Jody is a Sitting Debbo

One Hundred Ninety Two pages of Pulaar. That’s the number of pages in my well-worn, green notebook that I filled with Pulaar notes. As I crack open another new notebook, this time with 288 pages and a map of Senegal on the cover, I wonder how well I’ll be able to communicate in Pulaar at the end of this notebook. I’ve said it many times, but with every lesson it becomes more clear, learning a language is like playing with building blocks. One word builds on another and another until a phrase is formed. Phrases build into paragraphs, which give way to complete ideas, and finally communication is the result. It may seem a small victory, but I can tell you that a man is standing, sitting, walking, running, laying, stopping, arriving, and jumping…….in Pulaar.

This is significant to me because it means I’ve managed to learn, not only words, but entire phrases this week. I have a terrible memory so I’m always on the look out for new ways to improve that aspect of my language-learning journey. Word association is one of my favorite methods because it allows me to build a picture in my mind on which to attach new vocabulary. In the GPA language-learning process the first step is to learn simple vocabulary and then build on those words by putting them to action in phrases. 

In my lovely, green notebook there is a picture of a stick figure woman wearing an A-line dress, with two little swoops of hair on either side of her head. Can you picture her? In my head I hear the word “debbo” (woman), when I see this little lady. Next, I see the stick figure woman sitting on a stick figure chair. The verb “to sit one’s self” is “joodaade”. The phrase “the woman is sitting” in Pulaar is "Debbo oo ko joodi.” This is where my imagination and word association kicks in, because I have a very good friend named Jody, which is exactly how “joodi” is pronounced. So now, I have my friend Jody sitting in this stick figure chair, and voila, I can remember the verb to sit, “joodaade”, in Pulaar.

It’s a complicated process if it isn’t hatched out of your own noggin. For example, my husband was learning the word “fotde” which means, “to be equal” in Pulaar. Well, in Wolof the verb “foot” means to wash laundry, so he imagines equal loads of laundry waiting to be washed! Crazy, but it works.

I’m off again, into my imaginary world of vocabulary drawings. Till next time…….