Sunday, November 7, 2010

"I'm fine"

It's funny how after being here for a while we've begun to adopt Ghanaian manners of speech. This is how a typical greeting goes, and everyone replies in exactly the same way every single time!

Jacinta: How are you today?
Ghanaian: I'm fine. How are you? (the emphasis is on fine, with a long "i" sound).
J: I'm fine, thank you.
G: You're welcome (this is meant in the sense of "You are welcome here in this place").

And then you can start talking about other things. There is no variation like "Good thanks" or "Alright" - everyone is "fine" all the time.

Everyone speaks English to some degree, although some better than others. But the accent can sometimes be tricky. When Warren first arrived here he would have a translator for his daily work meetings - translating from English into... English!

Our other favourite word here is "delicious". They pronounce it like "del-i-si-yos", and the higher and longer the "i" sound is - the better they like the food!

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