|
Languages
As we pass through different countries and language areas, we are trying to pick up a few words of the local language. The distribution of languages in Africa is immensely complicated, and it's not all that unusual to be trying to speak one language in the morning and a different one in the afternoon! As you can imagine, we've only learnt a small amount of most of these languages - the links below open a new window with the words and phrases we have found useful. The Rough Guides to West Africa and Morocco contain lots more information.
Fortunately, the official language in most of the countries we've passed through so far has been either English, French or Portuguese. Although not everyone speaks these languages, most people in the cities do, and in the villages and countryside there is usually someone nearby who can interpret. Having said that, attempts (however bad) to use a few words of the local language go down incredibly well and avoid the need to look for an interpreter
every time you want to buy something!
We'll be adding more languages to this list as we come across them.
- Arabic is the one of the official languages in Morocco (alongside French). Although most people speak French, some older people don't - and you will find that just being able to say "hello" in Arabic is really appreciated. In Mauritania, the dialect is Hassaniya, which is a heavily Berber-influenced form of Arabic - but for practical purposes you'll be understood using these words and phrases.
- Wolof is an important West African language, spoken in southern Mauritania, all of Senegal, and parts of the Gambia.
- Mandinka is the main language in the Gambia, particularly along the south bank of the river.
- Jola or Diola is the language of the Casmanance area of southern Senegal. As we passed through in a few days we only picked up a few words. Not to be confused with Dioula (see below).
- Various dialects of Fula are spoken all over West Africa, including in Guinea, Mali, the Gambia, and in small parts of many other countries. We learnt these bits and pieces in the Fouta Djalon in Guinea - a dialect known as Fouta Fula.
- Bambara is the most important African language in Mali. It's related to Mandinka from the Gambia and very similar to Dioula (a trading language spoken all over West Africa) and Malinke (spoken in eastern Guinea and over the border into Mali), so it's a very useful language in this part of the world.
- Moré is the language of the Mossi people of Burkina Faso, and is that country's foremost local tongue. Mostly spoken in the area around Ouagadougou.
For more about the trip, have a look at our latest diary update.
Previous page - gear list.
Next page - Bale Mountains National Park.
Back to Practical Information.
|
