29 January 2012
FN: 7
Go go gadget…language!
Pretty much everyone in Burkina Faso speaks at least a little French; whether it’s in the schools, in the mosque, or in the marché, if you use basic French, you can more or less count on finding someone who understands you.
However, more or less no one in Burkina speaks French as their only – or even their first – language. Instead, it’s everyone’s second (or third, or even fourth) language, a sort of literal lingua franca that allows people in a nation with 60 different tribal languages to readily intercommunicate. As a result, everyone uses French, but no one really loves or identifies with it; they save that for their local (tribal) language. In short, if you say bonjour to someone, you’ll probably get a polite nod or smile, but if you say “good morning” in their local language, you’ll inevitably get a HUGE smile, followed by an excited spate of said tongue, accompanied by lots of positive body language.
There’s nothing especially remarkable about this. It only makes sense. People like what they know, and what they know best is their native tongue. In fact, it’s a useful cultural trend: because people everywhere loooooove bring greeted in the local language, if you take just a little bit of time and effort to learn a smattering of that language, you can open doors, smooth relationships, and generally make life easier for yourself no matter where on the globe you might be.
Think about it: if you go to Paris and walk up to someone and blurt out “Do you speak English? Where is the Eiffel Tower?”, you’re quite likely to get a scowl and no response, right? But if you walk up and politely say « Pardonnez-moi, monsieur, mais je parle en peu de français. Vous excuse mon français terrible s’il vous plait. Ou est le Tour Eiffel ? », you’ll probably get an enthusiastic and helpful response in all but fluent English. Or if a Mexican laborer walks up to you in the street and says “Disculpé, como puedo llegar al centro de la cuidad?[1]”, are you more likely to respond positively or negatively than if he says “Excuse me, but how I get downtown?”
Like I said, it’s a useful cultural quirk. But it also has its drawbacks. The biggest of which derives from a combination of the obscurity of most tribal languages, and the relative scarcity of westerners who have even heard of them, much less speak them. Because of this, when you use a tribal language with locals, the results can be amazing. You can turn frowns into smiles, smiles into laughs, and 500 CFA purchases into 200 CFA purchases with a little free something thrown in besides.
Unfortunately, you can also turn yourself into something of a parrot.
All too often, when you use the local language, the dialogue resembles something like this:
You: Good morning!
Local: (surprised smile) Good morning! How are you doing today?
You: Very well, and you?
Local: Very well. And your family?
You: Good. And your family?
Local: Their health is good. Thank you for asking.
You: Thank you for asking.
So far, so good: the greetings seem a bit long and interminable to US ears, but they’re culturally necessary so you do it. Then comes the next bit, that isn’t universal, and can be very hard to deal with:
You: (about to ask about whatever business you’re there for)
Local: (to another local) Hey! Cousin! Check it out! This guy speaks our language!
You: Um…I only sort—
Cousin: OH. MY. GOD. GET OUT!! That is SO cool! Hey foreigner! Good morning!
You: Uh…good morning.
Cousin: And how is your family?
You: Good, but—
One of the rapidly gathering crowd: Ask him about his health!
Another one of the crowd: And if he’ll give us candy!
Cousin and Local together: Why haven’t you asked me/my cousin about his family? That’s rude.
You: (trying not to simultaneously kill yourself, someone else, and a stray goat, just for good measure) Sorry. How is your family?
Cousin: They’re good. Thank you for asking.
Local: Why are you mad?
You: I give up.
Sadly, that’s not as much of a comedic exaggeration as I wish it was. Pretty much every volunteer has this encounter at least once in their local language using career, and many of us have it many, many times. And it’s sad, because what starts out as a positive experience for all quickly becomes a very negative experience for you. You just want to buy some bread, but you wind up feeling like one of those “talking” toys with the pre-recorded soundtracks that are active by pulling a string:
*pull string* HellohowareyouIamverygoodthankshowisyourfamilythatisgoodtohe—
*pull string again* --arGodsblessingsonyourandyourhousethankyouforyourblessingsinreturn
Now please don’t misunderstand me. 99% of the time the Burkinabé are wonderful about your use of their language, and they’re incredibly enthusiastic and helpful. They help correct errors, they aren’t snobbish or rude about your abysmal accent, and they’re genuinely excited to see you trying.
It’s just that sometimes, they get so excited that it can be a bit overwhelming.
And then you feel like GO GO GADGET—LANGUAGE!!
[1] Credit to Jose (but not so much to Elena) for assistance with the Spanish. I personally don’t speak a word. Any errors are mine, not his.
