anglophone west and central Africa вЂ“ made up of many diverse ethnicities and languages вЂ“ there are more people fluent in shared Pidgin languages than in English. Fluency will reduce how much you have to pay for cab fares or market tomatoes. Nigerians have almost always been the largest non-Ghanaian population in Ghana and we share many Pidgin words, but my siblingsвЂ™ time at school also coincided with NigeriaвЂ™s cultural dominance across the continent through its music and film industries. My younger siblings who attended the same schools a decade later would instead use, ibi yawa, which sounds suspiciously like Hausa. At the same time, changes in Pidgin, compared to a rather static English, always point to wider demographic and societal trends.ДЇor example in my secondary school days in the late 90s, we would say вЂњthat thing be deftвЂќ to describe something as being rubbish. Changes in Pidgin, compared to a rather static English, always point to wider demographic and societal trendsДespite the best attempts of generations of educators to stop its use, speaking Pidgin вЂ“ as well as English вЂ“ remains the best proof that you attended the ethnic melting pots that are west African secondary schools. To date, English is still the language of white-collar African employment.

The education system the colonialists created used English as a tool to вЂњcivilizeвЂќ Africans, suppressing local language and culture and creating a hierarchy that put those who spoke English well вЂ“ and best parroted British culture вЂ“ at the top. To date, вЂњI deyвЂќ can mean anything from вЂњI am hereвЂќ or вЂњI am waitingвЂќ to a statement about the victory of oneвЂ™s continued existence: вЂњI am still hereвЂќ. Combining basic nautical English vocabulary (itself derived from regional English variations) with the grammar and composition of languages of the various ethnic groups British traders encountered, it stripped things to the bare necessities: вЂњI am going out, but I will be right backвЂќ, for example, became вЂњI dey go comeвЂќ. West African Pidgin began in the late 17th and 18th centuries as a simple trade language between Europeans and Africans.

Pidgin english bible