By Oratokhai Jesusemen O
Nigerian singer Simi has opened up about a culture shock she experienced in Kenya when she found out that pidgin English wasn’t spoken by all Africans. The singer appeared as a guest on a 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 asked, ‘Can you translate?’ and I go, ‘What 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.
“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 said.
Simi’s revelation underscores the rich linguistic diversity across Africa and highlights the unique cultural identities within the continent. Pidgin English, while prevalent in Nigeria and some West African countries, is not a universal lingua franca across Africa. This realization often comes as a surprise to many who assume a more homogenized cultural landscape.
The singer’s experience in Kenya sheds light on the importance of understanding and appreciating the distinct languages and dialects that define different African regions. It also emphasizes the role of language in cultural identity and communication. While pidgin English serves as a unifying and informal mode of communication in Nigeria, other African countries have their own unique languages and dialects that serve similar purposes.
Moreover, Simi’s anecdote about her daughter learning pidgin English at home illustrates how language traditions are passed down through generations, even in multicultural and multilingual environments. This familial practice of speaking pidgin English helps preserve a sense of cultural heritage and offers a practical means of communication within the family and with friends.
