Things you need to know.

I have come to realize that sometimes I type out things and you may not have any idea how to pronounce them.  I know that for me, this drives me crazy.  If I'm reading a book and there's a name or place that I cannot naturally figure out how to pronounce, then I usually work away at it in my head until I can come up with something that I'm comfortable with saying to myself as I read.  If I don't do that, I won't enjoy the book.  I'm just weird that way.

So perhaps this post is more for me than for you.  Perhaps tonight I'll sleep better just knowing that you who are reading these blog posts know how to pronounce some of the names and things here in Togo.

1.  Mango: the town where we live.  Please do NOT pronounce it like you'd pronounce the fruit.  Remember this country is a french colony so you need to add a little french-y-ness to all the local words.  Pronounce it M-ahn-go.  Ahhhhhh....that's better.

2. Tsiko: the town where we are staying right now.  It's a tiny tiny town, surrounded by beautiful mountains.  To pronounce it, say cheek-o.  Cute, eh??

3. Kpalime:  this is the town where Nate was working on the bridge.  Don't be afraid of this word.  Just because it starts with Kp doesn't mean you just brush past it as you read my posts.  It's pronounced like this:  Pal (as in your friend)-ee-may.  (The K is silent.)  Although my kids call it: Ka-pal-ee-may.

Now for some fun tribal words and sayings you might want to add into your own repertoire:

4.  Du Courage: We've heard this particular saying A LOT since Kylie's ankle trouble.  "Du courage."  Meaning "have courage".  They say this here all the time!! Oh, you got a paper cut on your pinky finger??  Du courage.  (Say it with french flair now, it's "do-cour-ahj" with a soft j sound.) Oh, you just were in a terrible motorcycle accident and you might not make it?  Du courage.

5.  Babalo.  This is a fun word to say.  We hear this a lot.  It's not french, it's Ewe. (this is a language and a tribe of people here in Togo, pronounced "e-vay" with a short vowel e at the beginning)  You pronounce it just like it looks:  ba-ba-low.  It means "sorry for you." Kind of like a tribal version of "du courage".  Babalo. AND if you want to say "sorry for me" - you say baba-now.

6.  Yo.  This is another Ewe term.  It's an answer for everything.  If I say thank you to an Ewe person, their response is "Yo."  But not a short sound like yo-yo.  Drag out the ooooooo part, and let your voice drop, almost like you're sorry.  It might be considered like our "mm-hmmm" - an agreement sort of noise.
Like at home you might say, "Do you like my new dress?"  Response:  Mm-hmm.
Here you might say: "Thank you for the lovely dinner."  Their response:  Yo.

I think that's it for today.  It's been a lot for you to take in.  And I hope this helps so that as you read posts you'll know how to say things.  I'll sleep well tonight knowing you've got some of the Togo terminology down.  Yo.