

Pupils were told by teachers: “You must not speak Pidgin because it’s bad English and it’s going to spoil your language.” As long as the society that uses it finds it useful as a tool of communication, it’s a language. Language is all about communication, said Bilkisu Labaran, Editor at BBC World Service. This site will help you learn English and improve your pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary knowledge. The BBC Pidgin service, mainly targeted at the youth, will serve as a medium for reaching larger audiences in a language that they are closely familiar with.
#Bbc pidgin english free
Bilkisu Labaran, a BBC veteran who is the editorial lead on the new service, recalls children at her school being beaten for speaking Pidgin, an English Creole. Learn English with these free learning English videos and materials from BBC Learning English. This is a tongue that was recently frowned upon, even in Nigeria. It will give the corporation contemporary relevance for younger audiences and underline its position as the lead player in African digital media. The BBC (which aims for a global reach of 500 million by its centenary year of 2022) has shown bravery and innovation with the launch of BBC Pidgin.

“It’s content produced by people who live in these regions, speak the languages and know the cultural nuances,” he explains. The new services are primarily recruiting local staff. Solomon Mugera, regional editor for BBC Africa, says the BBC’s reputation is based on the independence of its editors. There’s a nice little video featuring the presenters talking about how excited they are (We don land gidigba We’ve finally arrived) and a selection of pleased tweets (Una welcome BBCAfrica, noting better pass dan say person hear tory for him own language. Soft power does not equate to propaganda. Pidgin is the common thread in the region, BBC editor Bilkisu Labaran said. The modern media networks that will most succeed in building relations with African countries today are those that enhance the economies of their host nations and authentically represent their cultures.

The unsavoury partition of the continent by European imperial powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is known as the “scramble for Africa”. The tussle for viewers and listeners is particularly apparent in Africa, where the BBC is launching six of its 12 new language services: Afaan Oromo, Amharic and Tigrinya (all in the Horn of Africa), and Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin (all broadcasting in and around Nigeria). (Photo: AMELIE QUERFURTH/AFP/Getty Images) Pidgin takes inspiration from Portuguese, English, as well as Jamaican patois imported by former slaves returning to the continent. BBC programmer Busayo Iruemiode checks a website in Pidgin in Lagos, Nigeria.
