Afi, This is really nice! I had never thought about things like "house-mouth", "house-stomach", "house-buttock" and "meat-girl". I'm wondering why we used to say "We are going to "door-mouth" *(jotile*) instead of "house-mouth" as the Dutch lady is saying.
Ben On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 3:12 AM, George Afi Obitre-Gama <[email protected]>wrote: > A new year, a new language, more > confusion<http://africraigs.travellerspoint.com/129/> > Why can't everyone speak English? > 16.01.2013 [image: sunny] 30 °C > Learning a new language and culture is like discovering a new world, > opening your eyes and mind to completely amazing and strange ideas, some > shocking, some fascinating, most unexpected. > Since the beginning of the new year, we have a new teacher, Eunice, who is > hoping to make us into fluent Lugbara speakers within a few months… Lugbara > is the local tribe in Arua, one of the 10 largest tribes in Uganda (out of > a total of 34 ethnicities). The Lugbara are a tribe descended from > Nigeria to settle here. Their territory extends around Arua and into the > Democratic Republic of Congo, so families have been split by the arbitrary > political boundaries drawn by the Europeans in Berlin in 1884. > Disconcertingly, we seem to be a source of great amusement for most of the > ex-pats when we tell them we are taking this time to study Lugbara. “Good > luck”, they tell us. They then go on to tell you a story of someone who has > been attempting the language for many years and haven’t gotten very far. > Some compare the language to Chinese, saying it is one of the most > difficult languages in the world to learn. It is quite depressing hearing > this, obviously… Additionally, having grown up in Congo and learning > Swahili there, having lived in Malawi and Kenya and trying to learn the > languages there, while being exposed to various other African languages, it > is frustrating to have to start at zero like a baby once again….those > languages are nothing like Lugbara! > Most whites don’t even bother to learn Lugbara especially since this tribe > is only one of 5 in the close vicinity of one another. For example, the > Alur are settled on the outskirts of Arua town. Their language is close to > the Luo language which we were learning in Kenya. To make it even worse, > there are sub-sections of the Lugbara tribe with variations in the way > words are said. Whoopee to learning a difficult language which is only > spoken by a few and which is nothing like any other language we have ever > heard! > [image: Eunice, in action, confusing us] > Eunice, in action, confusing us > > Eunice is a good teacher, though, having patience with us as we sit on the > veranda trying to repeat what on earth she has just said. As a Lugbara, she > is also good at turning up late, demonstrating how a Lugbara should act. As > Lilian, another Lugbara who works for us says, “Lugbaras is not following > time, ha!” and laughs out loud. So, anyway, she is almost an hour late > today, but since we live in Africa, you never know what may have happened. > It could be a relative has just died and she has to go to the funeral. > Despite the issue of time-keeping, which especially bothers Emma, Eunice > has been effective at moving us on in the language. Emma and I already feel > more confident using some simple phrases and greetings. For example, I was > particularly proud when I asked for 10 eggs the other day in the local > wooden duka close to our home. “Ife mani augbe mundri”. The word for egg > 'augbe' is spoken as though you are swallowing an egg... > One of the problems of learning Lugbara is that the same words can mean > completely different things. So, for instance, the word for sauce, “tibi”, > is the same word for ‘beard’, just with a different tone. Emma wonders if > this has anything to do with someone’s long beard dragging in their gravy > once upon a time. There are other examples, though the best so far is the > word ‘ago’, which if intonated differently, can either mean ‘husband’ or > ‘pumpkin’. A phrase like ‘my beautiful fiancée’ can also come across as ‘my > beautiful warthog’, so any wannabe suitors need to be pretty careful in > this town… > Emma also uses a lot of imagination when it comes to remembering the > Lugbara phrases or words. So, for instance, the word for peanuts is ‘funo’ > (foon-oh). Emma thinks of little peanuts bouncing around and having a lot > of fun. It can be a bit of a tentative or weird link at times. She is > constantly whispering to me how I can remember a word. Awupi (A-whoopee) is > the word for Aunt on your dad’s side. Obviously, this conjures up thoughts > of playing a trick with my Auntie Barbara with a whoopee cushion…’Fetaa’ > (feta) means gift and so it is remembered by thinking of giving someone a > gift of cheese. I often wish I had had Emma as a study partner for my IGCSE > or IB exams in Holland as I would not have spent so many lost hours staring > blankly at walls trying to cram boring information into my struggling mind. > Alongside Emma's visual mind, we are also discovering that Lugbara is > quite a visual language. The word for ‘fingers’, for example, is > ‘hand-children’. This also works for ‘toes’ (foot children). The word for > door translates directly as ‘house-mouth’. The floor is the > ‘house-stomach’. Today, we learnt that veranda is the ‘joeti’ or ‘house > buttocks’!! You can’t make this stuff up, eh? It’s great! > Onomatopoeia is often used as well in the language. 'Kulukulu' > (koo-loo-koo-loo) is the name for a turkey and on hearing the sound a > turkey makes the other day when passing a homestead, I really thought it > described it well. Barking is ‘agbo-agbo’, crying is 'owu- owu' (oh-woo) > and laughing is 'ogu- ogu' (oh-goo). I can’t remember any of these sound > words properly and instead guess by making any noise that I think would > fit. It unfortunately doesn’t work. One of our favourite onomatopoeiatic > words is the word for butterfly ‘alapapa’, just like the sound of little > wings beating! > Language can also be an intimate doorway into the culture. We couldn’t > believe t, when Eunice explained the word for ‘girl’ is made up of 2 words > in Lugbara, ‘za’ meaning ‘meat’ and ‘mva’ meaning ‘child’! 'Meat-child!' > Girls have been seen as great little earners in a family by providing a > dowry of up to 20 head of cattle and 15 goats and extras like bows and > arrows and hoes. > However, so many of the traditions have been changing here as the pressure > of our Western culture pervades and invades. Loin cloths have been out > since the 1950s or 60s (Maybe this is a good thing. I can’t see the Craig > family sauntering down the road semi-nude in Arua, and it would make an > embarrassing family photo). Instead, though, everyone is wearing > second-hand Western clothes. Out is the tradition to remove your 6 front > teeth using only a hammer and some herbs to encourage healing of your mouth > afterwards (I’m also thankful this is not practised anymore), and marking > the skin by cuts with a razor in adolescence is now stopped. However, as > Eunice explained, the rather exaggerated buttocks size in women is still > favoured by the culture, especially if the buttocks also jiggles while > walking. > All-in-all, though pretty tiring, it is really interesting learning the > language and culture. It definitely does show how very different we > Westerners are (especially compared to the recent past) and so will help us > understand how to approach people more effectively. We are hoping > knowledge of the language can help us build relationships and get > alongside people better (until we meet others from the next tribe along who > don’t have a clue what we are saying…). > [image: Eunice, Lilian and all of us outside on the 'house-buttocks' in > the 'house-mouth'] > Eunice, Lilian and all of us outside on the 'house-buttocks' in the > 'house-mouth' > > [image: Amelie in the jokoni] > Amelie in the jokoni > > _______________________________________________ > WestNileNet mailing list > [email protected] > http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet > > WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including > attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. > _______________________________________________ > > -- *Bernard B. Obaa (Ph.D)* Department of Extension and Innovation Studies, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University Kampala, P.O Box 7062 Kampala, Uganda Email: [email protected] Phone: +256-772-660006
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