Pidgin on campus in UBa

 PIDGIN; THE ORDER OF THE DAY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BAMENDA.

            By Lum Precious

Conversations in Pidgin while in lecture hall

University students have failed to exercise the use of the English language on campus as a primary language in an Anglo-Saxon university. 

Pidgin out of class

These students have made it a habit to discuss and interact in pidgin while on campus. Seen on the streets, on campus and in lecture halls, students converse in pidgin English before or even after lectures. Pidgin English has become the most used language by almost every individual on campus. 

After class conversation in pidgin

Despite in an Anglo-Saxon university, these students say they prefer to speak in pidgin reasons being that, it is the language they are comfortable and versed with while amongst their peers and friends. after observing these behaviors, in a quest to find out the raison d’etre for students’ choice of pidgin, I caught up with some interesting reasons and how this pidgin English has affected and is affecting them

Yannick Awa is a first-year master’s student in the department of management and he denotes that “pidgin is common because it is a language that students do not only speak in school but also out of school. So irrespective of the campus they will always speak in pidgin. You can find most of them speaking in English only when they are in class or when they are talking to higher authorities or lectures”. He continues to say that, “pidgin can affect students English in that they will be find it difficult to carry out a presentation in front of their peers fluently and not in pidgin English” 

Meanwhile Ambe Bless a student from the faculty of science reveals that “I cannot respond to someone who speaks in pidgin in English; it makes it look like you are too pompous and you know too much, thereby belittling the person”. As a reminder of how it affects their expression in English, Bless depicts that “if you speak pidgin too much, at some point, it becomes part of you. In some interview or any important conversation where you are required to speak in English and you cannot, then you may loose whatever opportunity that was available” he says.

Ironically, though these students have confessed their love for pidgin, it is worth noting that they are versed and familiar with the repercussion that comes with speaking pidgin. Though pidgin destroys our fluency in English, it is important to just understand the language because it is a form of communication in the suburbs to pass across vital information