What exactly does the
BBC
What does it think? Why should license fee contributors bear the cost of supporting a news website written in West African Pidgin—a language that originated as a simplified version of English and was not meant to be used in writing?
Astonishingly, the World Service now runs a full Pidgin version of the BBC news site, complete with online stories and headlines transcribed into what was once known as Guinea Coast Creole.
The outcomes can be absurd. Pidgin serves as a colloquial form of speech characterized by a reduced lexicon and basic grammatical structures, commonly used among street communities. This vernacular lacks the complexity needed for covering news effectively; hence, numerous headlines differ only slightly from conventional English, often through minor alterations in spelling.
‘Top Gun actor
Val Kilmer
die at di age of 65’ needs no translation. Nor does, ‘Why
Prince Harry
dey quit di Sentebale charity wey e set up in Diana honour’. Of course, ‘di’ is a phonetic rendering of ‘the’, and ‘wey e’ is ‘which he’.
Others may be a bit more confusing, but you'll grasp the main idea. 'Wetin
Putin
The report reveals what made Trump angry.
Ukraine
Conflict, revealing the statements made by Putin that angered Trump.
'British boarding schools are set to reopen soon.'
Nigeria
We learn that they are eager to draw in students from West Africa — indicating the schools have a desire to attract these pupils.
Several of the translations are hilariously poor. The entertainment news section is titled 'Jollificate,' intended to mean 'make cheerful' – an odd choice for a page featuring reports on celebrity fatalities, legal disputes, and conflicts, including headlines like 'The Tins We Know About.'
Gene Hackman
and im wife death’.
Certainly, I grasp Pidgin quite easily. Having grown up in Ghana, I was frequently exposed to it. Within an extensive area featuring numerous tribal dialects intermingling with official languages, it serves as a practical means for individuals to communicate, regardless of their origin.
Approximately 75 million individuals in Nigeria can comprehend it; however, this does not render it suitable for use by the BBC News.
In Ghana, English serves as the official language, but many residents also communicate in Twi, Ewe, Fante, or Ga.
It's quite usual to come across Hausa and occasionally even Yoruba, which originates from neighboring Nigeria. That covers only a small portion of the languages present.
It comes as no surprise that British sailors found it simpler to foster a fundamental English lexicon and grammar, which mixed with various African words over time.
It was never meant to be written down, which is why it doesn’t have strict guidelines or spelling conventions. You can’t even select it as an option.
Google
Translate.
The pronunciation clearly has an African influence as well, which it also shares with West Indian Patois.
At the play area, we occasionally used Pidgin just for kicks. However, I would never consider employing it at home. It’s somewhat rough around the edges and completely lacking in politeness—similar to cursing in front of your folks. Although everyone knows how to use it, there is an appropriate moment and setting for it.
Moreover, similar to cursing, this behavior is considered rather unrefined for women. Young men are far more prone to engage in lighthearted banter using Pidgin when their girlfriends are not present.
For instance, you would never hear the President of Nigeria deliver a speech in Pidgin, or even use it when addressing anyone.
As I've mentioned before, this language carries a dark past. It developed during the peak of the slave trade in the 1700s and 1800s as a means for British merchants to conduct business discussions with African traders and chiefs—discussions that frequently revolved around the exchange of millions of lives through the purchase and sale of humans.
Only an individual remarkably failing to grasp the essence would attempt to make it comprehensible. The one who did this is the BBC World Service.
Their Pidgin service was launched eight years ago at a huge expense, part of a £289 million BBC overseas expansion. The news site is expected to remain available despite the announcement earlier this year that the World Service is axing 130 jobs in a bid to save £6 million a year.
The great value of the World Service is the influence it gives Britain internationally.
Many individuals in West Africa depend on this source for impartial and rigorously verified information. The platform offers content in Yoruba and Igbo, along with multiple other African languages including Amharic and Afaan Oromo.
Ethiopia
, and Tigrinya in Eritrea.
It is these services that should be maintained, not Pidgin. There’s something uncomfortably close to racism about headlines such as ‘17 fact you need know bifor di Oscars’ — as though Africans won’t be able to understand ‘before the Oscars’.
To understand how patronising it all is, imagine a news website written in the Geordie dialect: ‘Ah dinna believe ye! Ant an’ Dec’ve won anutha aword. Is this a joke like?’
A true native of Newcastle might still need to say these words silently to understand them. Dialect works best when spoken rather than written down. In print, it can come across as overly mocking.
The BBC is often regarded internationally as the final stronghold of traditional British English.
That reputation is weakened by the BBC World Service’s surprisingly odd choice to regard Pidgin as an equally valuable language.
Any other nation would be shocked. Consider how offended the French would feel if the BBC released a site in Franglais for expatriates.
In Provence. It’s better to find humor in such situations rather than take offense. Last month, this headline had me roaring with laughter: 'Muslim
transgender
A TikToker was sentenced to prison after they told Jesus to go cut their hair.
The narrative continues with the account of Ratu Thalisa, an Indonesian transgender woman from Sumatra, who was broadcasting a live video conversation to her followers when a male viewer recommended that she get a haircut. Offended, Thalisa responded by saying that if she required a haircut, then Jesus would also need one.
The outcome was a prison term of two years and ten months for disrupting public order and religious harmony. The court ruling came after several Christian organizations filed police complaints against Ms. Thalisa for blasphemy, according to the report. She was convicted of fostering hatred under a contentious online hate speech statute.
The final statement highlights the absurdity of 'translating' intricate English terms into Pidgin, which lacks equivalents for concepts like 'online,' 'hate speech,' or even 'controversial.'
Similarly questionable are the spellings enforced by the BBC. There’s no justification for writing 'continue' as 'kontinu,' as though a Pidgin speaker wouldn’t be capable of recognizing the proper spelling.
This standardized version was crafted by the BBC out of a sense of smug virtue-signaling. If individuals who genuinely utilize Pidgin had desired a standardized format, they would have likely initiated such a project locally rather than leaving it to the BBC.
They wouldn't have required assistance from the World Service, an entity located in
London
If the BBC had paused to consider, they might have recognized how inherently colonial their approach appears.
However, as usual, Auntie believes she knows best – which is her opinion.
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