"Gba" I thought I said, but I probably sounded more like a sick sheep.
"No...Gba. You need to have the sound go backwards in your throat before you open your mouth. Like this Gba"
I contorted my face and must have looked like a bad inpressionist painting and I repeated "Gba." I thought I really had it this time as I thought it sounded just like he said.
"No....that's OK. It will come. Anericans always have trouble with this sound. People will laugh when you say it but they'll understand you."
All I could think was how much people laugh at me already no matter what language I speak. I might as well get laughed at while speaking fon.
You'd think a word this complicated would mean something really interesting, considering how difficult it is. Unfortunately not, I was only learning to count and got really badly stuck at gba, the number thirty.
After repeating gba about 650 times, my teacher and I both kind of gave up and moved onto thrity one "Gba nukkum dokpo" Ahhhhh.... My shoulders slumped as I realised that if I can't even count to thirty, how am I ever going to be able to get to a level in fon where I can really communicate with people.
I have the ten minute salutations down. You're required to ask the health of every member of ones family, the harvest, the animals, as well as all of their friends. You finish with comments about the greatness of God. I've even found myself saying the typical fon greeting of "Good sitting" without thinking how silly it sounds. But getting beyond that to communication will be awhile. Although it would be easier if I can find a way to avoid saying thirty.
Fon is the language spoken in the south of Benin. In a country about the size of Pennsylvaniam there are five major local languages, rather typical by African standards. Most educated males speak french but if you want to communicate with anyone else, you need to use local language. Using local language is not a necessity of us business volunteers. But it is helpful if I want to communicate with those in my village.
Of the 60 villagers, maybe 7 or 8 speak french. The rest speak a language that is only spoken in their village but they do understand fon. They are trying to get me to learn their language but considering only 60 people in the world speak their language, I think I'll work on fon.
There are also many Nigerians in Benin who speak english. However, I have an easier time communicating in french than with them in english. There was a Nigerian once who explained to me that Nigerians speak english big, big, while Americans speak english small, small because Nigerians have a British influence. I couldn't bring myself to tell him that in England, you do not say that someone speaks english small, small. So I just smiled and nodded.
I hope everyone is doing well and I'll write again in early February. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me.
Tony