Liberian English

In luau of not having anything new to say, I am pasting this post from another Liberian adoption blog. It has youtube links of conversations in Liberia. I love languages and this is helpful stuff:

The videos are all from the same guy. He obviously likes to deal with relational conflicts, which isn’t indicative of all of Liberian culture, but it does give a window into the types of conflicts that come up within Liberian relationships and how they deal with them. (Yes, we have witnessed a couple of the very vocal exchanges you will see in the video.)What I like about them is that in short clips you get to hear several different people speaking. As you will hear, some Liberians speak a more formal American English that we have an easier time understanding and some speak a stronger Liberian English that gets farther and farther from what we are used to hearing. (On a side note, see if you pick up the humor in each of these sketches.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xpqMOQZcIU
Fatherly Advice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HmriaZn5DQ
Boyfriend Troubles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u6EW6gLRKI
Teacher Student Relationship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ6BWt0GI
A The Civilized People Wedding

Also, I thought it might be helpful to pull what I have written up about Liberian English in our education manual we give to adoptive families. Liberian English vs. American EnglishThroughout the adoption process people may ask you if your children will speak English. The answer is, “Yes, and no.” They speak Liberian English, which is very similar... and very different from American English. Practically, what this means is that the kids will understand a lot of what you say to them, but initially it's much more difficult to understand their Liberian English. Here are some tips for understanding Liberian English:

1. The best thing to understand is that Liberians do not pronounce the end of most of their words. So, if an American says, "Give me some of that apple," from a Liberian it would sound like, "Gi me su u da appu."

2. Also, a very important difference in communicating that isn't verbal but still necessary to understand is that Liberians raise their eyebrows to say, "Yes." They only give a slight nod when the, "Yes," is very emphatic.

3. Obviously, the Liberian accent is unique. This is something that is best understood by listening to anyone from West Africa speak for awhile. If you are adopting a Liberian child, it would be helpful to familiarize yourself with the accent. Get a music CD, watch movies with characters from West Africa, or find someone in your community with a similar accent. The book Blue Clay People is written by William Powers, who worked in Liberia for two years, and it has a lot of Liberian conversations in it. One of the moms who has adopted Liberian boys has a blog in which she often records conversations with them. It is funny, insightful and useful for understanding the dialect. (www.morebridges.blogspot.com) If you are able to go to Liberia to pick up your kids, the experience will give you a great advantage in understanding their language. After listening to the accent from a lot of people speaking, it gets much easier to understand. If you're not able to travel, don't worry. It will just take some more effort on your part to get exposure to the way Liberian English sounds.

4. There are some common pronunciation differences, like Liberians do not make the "th" sound. Instead, it sounds like "d" or "t". For example, "this" sounds like "dis" and "three" sounds like "tree." They pronounce our short O sound like "aw" so "God" sounds like "Gaw."

5. They have different rules for grammar, so the placement of their words in a sentence is often different or the verb form can be different or partly missing. Like "I am finished" in Liberian is "I fini." Or we may say, "Will you take me to school?" and a Liberian would say, "You carry me to skoow?" Or we say, "How are you?" and a Liberian says, "How you feeling?" Also, Liberians tend to use the present tense of verbs regardless of the time an action took place. This is one of the differences in language that will stay with your Liberian children longest.

6. Liberians will often repeat a word for emphasis. "He ha plenty, plenty toys" to refer to someone having an overwhelming amount of toys or "He funny, funny in de he (head)" to refer to someone who seems mentally unsound.7. Americans and Liberians use different words for a lot of common things. Here are a few:
American/Liberian
How are you?/How you feelin? or How you comu on?
I'm okay/TryinI'm hanging in there/Tryin small or I dry ri (I'm dry rice)
throw/chunk (As in "chunk it here")
shirt/blouse (for women) shirt (for boys)
pants/trousers
flip flops/slippers
tennis shoes/sneakers
okay/aw rie (all right)
a lot/plenty
cookie or cracker/biscuit
hot dog/sausagea
little bit/small or small, small
Dad/Pa
Mom/Ma
to take somewhere/carry
move or move over/dress
soccer/football
done/fini (finish/finished)
your family/yaw peepo (your people)
pajamas/nega (nightgown)
bath/bathe
trash can/bucket
braid/plat (plait)
spank/beat
There are also the bathroom terms that are helpful to know when you are asking if they need to use the facilities. :) They say "pee pee" and "poo poo."Here are a few more that came to mind as I watched the videos:
plead/beg
rogue/thief
shame/embarrass
What do you think?/How you loo a da? (How do you look at that?)