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I used to think all Africans spoke pidgin English - Simi

pulse.ng 2 days ago

She says that even her daughter speaks pidgin English.

Singer Simi [Instagram/Symplysimi]
Singer Simi [Instagram/Symplysimi]

The singer appeared as a guest on the recent episode of the 90's Baby Show, where she highlighted the previous misconception she had about pidgin English, a form of broken English commonly spoken by Nigerians.

Narrating her experience from a previous visit 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 described that experience as a culture shock because, at the time, she assumed that pidgin English was generally spoken in Africa.

"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?" Simi asked.

She also revealed that her 4-year-old daughter Adejare also speaks a little pidgin because she and her husband, Adekunle Gold, speak it at home.

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