The Off Topic Topic

[Richard Hakluyt]

Why is the BBC article in pidgin? 

And Bukele is a piece of work. Him wanting to make digital currency legal tender in El Salvador is the least of the country's problems. He's a millenial wannabe strongman.

It will be part of the World Service.

Also available in French and loads of other languages https://www.bbc.com/afrique/monde-57391663 https://www.bbc.com/russian

etc

[The Larch]

I always assumed that Pidgin was a generic term rather than a specific language. Is it official anywhere in the world?

[Duque de Bragança]

I always assumed that Pidgin was a generic term rather than a specific language. Is it official anywhere in the world?

We need to ask Hilário.

[garbon]

https://www.bbc.com/russian

I accidentally mis-edited link to https://www.bbc.com/r and this popped up:

[Josquius]

Why is the BBC article in pidgin? 

And Bukele is a piece of work. Him wanting to make digital currency legal tender in El Salvador is the least of the country's problems. He's a millenial wannabe strongman.

Didn't notice at all. Read the article on my phone and quickly googled it up on my computer to show the picture.
Why the hell is google serving me pidgin articles as the priority.

[celedhring]

"The milennial dictator" is something I'd expect in a sketch show, not reality.

[The Larch]

Why is the BBC article in pidgin? 

And Bukele is a piece of work. Him wanting to make digital currency legal tender in El Salvador is the least of the country's problems. He's a millenial wannabe strongman.

Didn't notice at all. Read the article on my phone and quickly googled it up on my computer to show the picture.
Why the hell is google serving me pidgin articles as the priority.

If you read that and didn't immediately recognize that there was something funky going on then I don't think you were paying much attention. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Why is the BBC article in pidgin? 

And Bukele is a piece of work. Him wanting to make digital currency legal tender in El Salvador is the least of the country's problems. He's a millenial wannabe strongman.

Didn't notice at all. Read the article on my phone and quickly googled it up on my computer to show the picture.
Why the hell is google serving me pidgin articles as the priority.

That'll be the woke London msm having misconceptions about NE England 

[Sheilbh]

I always assumed that Pidgin was a generic term rather than a specific language. Is it official anywhere in the world?

I think it sort of is. But it's based in Lagos. So I assume BBC News Pidgin must have some take-up in West Africa:

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin

I imagine there's no text but quite a lot of common understanding by speakers - maybe a bit like creole French in the Caribbean?

Edit: Although I imagine for purposes of media/world service broadcasting official language status probably matters less than how widely it is spoken? Yeah just checked and there is a Nigerian Pidgin Google too.

[garbon]

Why is the BBC article in pidgin? 

And Bukele is a piece of work. Him wanting to make digital currency legal tender in El Salvador is the least of the country's problems. He's a millenial wannabe strongman.

Didn't notice at all. Read the article on my phone and quickly googled it up on my computer to show the picture.
Why the hell is google serving me pidgin articles as the priority.

That'll be the woke London msm having misconceptions about NE England 

Is it a misconception if the content is considered intelligible?

[Richard Hakluyt]

The fact that Tyr didn't even notice is suspicious 

[The Larch]

I always assumed that Pidgin was a generic term rather than a specific language. Is it official anywhere in the world?

I think it sort of is. But it's based in Lagos. So I assume BBC News Pidgin must have some take-up in West Africa:

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin

I imagine there's no text but quite a lot of common understanding by speakers - maybe a bit like creole French in the Caribbean?

Edit: Although I imagine for purposes of media/world service broadcasting official language status probably matters less than how widely it is spoken? Yeah just checked and there is a Nigerian Pidgin Google too.

As I mentioned in my other post my curiosity was mostly because to me pidgin is a generic term rather than a specific language, so I was wondering what exactly was this particular pidgin being employed. Same with creole, for instance, in which the word by itself is also a generic term but can refer to specific languages like the Haitian Creole that is for instance one of Haiti's official languages.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah and I think you're right - but it's mutually comprehensible even though it's not formalised anywhere. So that's Nigerian Pidgin but, based on the Ghana section, can be understood in Ghana too - and of course there's probably not a formal Nigerian Pidgin either (yet).

Edit: In a way I suspect Google and news sites etc will be how it formalises into a more fixed language and possibly spreads to other bits of West Africa as well?

[Josquius]

I mean I read the article, entirely in regular English, on my phone. Googled it on my computer and took the first result, saw it had the picture from the one I had read, assumed it was the same one (it was just the headline and picture I wanted anyway) and posted.

[Eddie Teach]

El Presidente copied Kevin Smith's look.