It has been fun and sometimes challenging to communicate with the Ugandans. They are very polite and speak quietly and listening to them speak Luganda is really cool, I wish I could learn it.  Here are some interesting things we have come across to do with language and speech.

 

 

When you ask a Ugandan what their name is, they always say their last name first which is usually very long and complicated and hard to understand and pronounce so you just have to concentrate on the last part of what they say which is their first name. They do not pause between the two names either.   All the kids at the school do this, so we really have to listen. For example: SekitolekoChristine

 

 

The locals that have seen me with Emily and Olivia, call me Mama. Why? Because I am a mother. If they know your firstborns name, they call you Mama and then your first borns name. I would be Mama Matt. My sister would be Mama Jenna. Mama Mateo, Mama Liam, Mama Liv, Mama Jonah, Mama Caleb, you know who you are. They all refer to each other this way.

 

 

Much to her dislike (I love it personally), Olivia is called Baby by everyone because she is my youngest and is still little. 

 

 

We can’t go a full day in the village without hearing the word “Muzungu” at least 10 times. Muzungu is Swahili and Luganda for European or white person. In the village, they don’t see white people very often so you get lots of little kids yelling it out to you. Tim can’t go a day building out there without a bunch a men standing around watching and he hears them mutter Muzungu many times. He asks the translator what they are saying about him but he figures they don’t tell him the truth most of the time. If you go to the touristy market in the city, you can buy a T-shirt that says Muzungu. We find ourselves using the term a lot ourselves. Muzungus refer to this nice little plaza where all the Muzungus go to shop as “Muzungu Mall”. It’s a fun word, try it! Muzungu

 

 

The letter R is pronounced like the letter L always. When we first arrived and were in Pastor Hummer’s church listening to his sermon, he kept saying that “you have to have a levalation”. He said the word levelation so many times, we almost got the giggles. Then he said Gilaffe at the zoo so we asked him about it and he explained that Rs are Ls. Neat!

 

 

If you bump your head or trip or drop something or anything else like that, you will hear the Ugandans that you are with say “sorry, sorry, sorry”.   You will hear it day after day.   They are not apologizing for anything but they are sympathizing with you. I like it a lot, I think there should be a “sorry, sorry, sorry” t-shirt!

 

 

When you say “thank-you” you will hear “thank-you too”.

 

When you say “yes please” you will hear “yes please too”.

 

 

It is cultural to call an adult man “old man” and an adult woman “old woman”. This one is hard to get used to but we have heard Pastor Hummer say “this old woman” when the lady is standing right there, and she isn’t even that old. This one would not go over well in North America! 

 

 

And last but not least until I learn a whole bunch more, one of our favourites: when you ask someone if they are going to do something now as in “are you coming to pick me up now?” or “can you please finish putting the tin on this roof now” they will say yes but will not do it. Now means in the next hour or up to a day. So, after you say “are you going to pick me up now?” and they say “yes”, you have to say “now-now?” and they will say “no, in 20 minutes”. If they answer “now-now” back to you, then they really are coming now. Get it?

 

 

Friend – Mukwano

 

Mukwano has been used extensively by Tim whenever he is trying to smooth over a situation, or get a better price or get the guys that are helping him build to listen to him. He also used it today when Hummer took another orphaned little girl into his home after her stepmother severely abused her (that makes 11 orphans living in his house with his wife and 4 kids). She was sad and as Hummer told Tim the story of what happened to her, Tim could only touch her arm, look into her eyes and say Mukwano. That made her smile!!