The Beautiful People of Cameroon, Day 2

Day 2

Stayed in Bafoussam overnight at the Pessi Hotel. We had stayed there on my last trip to Cameroon (can anyone say “All night disco”?), and the hotel is clean and comfortable. The last time here, I was very ill, and the water in my room stopped working in the middle of the night. The night clerk only spoke French, and I would like to take a moment to apologize to Mrs. Betty Farrah, my high school French teacher. 

Je m’excuse de ne pas avoir étudié! (I apologize for not studying). Apparently, Je vous aime (I love you) is a bad opening for “please turn on my water or I will die.” (“S’il vous plaît, ouvrez mon eau ou je mourrai!”)

Today we go to Bamenda, which is a fascinating place linguistically. One person told me that over 280 distinct languages can be found here. Within a few miles the languages can be unintelligible from village to village (oh, you mean like Memphis, TN and Boston, MA?). Many people speak three other languages, though: French, English, and a combination language they call pigeon. Pigeon varies from region to region but is generally understandable.

One amazing language is Limbum which is a grassland language of the Niger-Congo family. The word for chief in Limbum is “Fon.” This reminds me of a language in the country of Benin which is named Fon, but this may be a coincidence. “Hello” in the Benin Fon language is “A Fon gan gi a” (I receive your smell).

Some Limbum phrases for anyone traveling here: (spelling represents my phonetics)

Era weh a “Good morning,” lit. “Have you seen the light?”

Beri weh. “Thank you”

Weh sack’ ke. “How are you doing?” Lit. “What news?”

Ee you ik e? “How are you?”

Ee ku bayene. “I am fine.”

So a berri “Good bye”

See a berri (Plural) “Good bye”

Somewhere in Africa

M