1/25
– 2/4
On
the night of the 25th the crew and I went out for a couple
drinks. The crew is Bakary, Zaki, and
Kadit. It was nice to spend some time
together where we were not thinking about work or arranging meetings with other
people. This reprieve was nice but short
lived. My days have been filling up
quickly recently.
I
finished my first pass at translating my first text. I need to back over it sometime to make sure what
we did translate is consistent. This recently completed round involved my consultant’s translations of words that he could translate
(or approximate) plus my best guesses at the meanings for certain grammatical
particles. It is rough still. But I am excited to have started the village
history text. For the next week or so I
will be working with my consultant to get our transcription as accurate as
possible. This is the least fun part of
the process, but it is absolutely crucial if I am to gain a more sophisticated
understanding of this language’s morphophonology. And the phonology for that matter. It is unlikely I have it all figured out after
a few months.
Fun note: while transcribing the history, my consultant consistently laughs at the person we recorded. It is mostly about his pronunciations like /s/ à [] (the sound “s” realized as “sh”) and others. Incidentally, my consultant does this too, he just doesn't realize it. Some of what makes him laugh is that our historian repeats himself a lot. It’s is tough to know for sure which words he means to repeat for emphasis and which are just his style. All of it is transcribed though. Bakary also calls him bouche de cola. At first I thought he was insulting him by calling him “soda mouth.” Presumably referring to his teeth. However, I have since been corrected. It likely refers to the cola nut preferred by elder people in this culture. Perhaps it was a reference to what the historian does frequently, maybe he has one in his mouth during the interview, or perhaps my consultant was referring to his teeth being worn down.
Fun note: while transcribing the history, my consultant consistently laughs at the person we recorded. It is mostly about his pronunciations like /s/ à [] (the sound “s” realized as “sh”) and others. Incidentally, my consultant does this too, he just doesn't realize it. Some of what makes him laugh is that our historian repeats himself a lot. It’s is tough to know for sure which words he means to repeat for emphasis and which are just his style. All of it is transcribed though. Bakary also calls him bouche de cola. At first I thought he was insulting him by calling him “soda mouth.” Presumably referring to his teeth. However, I have since been corrected. It likely refers to the cola nut preferred by elder people in this culture. Perhaps it was a reference to what the historian does frequently, maybe he has one in his mouth during the interview, or perhaps my consultant was referring to his teeth being worn down.
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However
this past week and a half has not been all work.
We
went to a club and nobody was dancing.
On a Saturday. With dance
music. On the plus side I had time to
ask my companions about the artists and song titles. I will be the most knowledgeable guy from New
Hampshire regarding West African Pop music before you know it. This is very important for things.
I
have been quickly learning exactly how technologically privileged I am. I noticed that I was getting frustrated when
people didn’t know how to use devices or programs that I completely take for
granted.
A good example; I asked Valentine to take a picture of me and Bakary a while back with my camera. I said push this button when you think the picture is right. The camera was pointed at her feet and she said all she could see was her feet. No problem, I thought. I explained: Il faut assurer que l’appareil est parallèle de la terre pour nous voir, c’est directionnel. “You have to make sure that the device is parallel to the ground to see us, it is directional.” She stares at me blankly. Okay, I rotate the camera in her hands to show her that she needs to point it at us. I go back to Bakary, and she tries to look down at the camera again (like a phone, perhaps), thereby pointing it at her feet. Je vois les pies encore. “I see my feet again.” This photo never happened. My recollection of the French is probably not perfect.
Bakary tried to call a family member with my phone by using the calculator app. He can read French, which is the language my phone is set to.
The person I met with to potentially teach me how to use R (this did not happen) did not know how to use facebook. I don’t recall exactly why that came up.
The systems administrator at the hotel across the street (I bought a weeks’ worth of internet usage from them during a particularly long internet outage) did not know how to use my MacBook to get me setup.
You get the idea. None of these situations say anything bad about anyone, except possibly me, if I got impatient. It sometimes feels to me like I am living with either three year olds or elderly people. But should it?
A good example; I asked Valentine to take a picture of me and Bakary a while back with my camera. I said push this button when you think the picture is right. The camera was pointed at her feet and she said all she could see was her feet. No problem, I thought. I explained: Il faut assurer que l’appareil est parallèle de la terre pour nous voir, c’est directionnel. “You have to make sure that the device is parallel to the ground to see us, it is directional.” She stares at me blankly. Okay, I rotate the camera in her hands to show her that she needs to point it at us. I go back to Bakary, and she tries to look down at the camera again (like a phone, perhaps), thereby pointing it at her feet. Je vois les pies encore. “I see my feet again.” This photo never happened. My recollection of the French is probably not perfect.
Bakary tried to call a family member with my phone by using the calculator app. He can read French, which is the language my phone is set to.
The person I met with to potentially teach me how to use R (this did not happen) did not know how to use facebook. I don’t recall exactly why that came up.
The systems administrator at the hotel across the street (I bought a weeks’ worth of internet usage from them during a particularly long internet outage) did not know how to use my MacBook to get me setup.
You get the idea. None of these situations say anything bad about anyone, except possibly me, if I got impatient. It sometimes feels to me like I am living with either three year olds or elderly people. But should it?
Anyways,
I hope to have some actual cool stuff for you all in coming posts regarding
village history or maybe some videos. We
shall see what I can actually upload and such.
This elderly person is actually pretty savy. Love you
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