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I used to think all Africans spoke pidgin English – Simi
Nigerian artist Simi shared a culture shock she experienced in Kenya regarding the use of pidgin English, a form of broken English commonly spoken in Nigeria. Speaking on the 90’s Baby Show, Simi recounted an incident where she assumed everyone in Africa could understand pidgin English.
“I went to Kenya years ago to do a remix of my song with a Kenyan artist. There’s a lot of pidgin in the song, and they asked me to write down my lyrics and then requested a translation. I was surprised and asked, ‘What do you mean translate? It’s English. It’s pidgin, but it’s English,'” Simi explained.
She described this realization as a culture shock because she had previously believed that pidgin English was widely understood across Africa.
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“Before then, I had thought that everybody in Africa could speak pidgin the way we speak it. So that was a culture shock for me. I thought these were our people; are we not the same?” Simi expressed.
Simi also mentioned that her 4-year-old daughter, Adejare, has picked up some pidgin because she and her husband, Adekunle Gold, often speak it at home. “My daughter even started speaking pidgin by herself because we speak it around her, to our friends. So sometimes she would be like, ‘Wetin you do o,’ and I love that because you need to have a gossip language around people,” Simi added, highlighting the informal and communal nature of pidgin in their household.
In addition, Simi shared her views on men being open about their feelings, expressing a deep appreciation for vulnerability during a discussion on the 90’s Baby Show.
“I find it beautiful when men cry because I am surrounded by so many men that feel like they have to be macho all the time or they have to be strong,” she began, acknowledging the societal pressure on men to constantly project strength and toughness.