He is one of the many community members who truly pushes me
to learn Fulfulde, and very obviously appreciates (or at least is amused by) my
effort.
Sometimes our exchanges are as simple as a greeting. On more than one occasion, I’m pretty sure
that I accidentally agreed to be his wife (after which he simply laughed at my
foolishness by saying “Kai, Mariamma, kaiiii” – “No, Maria, nooo.”)
One of our little Fulfulde exchanges the other day was
considerably more amusing than usual.
Maria: Sannu
sobajo, jam na? [Hi friend, how are you?]
Onion Guy: Sannu,
Mariamma, sannu! Jamnitow! Jam bandu na? [Hi Maria, hi! I'm great! How are you?]
M: Jam koo dume. [I'm doing well!]
OG: A humi ha
toy? A humi Garoua na? [Where are you coming from? Are you coming from Garoua?]
M: Ooho, mi humi Garoua. [Yes, I'm coming from Garoua]
OG: A don hota? [You're going home?]
M: Kai. Mi don sooda mongoro. [Nope. I'm going to buy a mango.]
OG: A don sooda
mongoro didi? Mi don nyaama mongoro? [Are you going to buy two mangos? I'm going to eat one?]
M: Mi don sooda didi? [So I'm going to buy two?]
OG: Ooho. Mi yidi mongoro. [Yes. I want a mango.]
M: Mais tu as
tignéré! A yiday tignéré?! [But you have onions! You dont want onions?!]
OG: Kaaaaiiii! Mi nyaamay tignéré!! [Noooo! I can't eat onions!]
M: A don defa tignéré? [but you'll cook the onions?]
OG: Kaaaiii. [Nooo]
M: Okay. Mi don soota mongoro didi. [Okay, I'll buy two mangos.]
A minute later I returned with two mangos, handing one to
the onion man.
OG: Usoko! Usoko jur!! [Thanks! Thanks a lot!!]
M: Mais je vais
prendre les onions maintenant. [But I'm going to take some onions now.]
OG: Oui, ca va! C’est bien! [Yes, no problem! That's good!]
M (takes a handful of onions): Mi hoti.
Sey jango. [I'm going home. See you tomorrow.]
OG: Sey jango,
Mariamma! [See you tomorrow, Maria!]
Very Good! I will have to check my Fulfulde letter to see if any of these words are there! I am still translating! I doubt if Onion was one of the words! I see some french in there too!
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