Jun
04
Filed Under (Beninese culture, General) by Rob on 04-06-2006

A few days ago, Rob gave a Fon lesson to a dozen Americans! These are student from the Church of the Nazarene, who are over in Benin for a couple of weeks to experience African life and culture as well as world mission. So, he taught them the basics, such as:

A fon gangi a?……………………………..Are you well this morning?
(literally are you well awake?)

Asi towe lo?……………………………………….And your wife?

OR…

Asu towe lo?………………………………………And your husband?

Vi le lo? ……………………………………………And the kids?

This is the common way to begin greetings in the morning. There are also greetings for almost every occasion, such as:

Kudo ji ………………………………Greetings in the rain
(literally: good rain

Kud’azo!……………………………………….Greetings in your work
(Good work/Bon travail!)

Kud’ali……………………………………………Good journey/have a nice trip
(or thanks for the lift!)

Kud’ayi djinjon………………………………….Greeings for sitting down
(Good sitting)

There you go! That’s enough for now. I hope to put some Fon lessons on this site in the future. Meanwhile, I recommend:

Fon is fun

which has some good Fon phrases and audio extracts too!



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