Learning British

I live in Senegal.  There are language and culture differences.

Sounds pretty obvious and simple, doesn’t it?

What I wouldn’t have expected though, are how many of the language and culture differences I experience on a daily basis are not between me and Senegalese people, but between me and my British, French, or German colleagues.  It makes you think.  God created a big, big, beautifully, wonderfully, diverse, multi-lingual world full of millions of people, each of them unique.  Amazing.

So, on a lighter note, I’ve enjoyed and been amused by some of the language differences between American English,  British English, English English, and Northern Irish English.  (Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain/ the United Kingdom.  Ruth, my dear friend and roommate is from Northern Ireland.)

Here's a list of some, but nowhere near all the word differences

In British.....

Flapjacks aren’t pancakes, but a delicious bar cookie sort of thing

Biscuits are cookies

Crisps are chips

Chips are French fries

Pants are underwear

A flat is an apartment

Lovely is a word regularly used to describe a person’s personality

In Northern Irish English, ‘wee’ is a use-whenever-you want adjective.  A wee nap, wee cup of tea, wee girl.  It usually means small, but not always.

Ming  means dirty or disgusting (There are ants all over the kitchen- ming!  Take off your shoes, they’ve got ming from the road on them.)

Math is math in American English, maths pronounced like mathz in Northern Irish English, and maths pronounced like maths in English English (or, as my English friend David would say, ‘proper’ English)

Porridge is oatmeal

Pudding can mean any type of dessert

Herbal is pronounced the way it’s spelled

Not a language difference, but a culture one: non-Americans don’t eat fruit during a meal with the main dish.  Fruit is dessert or part of the dessert. 

And that’s enough for now.

Enjoy some Christmas biscuits, or a handful of crisps, take advantage of the cold weather and put on a jumper, and maybe even have a lie in or take a wee nap today.

Language and Weather

Hey.

Sorry to leave you hanging there for so long.  I had a few busy weeks followed by a few weeks without Internet.

Soooo, to expand on the “food for thought” questions I left you with last time, here are some thoughts.

First, the languages and reading here.

I never cease to be amazed at people’s skill with language here.  Most of the people who attended the teacher training I just observed spoke four languages at least semi-fluently:

            ~Manjak, their first language

            ~Mandinka, the language of the largest people group in their region

            ~Wolof, the language of the largest people group in Senegal and a common language throughout the country

            ~French, the language of schools and the government – a leftover from the colonial era’.   And several spoke other Senegalese languages as well and could do basic greetings and conversation in English.

            Everyone in this group could read in both French and Manjak, but not easily.  Not easily at all for several of them.  Very few people read for pleasure in Senegal, the written word is not ever-present, and school is in a language all but the very best brightest struggle to understand for most of their schooling experience.  So literacy at a functional level happens for some, but a truly fluent, comfortable level for very few.

It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around it.

Second, the heat without a fan.

Well, the apartment where I live and building where I work both have generators and fans, so I haven’t had too much hot weather with no relief.

            BUT most people don’t have generators, and in Dakar there are often power cuts of several hours several times a week, and in other places MUCH more.  AND, many people don’t have fans because they are not cheap and running them requires electricity, which can be expensive.

Before I came here, I thought people who were from hot places didn’t really notice or mind the heat.  Not.  True.  When I think it’s really hot, Senegalese people do too.

And finally, living by the ocean.

It catches me by surprise every time I’m in the car and realize I can see the ocean.  I can hardly believe that I could go to the ocean whenever I want.  The first two weeks of November I got to experience living right next to river.  That was pretty great too!

The Beginning

I don’t have much time right now, but I didn’t want you to come to my blog and see nothing at all.  This blog is a new adventure for me, like my life in Senegal.  I don’t know exactly what it will be like.  I hope this blog isn’t a waste of your time or mine.  So to make sure this post isn’t, here is some food for thought.

Can you imagine being bi or tri lingual and being able to read in only one of the languages?

Can you imagine not being able to read at all?

Can you imagine 80 degree weather with no air conditioning or fan?

Can you imagine living in a city surrounded by an ocean?

Think about it, and I’ll get back to you later.

Laura