Days in Africa: On Language

We’ve started picking up a Ugandan accent!

When I try to use it, I usually can’t, but it comes out naturally when I’m speaking with Ugandans now.

Some common expressions we've learned:

“You are lost” - I haven’t seen you in awhile
“pick me” - pick me up with your car
“sorry!” - Expression of sympathy for something that went wrong, not an admission of guilt
“to be smart” - To be well-dressed

Ugandans love to give speeches - love, love, love to give speeches. Their casual conversational style even often sounds like a speech. For example:

"The man was walking along, and he was going to the what? To the market. He was going to the market for what? To buy cassava."

In most Ugandan languages, there is no special word for “cousin”, “niece”,” nephew”, “aunt”, or “uncle”; they are simply more brothers and sisters, daughters and sons, mothers and fathers.

Most people in our area speak Luganda, which has 5 vowels (instead of the 12 or 13 in English), and also does not have the following sounds: “th” Heather is hard to pronounce, I’m often called Helen or Heater.