Starsky: Kii naka la tudd?
Hutch: Kii Vera Green la tudd.
Hutch: Kii vera la tudd.
Starski: Kii naka la sant?
Hutch: Kii Green la sant. / Vera Green la sant.
Kii naka la tudd?
What’s his/her name?
(literally: This person here, how is he/she called?)
naka — the equivalent of “what” in this case
tudd — verb: to be called
This question is answered either by giving the person’s first name, or the person’s first and last names:
Kii Vera la tudd.
Her name is Vera.
(This person here Vera is called.)
Kii Vera Green la tudd.
Her name is Vera Green.
Kii naka la sant?
What’s his/her family name?
sant — verb: to be called (family name)
This question is answered by giving the person’s family name only:
Kii Green la sant.
Her family name is Green.
(lit.: This person here, Green is called.)
Do not use kii if you already know first name.
Ex. (Vera) naka la sant?
Janga Wolof 
I love the characters for the dialogue! Hilarious.
Hey – I just saw Fallou Dieng live in Madison, WI. I posted a video on my blog if you are interested. Feel free to snatch it from my Flickr page if you’d like to post it on Jangawolof!
Ba baneen yoon.
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It’s been almost a year but I finally posted it!
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Waaw, Vera Green vient de la corps de la paix. haha.
American la.
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haha yes, I think I got this from one of my sister’s study books. She was never in the Peace Corps but I think she studied at the Baobab Center.
haha oui, je pense que j’ai eu ce d’une de mes soeurs l’étude des livres. Elle n’a jamais été dans le Corps de la Paix, mais je pense qu’elle a étudié à l’Baobab Center
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we are leaning about Africa in school, and a couple people who spoke Wolof came to our school it was so cool and i loved what they taught me. i loved the music & the stories were amazing!
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we are leaning about Africa in school, and a couple people who lived in Senegal and spoke Wolof came to our school it was so cool and i loved what they taught me. i loved the music & the stories were amazing! :)(:
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yeah, that’s definitely from the ACI baobab books.. not really cool to take from their text books without giving credit. at least change the names. I wonder if the next characters introduced for tomorrow lesson would be “Mel ak Tapha”
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I did change the names hence “Starski” & “Hutch”. I found this in a stack of random Wolof materials that my sister used while in Senegal…the source wasn’t exactly clear…but if this is from the Peace Corps as one poster commented then why was ACI using it without giving credit? The phrases and arrangement of phrases is not unique…they are very common in Wolof speech and are common in other source materials. I did not try to pass this off as my own invention or try to make a dime from it…I was trying to freely share with others who share my interest in the Wolof language. Since resources for us Anglophones are few and far between I try to share what little bit of material I can get my hands on – and sometimes these materials are just loose pieces of paper without any indication of copyright or authorship. I have given credit to various sources throughout this blog when I was able including the Peace Corps and ACI Baobab. I’ve even posted links to the complete information on THEIR sites when a link was available because I want people to have as much access to as much information on Wolof as possible! I’m sorry, we all can’t afford to study at the rather expensive ACI Baobab even if we are lucky enough to be able to afford a trip to Senegal in the first place. Sometimes all we have are blogs like these and I will continue sharing new resources with my readers as I come across them.
I apologize in advance to anyone who may find something of theirs here without credit or permission. If you see something of yours contact me with the details (your name, name of the publication it’s from & URL if available) and I will gladly give you the credit! If you see something of yours up here that you wish to be removed then contact me with proof of copyright and I will gladly remove it (I would ask for information as to where your materials can be accessed/purchased for the benefit of my readers.)
Since I’ve started this blog I’ve found my own original information used without permission or credit on other websites. I was just glad that the information was getting out…
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Hello, Thanks a lot for this amazing Blog.there is one thing I would love to say : would you please fine a way how to post audio files along with lessons. it is a kind of hard to read the phonetic transcription. thanks a lot
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I’m working on trying to put together some audio 🙂
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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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