Something that you quickly realise here is that for Rwandans (as well as across many African countries apparently),
‘L’s and ‘R’s are pretty inter-changeable, and sound similar to the French 'rrrr'. Within everyday conversation this
can cause confusion, tongue-twisters and occasional hirarity! Ironic in a
country called R-wanda… often just known as Wanda! So I have friends here known
as Frorence, shortened to Frola (Flora) and Emery becomes Emily!
In college, where my students love sport, I’m never really
sure whether they are learning or running, and at runch time we all sit down to merange.
And I once had a conversation with a friend at
completely cross purposes:
Me: Are you coming to the party?
Him: No, I’m
praying.
Later…
Me: How was
church?
Him: Eh? I was praying football with my fliends?
Weekends are sometimes spent in Chigari (‘K’s are also
sometimes exchanged for ‘Ch’), where I am often asked about the Crime-rate back
home (climate)! Confusing until you work this one out!
I was laughing about the L/R thing with a friend a few
weekends ago and comparing funny stories whilst having a beer (Plimus) and
eating Plingles! She has a friend who
had actually texted her that he had a ‘ploblem’…so the confusion even extends to
writing/texting. However, I quite liked my favourite example of an evening
spent with a friend discussing Somalian pilots! Hirarious!
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