http://www.itwebafrica.com/internet/237-nigeria/230544-supersport-targets-nigerian-pidgin-english-football-fans

Supersport targets Nigerian Pidgin English football fans
Published on 24 January 2013
By Gareth van Zyl .
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Phrases such as ‘How Bodi’, meaning how are you, and ‘I Wan Chop’, meaning I want to eat, are common Pidgin English phrases heard on the streets of Lagos.

But this lingua franca - spoken by over 70 million Nigerians- has moved from the streets to a football website run by South African headquartered broadcaster Supersport.

Pidgin English on a Supersport football website ng.supersport.mobi has grabbed Twitter users’ attention this week, especially following the kickoff of the African Cup of Nations football tournament.

And the sports broadcaster, which has television channels available on DStv packages throughout Africa, has told ITWeb Africa that it has been experimenting with Pidgin English on its websites for about 6 months, culminating in the launch of the ng.supersport.mobi site last December.

The website has both standard English and Pidgin English editorial content focusing on all of the major football leagues, as well as Nigerian football, says Supersport.

“We know that Nigerians are hungry for football content, and we know that local content is often difficult to source,” Graeme Cumming, general manager portals at Supersport, tells ITWeb Africa.

“We have also had some experience with running Africa's biggest reality show in the form of Big Brother Africa. One only has to look at the number of Pidgin English comments on our Big Brother website and Facebook page to understand the need for experimenting with original Pidgin content,” Cumming adds.

Cumming says Supersport does not have figures on how many Pidgin readers it has exactly. But he explains that the broadcasters mobile website audience is one of the biggest on the continent, attracting upwards of one million unique users each month.

Nigerian Pidgin English football fans have taken notice of the Supersport website by offering their feedback.

“Shoo,e gud ooo,for people like me wey no hear english wella, at least they came to my level,” reads a comment from Yomieluv on an online discussion forum on Nairaland.com.

Another commentator, who goes by the name of donroxy, said in a post on Nairaland.com, “Kudos 2 supersport.....Abegi leave am, no toush am!!!!”

However, Supersport’s Pidgin English site has also drawn criticism.

“If this was done to attract readers who can not read english, then it is unnecessary. Reading pidgin requires a skill inaccessible to people who cannot read english,” says Orgasticdance on Nairaland.com.

Another commentator, who goes by the name ‘dmcdad’ on Nairaland.com, says, “I don't really appreciate using pidgin to write articles cuz it's quite difficult comprehending with it.”

With feedback being both positive and negative, Supersport is nevertheless pushing ahead with the initiative, saying it has employed Nigerians as part of its content team. The company says it has also hired out freelancers to produce stories for the website.

And those running the football site may be hoping that their readers continue to ‘listen well well” (pay attention) to what they’re doing.

http://www.itwebafrica.com/internet/237-nigeria/230544-supersport-targets-nigerian-pidgin-english-football-fans