LEARN WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN(NIGERIAN PIDGIN/CREOLE) WITH ME|| BY @ubongudofot

Image designed by me with Pixalb

Hello my skilled and unskilled friends, how are you all doing? Actually, it’s morning here in Nigeria. I know it could afternoon, evening, or even Night in your location, but whatever it is, I want to warmly welcome you to my blog this morning.

So, what actually triggered me to write this publication is because of the experience I had a few days ago on one of the marketing sites, Fiverr. So, I got a message from some in Armenia who asked me if I could help translate Standard English to Nigerian Pidgin. I responded, positively and we had a conversation on how to achieve that.
Actually, this is not the first time, I receive such an invitation of job from there. Most times people refer other clients to me.

A chat with a client from Armenia requesting a translation of publication

And I have done such translation to many as well. So, what’s my point in bringing this up here?
I see it as a nice thing teaching Nigerian pidgin (Creole) here on the @steemitblog. Trust me, it will be a very nice thing. And one thing you should also note is that Nigerian pidgin (Creole) is not only used and understood by only Nigerians but other West African Countries like Ghana, Cameron, Serra Leone, Liberia, Kenya, etc.

Most people regard the language as West African Pidgin. So, it has a very large audience and so many tend to flow very well using that to communicate in these various countries. Foreigners also take time to learn this language in other to have a good conversation with members of this country. Sometimes, most folks speak it as something to catch fun with, and it is really interesting.

It will interest you to know that this language is spoken by over 500 million people both in Nigeria and across the world, so you can imagine that the language is actually growing and some tertiary institutions are teaching since it has become in high demand in society today. Most radio stations make daily use of it both for programs and news broadcasting.

Trust me, you will hardly hear any Nigerian Song today without pidgin English. You can actually enjoy a beautiful song here by 1da Banton entitled: No wahala. The song is played in Nigerian pidgin, and what he is saying in pidgin is that Problems or issues will never go away or will not be exhausted in our lives, but in as much as we go through this, we should try and enjoy our life as we can.

Are you planning to visit Nigeria or any of the listed countries above? Why not take time to learn a few phrases perhaps a few common greetings in Nigerian pidgin, trust me, the reception you will have would be much more interesting compared to if you use standard English. And one interesting thing about Nigerian is that it is pronounced the way it is written.

WHAT IS PIDGIN?

Pidgin is a sub-language that is created by two or more groups of folks who don’t have one language as a means of communication especially when there is a need to communicate.
And it is important to learn it because it can help one to flow well with people of different backgrounds both learned and none learned.

LEARN A FEW COMMON PHRASES AND WHERE TO USE THEM

• How far?

How far simply means “Hello”.

• Dash me money abeg

Give me money, please.

So, a dash here means “give”.

• How you dey?

This simply means “How are you doing?”

Though there are other ways of saying that, like “How far nah?” or “How body?”
And you could reply, “I dey fine” which means “I am fine”, that is if you are fine, but if you are not fine, you could say, “I no dey fine” which means “I am not fine”.

• I wan buy Something

This means “I want to buy something”.

• You do well

This is simply an appreciation which means, “Thank you”.

• You too fine

This simply means “You look good”, “you are beautiful”, or “you are cute” depending on whom you are referring to.

• I dey H, I wan chop

I dey H means “I am starving” whereas I wan chop means “I want to eat”.

Note: chop in Standard English means to slice something or hack, but in Nigerian pidgin, it means “Food” or “Consume”.

• Abeg you fit help Me?

This simply means, “could you please help me?”.

Abeg means “please”.

• My Name Na..

This means “My name is..”

• Wetin be your Name?

This means “what is your Name”.

• Nah

Nah means “is”.

• Wetin

Wetin means “What”.

• Wahala

Wahala means “Trouble/problem”.

• Belle dey sweet me

This sentence simply means “I am happy”.

WORKSHOP TIME

So in this workshop, I am going to write a little message(article) in both Nigerian pidgin and Standard English. The practice is simple, just pronounce those words the way it is written. If you want to confirm if your pronunciation is accurate, please feel free to drop your voice note on my telegram @ubongudofot.
Below is the article:

STANDARD ENGLISH

"I am coming to your house"

NIGERIAN PIDGIN(CREOLE)

"I dey come your house"

CONCLUSION

As we all know, the steemit platform is not filled with only bloggers who write content every day. There are people who just invest their money here and they don’t post publications. Most of them can’t write or read well, YES, but they can communicate with alternative languages like Pidgin. Sometimes, when you use much standard English here in some parts of Africa, many people tend to lose interest in your message. So, it would be wise if this is also introduced into the system. This is just a suggestion though. You are free to make more suggestions about this using the comment section.

I will teach you West African Pidgin(Creole)

About Me