Language

Learning to speak “Maa” is going great! when it comes to exchanging the cultural greetings that is.  It takes place every time you encounter a person- even sometimes  two times per day. It includes shaking hands followed by a series of platitudes. Its called “eating the news”:  

Hello. “Supa oleng”.

Are you fine? “Ira supat?”

Yes, I’m fine. No problems. “Ee, ara supat. Metii enyamali.”

My husband is good. “Olpayian lai esidai.”

We are peaceful. “Kiserian.”

Big rain last night. “Enchan sapuk enkewarie!”

We slept good. “Kirora esidai.”

That’s about it/That’s how it is. “Neaku taa lelo.”

And you? “O Iyie?”

 And then its the other person’s turn to give the run-down. And because they have cows and kids unlike we do, they include the fact that their cows are good and their kids are all very good, too. Perhaps it is followed with a resounding platitude of “Esidain pookin”- Everything is good! It is often after this that the real problems are discussed and the reason for their visit is brought up. 

As for the nitty gritty of learning. It is tough. We are learning the language around a lot of other demands. Our schedule is full with work, travel, and other responsibilities with the house and car repairs.  From what we hear, it is good to have a period of perhaps 6 months or a year in which you focus on language learning- meeting daily with a helper, going out daily to talk with people in the language.  Our learning is more happenstance due to the nature and demands of our work situation. The organizations that we work with on capacity building, staff development, management coaching, etc, all speak English and though we try to learn small bits around the edge, we can’t use Maa much when we are actually doing our work.

We are making progress, however.  Doug is going to start meeting with a neighbor man to work on language. I have neighbor ladies who like to come by and teach me language. Though I can’t say a lot of complicated things, I feel like I can hear and understand more as people are talking.