Malaria Mondays - Adventures in Ghana and Beyond

An account, mostly true, of six months of an American college student's adventures across three continents, fraught with danger, passion, derring-do, beautiful damsels, evil villians...and you get the drift. My semester abroad, for your consideration.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Alrighty, so today's little slice of life from Ghana - A Ghanaian-English dictionary! Here are some Twi phrases that I use on a regular basis (spelled as close to phonetic accuracy as I can manage), plus some Ghanaian-isms that have worked their way into my vocabulary. This way, when I come up to you and say "obruni, ete sen?!?!" when I get back, you'll know to say "boko!"

TWI

ete sen - How are you; the stock greeting in Ghana since there is no word for hello in Twi
eye - good
boko - cool (the hip response to "ete sen")
papaapa - very (so "eye papaapa" would be "very good")
Wo begye sen Osu? - How much is your fare for Osu (usefu;l for taxi negotiations)
Me paakye, te so - I'm sorry, please lower (the fare)...note: "ky" is pronounced like the English "ch"
Mepe kwedu - I like bananas
Me yam me ya - My stomach hurts (I don't typically have to use this, but it's good to know)
Draeba, fa nifa/benkum/ko wanimtee - Driver, take a right/left/go straight
Wo te hine? - Where do you stay/live?
Wo firi hine? - Where are you from?
Mempe fufuo - I don't like fufu
Ma me sika - Give me money (more often said to me than said by me...)
obruni - white person
obibini - black person
obruni, bra! - White man, come here! (Usually used after the obruni tries the "walking away when bargaining to get a better price" stunt)
Nyame - God
Megye Nyame di - I believe in God (literally I take God and eat/swallow; an interesting way of understanding what it means to believe in something!)

English Ghanaianisms

small-small - very small (used constantly by Ghanaians and now me)
As in: "Please draeba, my money is small-small...te so"

I go and come - I'll be right back
As in: "Please sir, I go and come in five minutes"

the (object) it is finished - We're out of (object)
As in: "Please, no Fanta - it is finished"

I give you good price - Denotation: I'll give you a fair price. Connotation: This object is either a piece of crap so I'll sell it cheap, or it's reasonable quality and I'm going to take you to the cleaner's.
As in: "Obruni, bra! I give you good price for the necklace!"

HISSSSSSS - Hey, you! (West African societies tend to hiss to get people's attention...please do NOT be offended if I slip and do this when I want to say something to you and your back is turned!!!)

That's it for now with those...there are plenty of others, but you'll likely get to discover them on your own.

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