Languages in West Africa

Extract from my blog Doing Music in West Africa www.lukeparkerinwestafrica.blogspot.co.uk I studied languages and songs each day after lunch, which I planned to do for the first four weeks in the Gambia. There are about 8+ tribal languages in the area. Wolof (the official language), Mandinka (the most widely spoken language in West Africa), Fuller, Jola, to name but a few; theres even a language similar to Jamaican Patois called Accoo. I was learning the first two for the reasons in the above brackets as well as to be polite. Its also good to have a bit of local lingo to deal with persevering hustlers. It would make our djembe teacher Babacar crack up laughing when I kicked into it. Although just when youre feeling proud of yourself for having a brief conversation with a stranger in Wolof Wolof: Nanga def? (How are you?) Me: Mangi fi (I am here) Yo nat? (and you?) Wolof: Ja ma reck (Peace only) Nacka sooba see? (How is the morning?) Me: Sooba sangi fi (The morning is here)

or even managing to get through the four or five rounds of greetings with a Mandinka Round 1 Mandinka: Soo mo lay (How is the Morning?) Me: E bee jay (It is here)

Round 2 Mandinka: Cor tanante? (Are you with peace?) Me: Tanante (Peace) Round 3 Mandinka: Dim baya lay? (How are your family?) Me: E bee jay (They are there) Round 4 Mandinka: Kayira bay? (How is the peace?) Me: Kayira dorong (Peace only)

you then meet a Jola who says: Why havent you learnt any Jola?

NB. If you get passed three or more rounds of Mandinka, the person will smile and say a satisfactory Aha! as if something has been discovered and you cant help but feel good about it. If you stumble on round two or three, you might just get the sound of sucking teeth.