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Today, the Bible has been translated into Krio, using the standardised spelling of the language. Obviously, we can’t have the Bible being translated into numerous orthographies. A decision has to be made about the form or orthography that would be accessible to all who want to read and write in Krio. It is a question of making the alphabet available and letting it be known. Most people don’t know that there is a Krio orthography.
Another reason for knowing how to read and write Krio is that it brings one closer to understanding how to read and write the other languages of Sierra Leone because they all tend towards a phonetic alphabet.
In order to remedy the situation, speakers of Krio should first be made aware that there is a way of writing Krio. Unlike what obtained over a hundred years ago, Krio is now being used in a much wider context. Krio has become the lingua franca of Sierra Leone and is growing at a remarkable pace, responding to the needs and inputs of its growing corpus of users.
Krio people are scattered all over the world and they might want to communicate with each other in their own language. It is a question of reaching these people wherever they are and making them know that Krio is a language with its own system of spelling. One way of doing this is to publish materials in Krio and circulate them widely.
Di Krio Transleshɔn
De lɛkɛ tide, dɛn dɔn translet di wan ol baybul na Krio ɛn na di wan aksɛptɛd Krio spɛlin dɛn yuz. Klialy, i nɔ mek sɛns fɔ lɛ wi gɛt difrɛn spɛlin dɛm fɔ ɛvri baybul we dɛn pɔblish. Dɛn bin gɛt fɔ disayd us wan gren fɔm ɔ spɛlin go izi fɔ ɛnibɔdi we wan fɔ rid ɛn rayt na Krio. Most pipul nɔ no se, we de fɔ spɛl Krio wɔd dɛm.
Di ɔda rizin way wi fɔ no aw fɔ rid ɛn rayt Krio, na dat i de ɛp wi fɔ ɔndastand aw fɔ rid ɛn rayt ɔda Salon langwej dɛm, bikɔs dɛm ɔl gɛt di sem kayn alfebɛt.
Fɔ sɔlv di prɔblɛm, na fɔ mek shɔ se alman, ɔl oba di wɔl, no se, na wan gren we nɔmɔ de fɔ rayt Krio. Tide, ɔnlayk wetin bin de apin lɛkɛ wan ɔndrɛd iya bifo naw, mɔ ɛn mɔ pipul dɛm de yuz Krio ɔl oba di wɔl. Krio na Salon in lingua franca, ɛn i de prɛd fas-fas wan as pipul dɛm de yuz am fɔ du wetin dɛm nid am fɔ.
Krio pipul ɛn spika dɛm skata ɔl oba di wɔl ɛn tɛm de kam wɛn dɛn go wan fɔ tɔk to dɛnsɛf na dɛn yon langwej. Di impɔtant tin naw, na fɔ tray fɔ rich dɛm pipul ya usay ɛva dɛm de ɛn mek dɛm no se Krio na langwej wit in yon spɛlin sistɛm. Wan we fɔ du dis na fɔ mek Krio kɔmpɔlsri na di ɛdukeshɔn sistɛm, frɔm nɔzri to West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), lɛvul. Dɛn fɔ ɔlso tich am na kɔlɛj ɛn univasiti lɛvul, so dat mɔ ɛn mɔ pipul go de fɔ tich di wan dɛm we de kam biyɛn. Dɛn pipul ya go ɔlso bi di wan dɛm we go rayt ɛn pɔblish matiryal dɛm lɛkɛ tɛks buk, fikshɔn buk dɛm, nyuzpepa, akadɛmik jɔnal ɛn ɔda matiryal dɛm na Krio, ɛn skata dɛm ɔl oba di wɔl.