Next Gen Krios' Krio-English Dictionary

Having a dictionary like this is so amazing for those learning Krio and fluent Krio speakers to keep the Krio language alive and authentic as it’s easy to mix English words and think it’s Krio. This is such a brilliant idea and thanks to all who contributed in this fine project. Your idea led some of us on a road to look for more Krio books and stories and cultural artifacts! Keep up the good work!

Published in August 2022, this 397-page book includes a Krio-English dictionary, an English-Krio dictionary, a history of the Krio language and a section on Krio grammar. The book is published in paperback and the front and back covers are attractively designed with an image of the Cotton Tree on the front cover and an image of a woman dressed in traditional Krio garb on the back cover. The authors of the book are a group of self-described young Krios in Sierra Leone and the diaspora.This dictionary fills an important space between the dictionary written by Clifford N. Fyle and Eldred D. Jones, A Krio-English Dictionary, published in 1980 and the Krio Dictionary & Phrasebook written by Hanne-Ruth Thompson and Momoh Taziff Koroma, published in 2014. Unlike the work by Fyle and Jones, the Next Gen Krios’ Krio-Inglish Dikshoneri has a section in which English words are translated into Krio. With “over 16,000” word entries it includes more words than the work by Thompson and Koroma.The Next Gen Krios’ Krio-Inglish Dikshoneri very usefully includes words for ideas, things or concepts that were not around, or not important, in 1980 when the Fyle and Jones work was published: words like intanet, imel and faks. Curiously, while the back cover of the book touts its 16,00 word entries, certain words are unexplainably left out of the dictionary. Here are two examples: plasas and keke. It would be interesting to know what editorial decisions caused these two words to be left out of the dictionary; or perhaps, they were left out by oversight.All in all, the Next Gen Krios' Krio-Inglish Dikshoneri is a useful work. I would recommend it to others who study the Krio language or are learning the language. I am happy that I purchased it to add to my collection of written materials on the Krio language.