¿Mä kä ñö?

 What's your name?
¿Mä kä ñö?


For the last week it has been my goal to start learning words and phrases in Ngäbere, the native language spoken by most people in the Coto Brus Ngäbe teritory. While I'm at it, I should also address a question I've been getting about the name of the people with whom I work and how to properly spell it. Guaymí is the term most often used here by Costa Ricans and it is derived from the Bugle language that is also spoken by many members of the community. However, the preferred names are Ngäbe or Ngöbe - I tend to use the latter.


My guide for this round of interviews is an amazing young woman who speaks 3 languages fluently (Spanish, Ngäbere, and Bugle) and easily can throw out phrases and words in English due to the fact that she is currently taking a course at the OTS Las Cruces research station to become a nature guide. Her husband is also an English professor at the primary school in La Casona and she has two adorable little boys. She is sharp, patient, and analytical, and I expect she is going to be a great asset to the community in the future as a leader who can help to manage and negotiate development and tourism in the community (these are issues currently being discussed and pondered).


One day, while on our hike from one community to another, we were discussing languages and I started to ask her how to say certain things in her language. She started to teach me phrases and nouns as they came to her, and I'm sure she doubted that I would remember any of this by the next day. But I wrote everything down and then decided to do my best to memorize it all, because apart from it being exciting and useful, I wanted to prove to her that it mattered to me.


The next day when we were hiking again I told her that I had practiced and then recited what I had learned. She laughed and was clearly a little surprised. So I asked her to give me more things to practice. And she again started to name things around us and gave me a phrase to learn. 


I hardly have any delusions that I'll be able to learn the basics of this language anytime soon, but I am already excited to catch words so that I at least know the subjects of conversations!


A quick lesson....


(Ng.)     (Sp.)      (Eng.)
brare = hombre = man
meri = mujer = woman
kwi = gallina = chicken
 nu  =  perro  =  dog
 ti    =   yo     =   I
mo  =    tú  =   you
kwe = el/ella = he/she
kwedres =ellos/-as = they
nundres = nosotros/-as = we
chi = pequeño = small
kri = grande = large
ju (hoo)= casa = house
 ji (hee)= camino = road




I cannot believe I'm running out of time here, but I will be doing everything that I can to return in a year.