Before I get into this post, let’s all just take a minute to look at how CUTE this baby is. She’s my namesake, and I hope she brings you some joy today.

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Last week, I helped three new Volunteers get ready to move into their sites, where they are just starting the journey which I have been on for a year. While every volunteer has a different experience here – living in different villages, speaking different languages, meeting different people – the growth and timeline that we experience can be generalized. We all go through three months of training, and then get dropped off in site. Upon realizing that we’re totally alone, we all experience the sudden feeling that our training could never have prepared us to live in an actual Senegalese village. We all have a moment where we think “did I really just spend three months studying this language, because I do not understand anything these people are saying.” And then, gradually, we get settled, we learn the language, and we learn to thrive in this crazy, amazing country.

While we were getting ready to install the new Volunteers in their permanent homes, they often asked us to translate what people were saying, or how to translate common English phrases into Pulaar. Interacting with people who just passed the same exam that I did one year ago was a great reminder of how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned. And trying to translate common phrases made me realize how much of the Pulaar language doesn’t translate well into English.

In this post, I want to share some of my favorite Pulaar words and phrases – things that I’ve adopted into my daily vocabulary, but don’t translate cleanly into English. I hope you’ll enjoy these phrases, and maybe even adopt them into your vocabulary!

Woppii (woah-pee): Left/abandoned/quit

This word is has a stronger meaning than “to leave” and less strong than “to abandon.” There’s an implication of leaving someone/something intentionally.

Examples of how to use “Woppii”:

If you made plans with someone, they didn’t show up, AND they didn’t have the decency to tell you they couldn’t make it, they woppii-ed you – they left you hanging.

If you have been working on a project for a long time, but it just isn’t going to happen, you should save your effort and woppii it – you should abandon it.

If you are helping new Peace Corps Volunteers and you say “call me if you need anything, but I’m actually leaving for vacation in a few days so I’ll only be available through WhatsApp,” you are woppii-ing them (but only until you come back from said vacation, I promise!) – you are leaving them alone.

Fewii (Fey –as in Tina Fey– whee): to be in working order, functional, good

This word can actually mean a number of things, describing things that are in perfect working order, as well as things that look like they could break any minute but haven’t yet.

Examples of how to use “fewii”:

If you spend hours doing beautiful henna art on your hands and feet, when you get home, your family will tell you it’s fewii – it’s good/beautiful.

If the door to your house falls off, and you reattach it to the hinges with wire, and after you let go it stays standing, your door is fewii – it’s not great, but it’ll work.

If you are riding in public transportation, and someone directs you to a certain seat and asks if it’s ok for you, you can tell them it’s fewii – it’s fine for you.

Waawii (wow-ee–rhymes with tea): to be able/competent at something

This word can be translated as either “you’re able to do something” or “you’re really good at something.” It can also be followed by either a noun or a verb, making it really easy to use in every day speech.

Examples of how to use “waawii”:

I can communicate in Pulaar, therefore I waawii Pulaar – I can speak Pulaar.

If you are wearing cute clothes one day, your friends or family may tell you that you waawii putting on clothes, or that you waawii being cute – You know how to dress.

If you went to a 5-star restaurant and got to meet the chef, you could pay him a great compliment and tell him that he “waawii-s” cooking – S/he is a great chef who really knows how to cook.

Another beautiful part of the Pulaar language is the proverbs. Some can be compared to American proverbs – there’s one proverb that translates almost directly to “birds of a feather flock together,” and another that says “you reap what you sow” – but I find the ones that I haven’t heard before more entertaining. Here are some of my favorites:

• The bull deserved the beard, but God gave it to the goat
• A stick may be in a river for a long time, but it will never be a crocodile
• If you have a mouth/speech, you cannot get lost
• If everyone’s beard is on fire, each person must put out their own beard first

While I still get frustrated when I can’t fully express myself here, I have come to love the intricacies and beauty of Pulaar. And on particularly frustrating days, I remind myself of my favorite Pulaar proverb: “Going slowly doesn’t keep you from arriving.” Slowly, slowly, I’ll continue to improve, and I’ll continue to learn more every day here.