Parlez-Vous Francais?

[The village mosque of Harikanassou]

A lot of people ask me about the languages spoken in Niger and how useful my French skills are, so today I’m going to dedicate most of this entry to language.

There is little doubt that learning a foreign language has played an integral role in getting me to where I am today.  When I say that, I don’t just mean where I am physically (Niger), but also mentally, socially, etc.  I started taking a foreign language in the 10th grade, the first year it was offered at my high school.  At the time I really wanted to learn German, but was limited to two choices, French or Spanish.  Since German was unavailable, I went with French, which was the better choice anyway since it’s spoken in a larger variety of countries and is also a diplomatic language.  The following year my French teacher organized a trip to France and with some help from my parents I jumped on board.  Besides visiting some of France’s major sites(see left), I stayed with a host family for a week in Provence.  I was only in France for about two weeks, but during that time I was constantly bombarded with new experiences. The familiar aspects of daily life in the US had been replaced by cultural oddities, unique perspectives, historical treasures, and lots of new vocabulary.  I probably didn’t realize it at the time, but I came back from the trip a changed person.  I had gained a greater appreciation of the world’s diversity and as a result some of my priorities began to change. The next school year I got a job and returned to France the summer of 1998 after high school graduation and continued my French studies in college.  The summer of 2000 I headed back to France for a year of study and work.  Since that first visit in 1997, I have spent more than 2 years in Europe and visited 20 countries scattered across 5 continents.  OK, I do really like to travel and French has been useful even outside of French speaking countries.  Knowing multiple languages increases your chances of being able to communicate with anyone you meet and can make for a much more personal experience anywhere you travel.  It also gives you more opportunities to live and work abroad.

I joined the Peace Corps mainly to do something more meaningful with my time than just making money for myself and my boss.  However, I also did it to get some of the same things that I received from my first trip to France: language skills, cultural exchange, and some additional perspective on life.  The US doesn’t have a lot of French speakers so PC did not hesitate to place me in West Africa.  Hundreds of local languages are spoken throughout the countries of West Africa, but French is the one national language that most countries have in common.  French is one of the national languages of Niger, but most of the population does not speak more than a few phrases.  Zarma, Hausa, Fulfulde, and Tamacheq are the more prominent languages spoken by their respective ethnic groups (language maps).  These languages, especially Zarma, have a very limited vocabulary so French words inevitably find their way into many conversations.  In cities (20% of the population), where the education is better, a higher percentage of the population speaks a moderate amount of French.  I live in the 7th largest city in Niger (Dosso) and use French daily, especially at the radio station where I spend a lot of my time.  However, to participate in group discussions, to get fair prices at the market, and to really integrate I must speak Zarma. Virtually all PC volunteers in Niger learn either Hausa or Zarma during their first months in country.  The area to the east of Dosso speaks mostly Hausa and the region from Dosso heading west speaks Zarma.  Hausa is also spoken in some neighboring countries like Nigeria.  Zarma is also spoken in parts of Mali.

So what are the differences between French French and Nigerien French?  First, the accent that most people associate with French is totally non-existent.  I probably came over here speaking something much closer to Nigerien French (my French accent sucks).  The lack of a heavy accent makes comprehension easier in many cases.  Sometimes I have a hard time understanding native French speakers, especially French men.  At the beginning of the week I mistakenly agreed to help type the report for an intern here at the national radio station.  The process was long and painful for the portions of the report I could not read.  I found it impossible to differentiate between many sounds like de/du or ce/c’est. Some words were completely mispronounced. Overall, the level of French Nigeriens speak varies widely despite the fact that all classes are conducted entirely in French.  The Nigerien education system is one of the world’s worst. Students are lucky if they even have a teacher at their local school, yet alone one that speaks French well.

If you want to check out French in Niger watch the national news. News broadcasts are also made in the other 4 national languages. If you’re interested in learning more about Zarma there are several related links to the right.  In addition I hope to have a few of the radio programs I’ve produced in country available online later today.

This week many of the people I’m working with have started learning English on the computer using Rosetta Stone.  I’m hoping to conduct a weekly group meeting to talk about what people are learning.  It is nice to see people using the computer for something other than solitaire.  If the software really leads people to learn and improve their English, I hope to get youth involved at a local computer lab.

Some people I work with are also interested in finding an email pen pal.  If anyone is interested in communicating (in French) with someone from Niger just let me know.  

This week I’ve also made some progress on the radio script database I’m developing for Peace Corps Niger.  Currently about 200 scripts are searchable by keyword and easily accessible through the database interface. I’ll probably roll out a test version of the database when I travel out east in October.

Rainy season is definitely coming to a close. It hasn’t rained in more than a week and temperatures are starting to climb.  This week there has also been a population explosion of grasshoppers.  See all those little spots on the wall(right)…. grasshoppers.  There are always a few hopping around in my house that enter whenever I open my screen door.  A few days ago the kids next door caught a whole container of them for my cat.  Sam loves to eat grasshoppers and just about any other small moving creatures.

…Saturday morning
I received a package yesterday afternoon from my sister.  I ate the best York Peppermint Patty ever!  She also included a new Nalgene bottle without BPA.  
I woke up last night around 2:30 as a large thunderstorm was rolling in.  I caught the last half of the first presidential debate.  I can’t say that I was especially impressed by what either candidate had to say.  The debate was supposed to focus on US foreign policy, which needs a serious facelift.  I felt like Obama really stressed that point while McCain hardly mentioned it.

I don’t have much planned for the coming days.  The end of the month of Ramadan is just a few days away.  Everyone celebrates, apparently by eating lots of food.  I’m planning to make a variety of cookies to distribute. I’m thinking about buying a guinea fowl as well.  I’ll also be working on my Peace Corps report that is due every 4 months.  I’m about half way through my 9th month here.

[Next Weeks Dinner?]