"Da Jesus Book" Is The Best Bible Translation

"You know, God neva send me, his Boy, inside da world fo punish da peopo."

This is the New Testament in Hawaiian Pidgin.

Via chewsone.tumblr.com

(Footnote: the middle chapter of "Cloud Atlas" was based in Hawaiian Pidgin.)

Via matavuvale.tumblr.com

grobgobglobgrod-desu.tumblr.com

When plantation workers came to Hawaii from Asia, Europe, and South America in the 19th Century, they needed a common language to share with the locals. By the 1920's, Hawaiiwan Pidgin was so widely spoken that textbooks began to be written in it. Want to hear Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" in pidgin? You're in luck.

The language has loan words from Japanese, Portuguese, Cantonese, Mexican Spanish, and Korean. It has its own grammar. Talk about a young, multicultural tongue.

According to the publisher's website, 27 local Hawaiians have been translating "Da Jesus Book" from 1987 to 2000.

tumblr.com

"Dey all volunteer peopo dat stay talk Pidgin from small kid time," the site says. "Dey give couple hour every week fo translate."

It was edited by Wycliffe USA, the world's biggest Bible translation publisher.

In sum: