If you are learning English, getting the hang of the verb “get” will get you (aha!) a long way. It is, however, difficult to grasp all the different nuances of meaning it can carry, especially when used with different prepositions as a compound verb. “Get on”, “get off”, “get with”, “get at” and so on. When I was in France, some fellow doctorate students asked me to proof-read an article they'd written about several uses of “get”. I had to disagree with them when they said that “to get through” a bad experience was the same thing as “to get over” it. (To me, “getting through” something simply means surviving it, whereas “getting over” it implies that it no longer bothers you. You could say about someone, “he got through the war, but he never got over it”.)
In Monkolé, we've noticed two verbs which have a wider meaning than their literal translation in French or English. The first literally means “to find” and the second literally means “to leave”. So they would be used in sentences such as “I've found a friend” or “I left the house this morning”. But “to find” is also used in sentences which would literally be translated as “I've found years thirty-three” (ie. I'm thirty-three years old) or when haggling over prices “francs one hundred won't find” (ie. I won't go down as far as one hundred francs). “To leave” can be used in an expression which literally means “why it left”, meaning “because”.
Abraham used another expression containing this verb which appealed to me a lot. He and I were having our recurring, good-natured argument about whether it's true that “people say various things, but what's in the dictionary is the real Monkolé”. (He says it is, I say that what's in the dictionary is an arbitrary standard form.) Anyway, he was saying something (in French), and I was interrupting him (also in French) because I was sure I'd heard him say the same things many times before, and he said, “jom a chucku titan”. It means “first let me fall [before you rush to pick me up]!”
Still on the subject of language, it is interesting to see the way that Simon's linguistic competence is developing. When we arrived in Benin he spoke more English than French (though he understood French as well as English) after having spent 18 months in England with only his Papa speaking French to him. Nowadays, though, he spends more time speaking French than English, and it is quite obvious that his French has overtaken his English (at least in production, probably not in comprehension). A lot of the time he is speaking French with the Beninese, and we have already noticed a Beninese accent creeping in on certain words (his nasal vowels are rising, to be technical!). He also knows greetings in Baatonu and Monkolé, and we are quite sure that after a few months in the village his Monkolé will have outstripped ours!
Benjy is babbling away, and rather than him learning our language from us, Simon seems to be learning Benjy's language from him. At mealtimes Benjy will say something like “da-da-da” and Simon will repeat “da-da-da”, then Benjy will say “gung-gung-gung” and once again Simon will repeat it!
In Monkolé, we've noticed two verbs which have a wider meaning than their literal translation in French or English. The first literally means “to find” and the second literally means “to leave”. So they would be used in sentences such as “I've found a friend” or “I left the house this morning”. But “to find” is also used in sentences which would literally be translated as “I've found years thirty-three” (ie. I'm thirty-three years old) or when haggling over prices “francs one hundred won't find” (ie. I won't go down as far as one hundred francs). “To leave” can be used in an expression which literally means “why it left”, meaning “because”.
Abraham used another expression containing this verb which appealed to me a lot. He and I were having our recurring, good-natured argument about whether it's true that “people say various things, but what's in the dictionary is the real Monkolé”. (He says it is, I say that what's in the dictionary is an arbitrary standard form.) Anyway, he was saying something (in French), and I was interrupting him (also in French) because I was sure I'd heard him say the same things many times before, and he said, “jom a chucku titan”. It means “first let me fall [before you rush to pick me up]!”
Still on the subject of language, it is interesting to see the way that Simon's linguistic competence is developing. When we arrived in Benin he spoke more English than French (though he understood French as well as English) after having spent 18 months in England with only his Papa speaking French to him. Nowadays, though, he spends more time speaking French than English, and it is quite obvious that his French has overtaken his English (at least in production, probably not in comprehension). A lot of the time he is speaking French with the Beninese, and we have already noticed a Beninese accent creeping in on certain words (his nasal vowels are rising, to be technical!). He also knows greetings in Baatonu and Monkolé, and we are quite sure that after a few months in the village his Monkolé will have outstripped ours!
Benjy is babbling away, and rather than him learning our language from us, Simon seems to be learning Benjy's language from him. At mealtimes Benjy will say something like “da-da-da” and Simon will repeat “da-da-da”, then Benjy will say “gung-gung-gung” and once again Simon will repeat it!
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