People Are Always Shocked To See Me Speak English Fluently – Adedoyin Kukoyi

Popular TV presenter and Nollywood actress Adedoyin Kukoyi has said that people are always surprised to see her speak English so fluently. She recently had her say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to her, just because she is a Yoruba presenter, people seem to forget that being an MSc holder boosts her command of the language.

Kukoyi added that her case is even more reason why it is very wrong to judge a book by its cover.

Her words, “It happens a lot to me, especially, when I am amongst those who are dressed corporately and I start speaking English. They are always very surprised at my command of English. Come on, I’m an MSc graduate in mass communication. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Some of us are in this because of the passion and I am proud of what I do.”

On hosting Gbajumo Osere, “The producer happened to be a friend. One of those days I went to her office and she had a concept of a programme. We were sharing different beautiful ideas. And after all of these beautiful ideas, she asked who was going to host the programme.

I volunteered but she underestimated me because it was going to be a strict 30 minutes of speaking Yoruba and not English. I saw it as a challenge because I am a Yoruba person born and brought up in Ikorodu. So I did it because she believed in me and that was how we started.”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.