Absolutely brilliant

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin

I assumed it was a daily mash-esque pisstake but it’s for real

Welcome to the internets.

Money well spent?

African equivalent of BBC Alba isn’t it? 😉

There was a item about it on the Today programme the other morning, its a mashup of English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and African dialects and became the lingua franca of trading between Europeans and Africans.

Is bbc.com owned by the Beeb? Edit: guess so. bbc.co.uk/pidgin redirects to bbc.com/pidgin.

Surely, while funny, this would be accused of all kinds of racism.

Surely, while funny, this would be accused of all kinds of racism.

I don’t think it’s supposed to be funny. This is how a lot of people communicate, a common language where no other common language exists between two or more groups of people. Don’t see any racisim in it.

No sniggerin or the thought police dem get ya.

fab

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/sport-41065435

Mayweather nack McGregor

That’s the best thing I’ve seen in ages

Ghana condoms

By round 9, McGregor don use all im energy like mobile phone battery wey only 5% remain, the bone wey dey im leg even switch off.
Dis na signal for Mayweather to commot imself from airplane mode enter normal and im begin to dey do like lion wey ready to chop.

Probably a lot more widely accepted than Esperanto.

Surely, while funny, this would be accused of all kinds of racism.

Hardly: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgin

A pidgin[1][2][3] /?p?d??n/, or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups that do not have a language in common: typically, a mixture of simplified languages or a simplified primary language with other languages’ elements included. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the country in which they reside (but where there is no common language between the groups).

Always understood Pidgin English references to be mocking or an insult to ethnic groups with poor English. I actually find the BBC page a bit uncomfortable.

Isn’t Pidgin an official language in Hawaii?

Surely, while funny, this would be accused of all kinds of racism.

FFS! It”s a form of language not a parody page. 🙄

Always understood Pidgin English references to be mocking or an insult to ethnic groups with poor English. I actually find the BBC page a bit uncomfortable.

Not at all – it’s a real language.

Apropos, I remember a piece on a woman doing pidgin voiceovers for films in Nigeria (*) and she was actually white, from Essex.

(*) details might be wrong

If you assume it’s a parody of a language, I can see why some may see it as a bit uncomfortable.

But it isn’t, it’s a real spoken language and if there’s a ‘parody’ it’s because languages i suppose were never meant to be written down (or another way, existed as a spoken form way before there was any need or means to convey actual words as opposed to ideas or broad concepts) It’s no more parody than attempting to write cockney, or geordie, y’knaa.

My sister lived on Antigua for a bit and I used to love reading the island’s newspaper. The articles were in ‘perfect’ english, but particularly court transcripts were still written in dialect (lickle instead of little, and so on) reflecting what people actually said. That’s what this is, don’t see it as parody, enjoy the absolute poetic nature!

If you assume it’s a parody of a language, I can see why some may see it as a bit uncomfortable.

But it isn’t, it’s a real spoken language and if there’s a ‘parody’ it’s because languages i suppose were never meant to be written down (or another way, existed as a spoken form way before there was any need or means to convey actual words as opposed to ideas or broad concepts) It’s no more parody than attempting to write cockney, or geordie, y’knaa.

But which pidgin? Surely there are many pidgins, so how do you have a common page?

true – you have many because the purpose is to establish a means of communication between two or more separate languages, so it evolves in the gap between the two to use words, gestures, even facial expressions from both in order to enable.

So strictly this is (after a quick google) a service for West and Central Africa, and will be sod all use for the ‘pidgin’ language that my mate’s family speaks (he’s english, she’s french, their kids are bilingual and frequently their conversations switch between the two in the same sentence)

the ‘pidgin’ language that my mate’s wife family speaks (he’s english, she’s french, their kids are bilingual and frequently their conversations switch between the two in the same sentence)

We do that at home in Spanish and English, so not much use for me either 🙂

I love the header for the most read stories: “De one we dem de read well well”

Problem is this thread appears to have started by seeing the comedy in it. I initially did and felt uncomfortable having done so.

