Daily doubletake
As a group of Cameroonian adolescent girls at Seme Beach in Limbe passed by I caught snatches of their conversation. “Hunh,” I thought to myself, “that sounded like German.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions, Karla,” I quickly retorted. “They’re probably speaking a local dialect with gutturals and sibilants like German.”
Then another chattering girl breezed past, her words quite distinct: “Ich weiss nicht,” removing all doubt as to what language they were speaking.
I know Cameroon was under the Germans for a good part of their colonial history, but it still wasn’t something I was expecting to hear.
“Don’t jump to conclusions, Karla,” I quickly retorted. “They’re probably speaking a local dialect with gutturals and sibilants like German.”
Then another chattering girl breezed past, her words quite distinct: “Ich weiss nicht,” removing all doubt as to what language they were speaking.
I know Cameroon was under the Germans for a good part of their colonial history, but it still wasn’t something I was expecting to hear.
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