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Yes – Waaw (wow)
and now en français; Oui (wee)
No – Déedéet (dey-deyt)
and en français; Non (non)
Maybe – Xejna (khedj-nuh)
en français; Peut-être (per-tay-trer)
Dalal ak jàmm,
Janga Wolof
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8 responses to “Yes. No! Maybe?”
Also in Wolof culture they will do a slight double-click of the tongue to indicate that they understand or that they agree with what you said.
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Thanks for the comment on our blog. We are learning basic Wolof via a local woman who grew up in Senegal. I also speak French somewhat fluently and am working on getting better. Have added you to our blogroll & will keep checking back. Our trip is in Feb.
http://www.off2senegal.wordpress.com
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I was looking at your Who We Are page and I noticed that your last names are Gurney. That was my grandmother’s maiden name. I have never heard of anyone else with that surname. I am in Portland, Oregon right now but I am planning on returning to Senegal around February or March. I don’t know the village that you are going to but in some of the smaller ones most of the people may not know much French…but French is definitely a very important language to know while in Senegal. I will add you to our blogroll as well.
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We are in Washington state & have family in Portland, OR (although not Gurney’s)….what was your grandmother’s name & where was she from? We have family in Oklahoma as well as other parts of Washington. It is my understanding that the original spelling was Gurnea & it was Dutch. We will be in Keur Madiabel (South-East of Dakar) in Feb. We have been told that many of the men & younger women & children speak French.
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Her name was Myrtle and she was originally from South Dakota. I don’t know too much about the Gurney side of our family but supposedly we trace it back through William the Conquerer from Normandy.
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I was talking to some senegalese the other day and they were pronouncing the french word for ‘maybe’ like ‘per-tet’ instead of ‘per-tay-trer’ like I wrote it. I do not know if my original source for the pronunciation was wrong or if they just say it different in senegal.
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I should also note that the ‘-nuh’ sound at the end of ‘xejna’ is VERY slight…in fact the word sounds almost like saying the English word ‘hedge’ while clearing your throat.
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English to Wolof/French Dictionary now available for download:
http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/janga-laaka-wolof-dictionary/17265716
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