Anyway, this sums up more what I’m really uncomfortable about.

[video]https://youtu.be/IQKfgzaa9hY[/video]

Anyway, this sums up more what I’m really uncomfortable about.

Assuming that the last 8 minutes of that video are as big a pile of garbage as the first 2 minutes that I managed to sit through, I’d say that if it in any way approximates to your views, then you do indeed have a problem.

A whole load of people communicate in Pidgin. It’s not “broken English”, it’s not inferior, it’s a language. The Beeb is providing a service to them. It’s that simple. End.

Here’s the interview on Front Row the other night. They describe Pidgin as a the lingu franca of West Africa “a tongue that combines English and Portuguese with borrowings from Nigeria’s more than 500 local languages”.

Helen Oyibo, one of the BBC Pidgin reporters, explains some of the origins and reads a Shakespearean sonnet in Pidgin.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b091v0th from 23:38

But which pidgin? Surely there are many pidgins, so how do you have a common page?

Indeed, but according to the guy on the Today programme, IIRC, there is a version that is understandable by the majority of West African speakers, and the service is aimed at them.

So strictly this is (after a quick google) a service for West and Central Africa, and will be sod all use for the ‘pidgin’ language that my mate’s family speaks (he’s english, she’s french

Yeah this is more properly called “West African Pidgin” (as they do in the interview above).

Indeed, but according to the guy on the Today programme, IIRC, there is a version that is understandable by the majority of West African speakers, and the service is aimed at them.

Point taken, although it seems a bit of an abuse of notation, but fair enough if the target audience is clear.

Anyway, this sums up more what I’m really uncomfortable about.

The right to be offended?

Anyway, this sums up more what I’m really uncomfortable about.

Are you uncomfortable that it gives nasty little illiberal bigots something to beat the BBC with, whilst pretending to not be bigots?

Or are you uncomfortable that you agree with the guy citing Daily Mail articles as his research?

Anyway, this sums up more what I’m really uncomfortable about

U OK HUN?

I guess it’s more a reaction to being brought up not to stereotype the way people speak.

If you accept it as a language though, then we should have sites in Cockney, Geordie, Brummie, or Multicultral London English, supported by the BBC also, funded by tax payers?

Who’s stereotyping it’s a lanaguage used in some West African countries.

No, no we shouldnt’t as we understand “Queen’s” English.

Ulster Scots?

There’s some people around who get ‘uncomfortable’ at the slightest bloody thing. 🙄

When I 1st heard of Pidgin English I was just a kid of about 14 (1971) & genuinely thought it was ‘pigeon english’. 😆

As a kid I loved all the Gerald Durrell books and really enjoyed all the pidgin used when he was collecting animals in Africa.The younger me never spotted that Durrell may have been a colonialist,racist and sexist.Should I go back and re read them,then I can feel suitably guilty for enjoying the stories?

We should burn his books.

We should burn his books.

Naturalist-ist.

I guess it’s more a reaction to being brought up not to stereotype the way people speak.

Growing up in Scotland I recognise a lot of the comments about Pidgin just being “crappy English”.

The same criticisms could be (and are) made about Scots or Doric.

But because we can say “Oh it’s the language of Rabbie Burns or Charles Murray or Hugh MacDiarmid or Walter Scott” etc they have enough history to be considered ‘legitimate’.

Maureen Watt (SNP) took her Scottish Parliamentary oath as follows:

“I depone aat I wull be leal and bear ae full alleadgance tae her majesty Queen Elizabeth her airs an ony fa come aifter her anent the law. Sae help me God.”

Is that stereotyping how people speak or just respecting a language and culture?

No, no we shouldnt’t as we understand “Queen’s” English.

And so do most West Africans.

And so do most West Africans.

Of course they do but some understand Pidgin better.

Scots and Doric speakers understand Queen’s English too. See the parallel?