Translation

Words

Duh = The

Dat = That

Biscuit = Cookie

Tender = Thunder

Pawpaw = Papaya

Clean = Erase

Phrases

You are welcome = Not a reply to “thank you,” it means that you are literally welcome to Ghana.

You are invited = Not to a party, as I first thought. It means you are invited/welcome to eat their food.

It’s finished = They don’t have anymore [bread/biscuits/pineapple/etc] at the market.

The down one = The bottom one

I'm coming = Hold on/Wait just a minute

Sentences I’ve heard that a month ago would have sounded ridiculous or not understood:

“You are welcome. How do you find Ghana?”

Everyone wants to know if you like Ghana, and that’s how they phrase it

“Don’t clean the down one! I haven’t finished copying it.”

Heard all the time at the school referring to work on the board

“So I grabbed an orange off her head...”

            People here carry and sell everything from off their heads.

“Can I have a satchel of water?”

            Yeah, I drink water from a bag.

Its really funny when the translation needs to be going the other way as well. If I ask a child if they are done, or tell them they need to erase something, I am met with blank stares and sometimes a “…what?” When I first got here I was helping Princess, my 6-year-old host sister, with her homework and was trying to tell her to add “the” to one of her sentences. She looked at me confused, so I tried to enunciate the “th” sound thinking that was the problem. Only I realized that was making it worse when she said “I don’t understand.” Finally I wrote out the word and she goes, “Ohhh! Duh!” Haha. Gotta love the accent barrier.