af soomaliya

Language is really giving me a hard time here in somaliland.

Up to now i never ever experienced such a big language barrier than i do currently here in this country. Not only do they talk a language which is completely unfamiliar to me. They also talk it in a speed which makes me feel dizzy if i listen too long. Besides fast, the language is loud and has lots of odd sounds. As a result most of the time i am getting the impression that they are fighting and not talking. Some few days ago I must have been looking quite desperate when the woman sitting next to me in the car told me "dont't worry, we are just chatting!" You call this chatting?? Compared to the volume of their voices i expected them in the next minute to start throwing their handbags after each other! The problem with all this is that they not only use this rough and fast way of communicating when talking Somali: they somehow managed to implement it into their english as well, with the result that i am most of the time not getting what they are saying even when talking english.

Regarding these sever language barriers i reached the conclusion that there are only two ways out of this tricky situation:

1. I start talking in the same rough way when talking english (that means in real terms that i just cut off all kind of polite forms, alter my voice and try to use as many odd sounds as possible) That works quite well as long as i talk to people who have at least a small clue of english

2. I start learning somali. Unfortunately the latter is much more difficult to realize than the first one, but, at the same time, much more valuable since only few people know english.

Therefore i decided to give it a try.

In one of the dusty shelves i found some somali school books (big thanks goes to UNESCO who sponsered the books back in 93...). The first book i grasped carried the title "saynis", and dont ask me why, but i thought it might mean "vocablary" or maybe "grammer". As it turned out it was the science book for the first class. What i learned so far? The first thing i realized while staring at the ugly little pictures inside the book was that there are at least three different expressions for adult camels. No wonder in a country which consists mostly of deserts. The second thing i realized was that this is defenitly not the right way to pick up a language. However, due to the italian legacy, I discovered some leanwords which defenitly have italien origins and are therefore easy to keep in mind. Like baasto (=pasta) or boorso (borsa = bag) - the faible for double vowels is undeniable - take for example the following word: caafimaadkeenna. How should i ever get such a word into my long term memory?? The somalis truly hit the record in double vowels!
Arabic leanwords can be traced, too: baakshiish (tip), suck (market), and salam maleikum are just some few examples. And the english guys? Up to now i didnt find many left overs from the english occupiers. At least not when it comes to language. The only similarity i found so far is the word "buugga" (Book). But again this could just be a coincidence!

Anyway, reading old science books might not be the best approach to pick up a language.

Still there is the care staff. Since most (or actually all) of them are Somalis, there are plenty of teachers available. They are all giving it a try, but most of the time i am forgetting the words they are teaching me immediately.

Language language... How easy would the communication be if esperanto would have gotten off the ground! :-)

"it is better to learn than to play (idle around)"

I will keep it in mind... !