Kabɩyɛ
posted by Jesse on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 6:52 am
Have you ever heard one of those “strange sounding” African languages that has all kinds of “strange sounds” that seem impossible for you to pronounce? Well, that pretty much describes Kabiye. When I first heard it I thought, “Wow, that sounds like a really difficult language!” The funny thing is that I’m just crazy enough to try to learn it!
I began lessons a few weeks ago, and so far I think it’s going pretty well. That’s probably because I have no idea yet how the language works! In the Kabiye culture, greetings are very important, so we’ve just been working on those so far. Next week we’ll start getting into verb conjugations.
In case you’re wondering what it sounds like, here’s a few clips of me trying to speak a few simple phrases:
My name is Jesse
I am from America
I am learning Kabiye
I am a teacher of God’s Word
Here is a what a typical greeting dialog sounds like:
Person 1: Ŋliwa lɛ! (Good morning.)
Person 2: Yoo, alaafiya wɛɛ? (Thanks, how’s it going?)
1: Alaafiya! (It’s going well.)
2: Ña halʋ yɔ? (And how’s your wife?)
1: Alaafiya! (She’s well.)
2: Tɔnʋʋ tayɔ? (And how’s your health?)
1: Kɩwɛ mbʋ lɛ. (I’m feeling well.)
2:Tʋmɩyɛ ñɩŋanzɩ yɔ? (And how about the fatigue from your work?)
1:Alaafiya! (It’s fine.)
It’s after this part that I get lost. When I greet somebody for the first time in Kabiye, they are shocked and excited that I’m speaking to them in their own language instead of in French. The only problem is that they assume that since I know the greetings that I am fluent, so they start talking about…well, I’m not really sure what they talk about. That’s when I have to stop them and explain in French that I’ve only started to learn Kabiye.
Kabiye is definitely a challenge, but I’m trying to take a patient approach, realizing that it will be incredibly frustrating at times. Please pray for my progress, that I will be able to communicate well in the Kabiye people’s “heart language.”
Category: ministry
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Helen Woods.
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Jesse
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Jesse
