Word for the Travel Wise (11/25/06)

This weekend is one of the craziest for shopping of the entire year and when you’ve reached your max or find you went far or over your spending limits it might be time to use this phrase heard in Sierra Leone…

Today’s phrase is a Mende phrase used in Sierra Leone:

Ngii loni a hani weka gbi. – I don’t want anything else.

Mende is going to be yet another toughie to learn online. For now I suggest going through this Mende Phrasebook published by the Bumumbu Press during colonial times to help Mende speakers learn English. In turn it can help you learn Mende in modern times.

Past Mende words: Nya sinjii ve, wa mu li na, nyaa fisama

Word for the Travel Wise (08/17/06)

News like this just tears my heart apart, because when people or children die at such an early age it as if they were never given a chance. This is from couple weeks back, but the article states about 29% of under five deaths in Sierra Leone is caused by Diarrhea. As travelers we’ve all probably ran into an ugly case of the vicious ‘D’ word, but 29% is a pretty high death rate for something that could probably be fixed so easy. Sad – just sad.

Today’s phrase is a Mende phrase used in Sierra Leone:

nyaa fisama – I am getting better.

Mende is going to be yet another toughie to learn online. For now I suggest going through this Mende Phrasebook published by the Bumumbu Press during colonial times to help Mende speakers learn English. In turn it can help you learn Mende in modern times.

Past Mende words: Nya sinjii ve, wa mu li na

Word for the Travel Wise (06/05/06)

Looks as if we may have missed this event by just a hair, but if you’re really interested in slave history you may want to pick up the book. After-all there is nothing wrong in planning your own special sightseeing and learning tours to places and events long past. Apparently, the Sierra Leone Gullah Heritage Association disclosed information that Rhode Islanders will host 7th generation descendant of Priscilla, a young African girl taken captive by a Newport Rhode Island slave ship and sold into slavery in Charleston, S.C in 1756. The girl was purchased by rice planter, Elias Ball and her tale uncovered in the book Slaves in the Family, by a  Ball descendent. The descendent of Priscilla, Thomalind Martin Polite and her family had scheduled a weekend of celebration from June 3-5, 2006. There are tons of details remaining at allAfrica online. If interested in any of the above definitely check it out. For now a word or two…

Today’s phrase is a Mende phrase used in Sierra Leone:

Wa mu li na – Come, let us go there

Mende is going to be yet another toughie to learn online. For now I suggest going through this Mende Phrasebook published by the Bumumbu Press during colonial times to help Mende speakers learn English. In turn it can help you learn Mende in modern times.

Past Mende words: Nya sinjii ve

Word for the Travel Wise (04/04/06)

Every time I discover a means to
learning a language many of us probably never heard of and may never use I still feel as if we’ve gotten one step
closer to being better communicators with the planet as a whole. Instead of just conversing with the town folk in lil’
Podunk, Alabama imagine being swept away to lands further east with a knowledge of this Niger-Congo lang years before
arriving. I find dreams like getting out of Podunk to go to Africa lands quite enchanting. For one I’ve never been to
either of the two, but making it a reality would be far cooler.

Today’s phrase is a Mende phrase used in Sierra Leone:

Nya sinjii
ve
– Give me my change

So what if Sierra Leone
isn’t hot on the tourist maps?
By the time things finally simmer down for good in all parts of the land you’ll be one of the few rambling off in
Mende. With this phrase you’ll even be one of the smarter few making sure you’re getting your change instead of getting
ripped off. I am sure you can say this one a number of ways to be either demanding or polite. In most cases always
request your change in a polite tone. The knowledge you hold will be perplexing enough.

Mende is going to
be yet another toughie to learn online. For now I suggest going through this Mende Phrasebook published by the Bumumbu Press during
colonial times to help Mende speakers learn English. In turn it can help you learn Mende in modern times.

Africa Travel: Sierra Leone

Thanks to
rap-mogul Kanye West, young hip-hopsters with an ear for urban sounds and
without a clue of the civil strife that has long plagued the diamond producing country of Sierra Leone, music lovers
discovered more about the struggle for/behind the bling. For the most part Sierra Leone is still emerging from its
violent past and travel to this African country should be carefully considered by checking update after update. In the
meantime we can turn up the volume and bob our heads to West’s words and food for thought. And if your preference for
learning about Sierra Leone is without the extravagant rap production visit this Sierra-Leone.org page on culture. Poetry, proverbs, lorry slogans,
and meanings behind the village names.  If Bo, 
Boma, Baaka, Kangbe or Mayata  are places you plan on swinging through when you do go spend the time studying the
village background. Sometimes it is all in a name.

(Photo from culture.gov.sk)