Learning Ewe

 

   

I find Ewe to be a difficult language. One issue that every language learner encounters is the problem of knowing where words begin and end. This phenomenon is complicated for me by the fact that I seem to hear the same syllables over and over again. In fact, speakers frequently repeat the syllable ka or lo. Both of these add emphasis to a word. So, for example, one can say akpe kaka or akpe lo to mean thank you very much. In addition, Ewe, like Chinese, is a tonal language. so each syllable or word can change meanings according to whether one pronounces it with a rising or a falling tone. 

Even with these difficulties, I am learning bits and pieces, thanks to individuals who are teaching me a word or phrase at a time. I also hear some of the same words and phrases a lot, and I ask to learn their meaning. As usually happens to a beginner in a language, I know some isolated words, but can't put them into a good sentence.

Pictured above is a little hymnal, containing familiar hymns in Ewe and some of the same in French. I will sometimes turn to one of the hymns that I know and read it several times to see if I can make the correspondence between the Ewe and English. This is how I learned the word dzodzi, which shows up in "Jesus Saves" and means "joyful."

Occasionally I will ask, "how do you say ____ in Ewe?" The problem with this approach is that everyone gives me a different response. There are, apparently, many different ways to say things in Ewe. Take, for instance, greetings. I have learned a few items in this category. First, when one arrives in your vicinity (at your home or at church), you greet them with We zõ. (I don't know how to spell this, I am just writing it as it sounds to me. The "e" is a long a sound and the õ is a nazalized o), The proper response to this greeting is Yo-o. The next question is either So be do?  or another one that I haven't mastered saying, but am starting to recognize when I hear it. The choice of question has to do with when you last saw the person. I think I was told that "So be do?" implies that you saw the person the day before. And the question is asking if the work you did yesterday went well. The answer to that question is do so The question I haven't learned yet asks how the day is going so far. The answer is do gbe. 

Here are some other phrases I know:

echi (fafa) = (cold) water

mi dzo = let's go

me dzi = I need

gaflu = fork

gachi = spoon

kakla = knife

Mawu = God

akpe = Thank you

akpe na Mawu = Thank God

e vo = finished

e voa = are you finished?

caba = quickly

va = come

I was pleased to recognize some words in one of the traditional songs that we are practicing for the funeral: Yesu ye va de caba! = Jesus, come soon!

I was taken aback at first when people would laugh at my attempts to speak Ewe. I thought that I must have pronounced the words incorrectly. But no, Dela explained, they were laughing to express happiness at my attempt. One of the church ladies who has been teaching me is a cook at the school. Every day when she delivers lunch to the kindergarten class, she will ask me one of the "how are you questions" and wait for my response. After I reply, she applauds, so now the children do too. 

What's more, they have begun teaching me as well. Friday morning, one of the little boys picked up some seeds outside. He showed them to me and had me repeat: "atchi _____   _________" As you can see, I can only remember the first word, probably because I had heard it before. I figure, though, with an additional 17 teachers, I should be on my way to speaking Ewe in no time!

Taking a picture of a screen doesn't always yield the best results, but I think you can see well enough to get an idea of the written form of the language. This app lets me do a parallel version of the Ewe Bible beside the New King James Version. There is a lot of white space on the NKJV side, because it takes more words in Ewe than English to express the idea.