Tag: language

A group of people all wearing clothes made from the same cloth pose with a sign for their group

The Curious Language Divide of Cameroon

May 16, 2017

While not making major international news, there have been recent splashes of Cameroon making headlines in the past few months. A very simplified explanation is that Cameroon has two official languages, French and English. The majority of the country is francophone, and the capital is solidly in the francophone area.

This had lead to discrimination against the anglophones in the country, particularly when it comes to dealing with government bureaucracies that may refuse to accommodate them. But where did this language divide come from in the first place?

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Two women talking with baskets on their heads filled with packets of crackers and cookies

6 Ghanaian Proverbs and Idioms

May 5, 2017

One of the things that I really like about living in another country and culture is learning about the various tools each culture uses for communication. In Ghana, being direct with your words can interfere with the social harmony, as so communicating indirectly via proverbs is very common. Not only that, but there are a number of idioms that can be strategically used as well. Here are some of my favorites that I’ve heard*.

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A man and young girl walking in front of a white wall with black adinkra symbols on it.

Adinkra Symbols: Communicating Without Words

March 24, 2017

It’s difficult to go anywhere in Ghana and not notice the use of artistic symbols. They are seemingly everywhere: painted on walls, in the backs of plastic chairs, painted on signs, incorporated in cloth patterns and more.

The most ubiquitous is one that is round, kind of like if the “no” symbol, a circle with a slash through it, didn’t have the circle completed and there were bumps on the middle slash. These are adinkra, a part of the Asante culture that has spread throughout Ghana.

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A man wearing a light blue and dark blue patterned cloth dances with a large smile.

A Short List of Ghana’s Major Ethnic Groups

February 10, 2017

Africa, probably more so than the other continents, is made up of countries with borders that were created without thought to the people who were living there. Ethnic groups cross these arbitrary lines on maps and some call multiple countries their homeland. These groups have different languages, customs and traditional ways of life. In Ghana, there are a few larger ethnic groups, that are often then further subdivided resulting in an estimated number of upwards of 70 languages.

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The Quirks of Ghanaian English

January 3, 2017

When I tell people I live in Ghana, one of the first questions I get asked is what language do I speak there. There are more than 70 local languages spoken throughout Ghana, but English is the national language – a holdover from the British colonization.

However, just as American English is different from British English, Ghanaian English has it’s own distinct rhythms and quirks. Here are a couple phrases you might hear in Ghana, and what they mean.

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illustration Ghana flag with silhouette of people in front

5 Things I’m Looking Forward to in Ghana

March 11, 2016

Big news for the path that I’m on: it’s taking me to Ghana for the next year! I’m very excited for this opportunity to live and work abroad, particularly because it means learning and living a new culture and a new perspective.

I’ve been reading about and researching this West African nation and I’ve narrowed down a few things that have really piqued my interest and that I’m particularly looking forward to learning and experiencing more thoroughly.

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Names, Nicknames and Honorifics in Thailand

December 9, 2014

I have a confession to make. After 23 months in Thailand, I still don’t know the names of many people I interact with, and I am well past the point where I could say, “I’m sorry, what was your name again?” And you’re probably thinking, can’t you just listen to what other people call them and figure out their names that way? But, even still, I just don’t know.

However! This is not a social flaw! There are a couple of very legitimate reasons for why I don’t know people’s names and why it’s not rude of me to be in such a position.

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I Thought in Thailand…: Misconceptions About Thailand

November 4, 2014

Recently, my parents came to visit and we went to visit some awesome places here in Thailand and I got to tell and show them all about Thai culture. There were a couple of times that they had some misconceptions about Thailand and Thai people, just like many Peace Corps volunteers did before they arrived and many people around the world do. This is not uncommon and I thought I’d share some of the common misconceptions about Thailand and Thai people.

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A Brief Introduction to Learning Thai

August 22, 2014

When I write about things here in Thailand that have Thai names, I try to include the words written in Thai alongside the transliteration of their pronunciation. I’m sure many readers completely skip over the inclusion of those words and their eyes head straight to the familiar Roman alphabet attempt at how these words sound, and I do not blame them.

These strange lines and loops and tiny plus signs can be pretty impenetrable. During pre-service training, we focused mostly on being able to listen and speak in Thai with a little emphasis on reading, but not much. But now, after 19 months of being surrounded by these strange new symbols, I feel as if I have been transplanted into the shoes of the Kindergartners that I taught in the States who would express utter delight when they could recognize a written word and try so hard to decode the words they couldn’t.

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