Nigerian artist Simi has shared her experience of being surprised in Kenya when she discovered that not all Africans speak pidgin English, causing her to feel a cultural shock.
The vocalist made an appearance as a special guest on the latest episode of the 90’s Baby Show, where she discussed her previous misunderstanding of pidgin English, a type of simplified English often spoken by Nigerians.
Sharing her personal encounter during a past trip to Kenya.
She said, “I went to Kenya years ago, and we were supposed to do a remix of my song with a Kenyan artist, and then there is a lot of pidgin in the song. They asked me to write my lyrics down and then ask, ‘Can you translate?’ and I go, ‘What the fuck do you mean translate? It’s English. It’s pidgin, but it’s English.”
Simi characterized that encounter as a cultural shock since she initially believed that pidgin English was commonly spoken throughout Africa.
Simi said, “Before then, I had thought that everybody in Africa could speak pidgin the way we speak pidgin, so that was a culture shock for me. I thought these were our people; are we not the same?”
In addition, she disclosed that her 4-year-old daughter Adejare has also picked up some pidgin language as both she and her husband, Adekunle Gold, speak it in their household.
She said, “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”.
