Sh*t Cameroonians Say

Since arriving, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of phrases that people love using, for better or for worse. Some of them are funny, some are awkward, some just make me mad, and others just plain confuse me. I thought I’d share some of these with you. This list was compiled with the help of my favorite Cameroonian, Rameline. (PS please excuse my lack of accents on the French words/misspellings…and also, my language. oops.)

THE GOOD

DU COURAGE!

Literal translation: Hmm…I’m not sure, with my bad French. Correct me if I’m wrong. But “du” is “of the” and “courage” is well, “courage.”

What they mean: Good luck! or I’m sorry! or Keep on keeping on! ie any form of encouragement.

When it’s said: When someone is doing some tedious/hard work, when they see White Woman washing clothes by handing, when someone dies….basically. Anytime you want to encourage someone.

People just love using this. I remember that the morning after I found out that my dog in the US died, my little host brother, Luc, was at my door, and the first words out of his mouth were, “Du courage.” I also got it a lot when I was washing my clothes by hand, and clearly, was not getting the hang of it.

BON ARRIVEE!

Literal translation: Good arrival!

What they mean: Welcome back! Or “Oh, you’re back!”

When it’s said: Whenever you come back…from anywhere.

I love this one because there’s always people sitting at the little intersection by my house, and if I come back from a 2 week trip, it’s “Bon arrivee!” If I come back from a day of meetings, it’s “Bon arrivee!” If I come back from being in the market for 1 hour, it’s “Bon arrivee!” It just makes me feel happy.

CA VA ALLER.

Literal translation: It will go.

What they mean: Things will work out.

When it’s used: It’s basically just words of encouragement, but sometimes they’re just empty words. Like when people tell me “Ca va aller” when nobody is showing up to meetings. And then I’m just confused.

THE BAD

CA C’EST QUOI, CA?!

Literal translation: This! What is this?!

What they mean: What have you done?!

When it’s used: Whenever people are angry…especially at children. Often under the age of 3.

It’s especially used a lot by mothers of small children who don’t seem to understand the meaning of a little TLC. They seem to expect that their 1 year old child should know better than to accidentally fall down.

ON VA FAIRE COMMENT?

Literal translation: What will we do?

What they mean: “Well, what the fuck do you expect/want us to do?”

When it’s used: When they don’t feel like doing the work to make change happen. It’s often accompanied by clapping the hands together and then putting the hands out, palms up, and shrugging the shoulders. Like you should pity them.

Perhaps my least favorite phrase of all time, and I hear this ALL the time. It really bothers me because it’s such a fatalistic question. Like, well, we can’t change. So…we’re not going to unless you do it for us.

ASHIA.

Literal translation: None. It’s pidgin English.

What they mean: “Sucks to be you.”

When it’s said: It’s kinda like “du courage.” Bad busride? Ashia. Sick? Ashia. Rough day? Ashia. It’s good for any bad situation!

I heard this when I was in the Southwest a lot, since it’s Anglophone there, but I’ve heard it quite a few times here, as well.

OU EST MON PART?

Literal translation: “Where’s my part?”

What the mean: What do you have for me?

When it’s used: Maybe you’re in the market and you bought some bananas, somebody who you’ve never seen before my come up to you and ask you, “Ou est mon part?” because they want one. My normal response is, “Over there. You can buy it.” or “Not here.” and “Tu’m

Perhaps my second least favorite phrase here.

GARDE-MOI LES BONNES CHOSES.

Literal translation: “Keep some good stuff for me.”

What they mean: Buy me some shit while you’re there. Also can just mean, “Have a good trip!”

When it’s used: When you’re about to travel somewhere, ie on vacation or just the market…anywhere where things are plentiful and there is something to buy. Or, really, people use it so often here, that it’s basically just turned into another way of saying, “Have a good trip!”

It’s irritating when people you barely know are like, “Where ya headed?” “Market.” “Oh! Garde-moi les bonnes choses!”

TU M’AS GARDEE QUOI?

Literal translation: “What’d you keep for me?”

What they actually mean: “What shit is in your bag? Whatever it is, I want some!” or “Oh hi, nice to see you again!”

When it’s used: When you’re coming back from somewhere, and they see you have a bag/purse full of something. So they just want to see if maybe you’ll give something to them randomly. Othertimes, it’s basically just another way of saying, “Oh hey. You’re back.” But usually with WhiteMan, they mean, “I know you have something in there better than what I have. Give it to me!” The most satisfactory response I’ve found so far is, “Oh! Well, I searched and searched, but I couldn’t find anything for you!” or “What do you have for me?” or just a plain old “Nothing.” and a smile. Often paired with “Garde-moi les bonnes choses.”

C’EST L’AFRIQUE.

Literal translation: It’s Africa.

What they mean: Fuck it. I don’t care. It’s Africa, man.

When it’s said: Whenever something frustrating happens, and you know that a little willpower could change the situation. But instead, people just shrug and say, “C’est l’Afrique.” It’s quite depressing. Especially knowing that the vast majority of Cameroonians have never left their own country, let alone explored other parts of their own country, but yet somehow, they can generalize their problems to all of Africa.

JE DIS QUE (ehhhhhhh)…

Literal translation: “I’m saying…”

What they mean: “I’m SAYING…”

When it’s said: Whenever you don’t understand something they said, whether in content or just because my French isn’t perfect, or most likely, because they’re drunk at 7am and they’re slurring everything together, they like to yell out “JE DIS QUE….” and then they repeat what they just said but just as fast and a lot louder. And after the “que,” Cameroonians (especially the drunk ones) will add this noise afterwards so it sounds like they’re saying, “JE DIS QUE-EHHHH…” It’s really unpleasant when it’s said that way.

