He said the job had required creativity because many words found in English versions of the Bible had no exact equivalent in pidgin.

He wanted to improve the understanding of the Bible in the fervently religious country, where English is the official language, but not the mother tongue for millions of people. The Pidgin Bible is the result of three years of solitary labour by amateur translator Salem Egoh. 'Each time I am reading it in church they are always very excited because it is like identifying with the language of the people.'

'Most people here, they are not properly schooled, you know, and so we do more pidgin English here,' said pastor Ben Akpevwe, who has been using the Pidgin Bible during services at his church in the down-at-heel Ejigbo neighbourhood in Lagos. Sometimes called pidgin English, the language is widely used and understood across regions and ethnic groups in the nation of 200 million people, although most books and newspapers on sale in Nigeria are in English. LAGOS, July 14 (Reuters) - At the Heavenly Citizen's Church in Lagos, the pastor and congregation have adopted a new tool to help them understand Christian scripture: the first Bible translated into Nigerian pidgin.

Hawaiian pidgin translation