THE AWKWARD

MOOF!

Literal translation: Along the lines of “shoo!” but more forceful and not-so-nice.

What they mean: Get out of my way!

When it’s used: When people are shooing away dogs that are approaching them, or even for children who are being bothersome.

I just find it funny that they use them same sound to express their dislike for potentially rabid dogs that they hate, as well as for young children.

ASHE!

Literal translation: None

What they mean: Ouch!

When it’s used: Whenever we would say “Ouch!”

It’s just funny that their word is different. I might have to bring this back to the US.

J’ARRIVE!

Literal translation: I am arriving.

What they mean: I’ll be back…sometime.

When it’s said: As they are leaving.

Confusing, right? I was so confused when my host family kept saying that to me in Bokito. As they would leave to go somewhere, whether it was 2 minutes to the bathroom or 2 hours to go off somewhere, they would say “J’arrive.” I couldn’t figure out what they meant, because they would leave and say this. For the longest time, I thought that my French was just so bad that I just didn’t understand something. But nope. It really is that confusing.

ON EST LA/NOUS SOMMES LA.

Literal translation: “We are there/here”

What they mean: It’s really a meaningless phrase to just kind of fill in silence. Like, “How are you?” “We’re here.” It also can mean, “We’re with ya, sista.” But usually, it just means “Meh. Ya know.”

When it’s used: Whenever they want.

I was also very confused by this because there’s just no meaning to this phrase. But Cameroonians really love saying it.

ON EST ENSEMBLE.

Literal translation: We are together.

What they mean: “See ya!” or, more sneakily, “I want something from you.”

When it’s said: Often times, it’s said when you’re leaving, so it’s kinda like “yay! We’re in this (life) together!” But also, people especially like to use this when they want something from you, like…money or some other form of help. It’s kinda like an informal way of butt-kissing. Anglophones in Cameroon will also say “We are together, na!” And it’s just awkward.

CHEZ VOUS…

Literal translation: (In) your place….

What they mean: Where you come from (WhiteManLand)…

When it’s used: This is used when they like to make sweeping generalizations about this mystical land of WhiteManLand, which is a conglomeration of Europe, the US and Canada, and presumably Australia, as well. People like to say things like “Chez vous…everybody is rich.” or “Chez vous…you don’t like children because there aren’t 10 children per family!”

HIGHS:

• I made a pineapple meringue pie the other night! Except, nobody every told me that it was really hard to make meringue without a handmixer. I suppose I should have known, but the instructions just seemed so easy! Well, the meringue wasn’t super meringue-y, but it still tasted super delicious. Unfortunately, the power went out for 3 days (and counting), and my new fridge doesn’t work with the “low current” electricity situation. So, I was forced to finish off the pie by myself (with a little help of Pumba). #Whitepersonthirdworldproblems.
• My favorite pineapple man in village has had lots of pineapples recently, for cheaps! And they’re always delicious.
• My camp got approved to receive PEPFAR (a big fund from the US that goes to fighting HIV/AIDs globally) funding for my girls’ camp! Score!
• I’ve started to make a bigger effort to read. My Kindle broke a while back (again), and I, sadly, my computer was more interesting than books for the past few months. But, when I went to Bafoussam, I found some good books, and started reading again. In fact, I got through 3 books in 4 days, and now I’m shooting for 4 books in 6 days. My ultimate goal is to read 200 books while here in Cameroon. Let’s see how this goes. I’ve made a list of books though that I’ve read so far, see here: https://roadwestraveled.wordpress.com/stuff-ive-read/
• With my time, I also made a list of podcasts that I really like. I have a LOT of time on my hands here, especially at night, to listen to podcasts. When you’re speaking French all day, it’s nice to just hear the voice of some fellow Americans. Plus, they’re usually really interesting. Please let me know if you have any favorites of your own! https://roadwestraveled.wordpress.com/podcasts/

• I found mangoes in the market in Bangangte. Nomnomnoms. It’s past mango season now, so finding mangoes is a rarity. But I got a bunch while I was there today.

LOWS:

• We’ve had “low current electricity” for the past 4+ days now. I can charge stuff, which is nice, but my lights are fluorescent and take too much energy to even turn on. So I’ve been in the dark. When there’s low current, it also means that in the morning, the water company doesn’t have enough electricity to pump water up to the water towers in the morning, to distribute throughout village. So, that means no running water. Luckily, it’s rainy season, so I can collect rain in buckets. But it’s still no fun to have to conserve water THAT much.
• I’ve been trapped in my house for the past few days working on a trimesterly report for the Peace Corps. Since they don’t really watch over us all the time while we’re at post and don’t know what we’re up to, we have to do these super detailed reports for them every few months. It hasn’t been fun to do, but I finally finished!!
• Last week when I got back from Bafoussam, I got a really yucky rash on my torso. After hiding in my house for 2 days, since it was so uncomfortable, it started getting better. Phew
• This past week has been slow weeks for me, in terms of work but also just in general. I had to do my trimesterly report for the Peace Corps, which kept me at home a lot, and I didn’t have many meetings to go to at all. Also, I couldn’t really start planning for the camp until I heard back about the approval, so that left me with more time on my hands than usual. A slow week doesn’t mean a particularly bad week, because sometimes it’s nice to decompress. But sometimes that leaves a little too much time to reminisce about life in the US and things that I’m missing out on across the pound. Just a little. With that said though, I’m ready to hit the ground running again this upcoming week.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Peace and love,

Wes and Pumba