“Moudaina ou deux enfants au cœur de l’afrique” is the name of the most recent book which I’ve read.
In the recent days I’ve decided to start read more often. One of the reasons to stop reading was that I’ve found out that most of the thoughts in the books are already said… It’s sounds stupid but, said by different words if I know or feel that the concept of the book is familiar to me then I don’t feel desire to read it.
Of course I had different “change of hearts” about this concept. As they say – it’s not about the story but about the experience of the writer. It’s about that maybe your day wasn’t come yet to read that “one ” book. Even besides all these words of wisdom I still had hard times to go out and look for interesting books. But recently I’ve come out with a new strategy – This strategy was to read books on foreign languages. And I found some interesting relations which I still explore.
So I went to our hometown “French” center and I loan a book. It’s an easy enough book for reading if you are beginner to intermediate in this language. I am going to put some quotes from the book and after that I will write down one part of the words which I didn’t understood. I found them in the internet dictionary of Larousse and some other similar sources. Another part of the words I just left like that… covered in “mystery wo0oo0o” ; )
I’ve passed by them only by guessing or by trying to figure them out by their context. That way I keep my mind occupied not only by the story of the book, but also by the way the language is structured. It’s like a game, like a puzzle but it’s important to keep the game easy enough so it’s stays fun and curious.
Thanks.
Le pere et le fils s’assirent.
« Yassédi, cela veut dire « ne lui donnez pas de nom ». C’était notre premier enfant. Nous ne voulions pas qu’il lui arrive du mal. La petite n’a pas eu de nom, car il ne peut arriver malheur à quelqu’un qui n’en a pas. Et elle est restée « Yassédi ». Tchinda, elle, est née sous un tamarinier semblable à celui qui nous abrite. Alors, nous lui avons donné le nom de l’arbre qui l’a protégée de son ombre dès sa naissance. Tchaïtoum, notre cinquième enfant, a été appelé « Frappons- le » pour faire croire aux esprits que nous étions mécontents de sa naissance. Quand il a été malade, nous avons craint que les esprits n’aient compris notre ruse. Mais le Dr Ndang a été plus fort qu’eux, et il a tiré Tchaïtoum vers la vie.
C’est beau, mon enfant, d’être plus fort que les demons !
C’est pour cela, s’exclama Moudaïna, les yeux brillants, que je veux être docteur. Je veux être plus fort que le mal, je veux, moi aussi, tirer les gens vers la vie, je veux… »
Dictionary:
aboie – bark
achalandée – busiest
ahuri – stunned, amazed
Ardeur – devotion, zeal, passion
arracher – pull, extract
averse – rain
averse crépitante – sizzling, cracking rain
babouches – slippers
bêler/bêlement – bleat
berge – river shore
biscournu – misshapen
Brousse – jungle, bush
Cadence – rate
calebasse – calabash
chauves-souris – bat
chaux – lime wall
chope – mug
Cinéaste – filmmaker
confrère – confrere
congé – leave, vacation
crottes – droppings
dégringoler – plummet, deteriorate
délestée- offload
Désœvrement – idleness
dispensaire – clinic
du reste – besides
écarquiller les yeux – open eyelids widely
effaroucher – scare, frighten
épis (de blé) – wheat ears
éternuer – sneeze
être ému – move (v.)
Exaspérer – aggravate,infuriate
fendu, pirogue fendu – spit, cracked
fente – slot,crack
flot – stream, flow
Gambader – frisk, roam
Grellot – bell
Grenier à mil – granary
Grogner / grognement -growl, grunt
hâtif – rushed
hausse – rise, increase
Incogru – incocrus, out of ordinary
inlassablement – tireless, relentless
lamentablement – miserably
lancet – lancet
lanière – strap
Les carreaux – tiles, window
malecontreux – unfortunate
Maussade – morose
Mauve – pale purple
meuflante – moo
mouillé – wet, damp
moustiquaire – mosquito net
natte – mat
outre, en outre – in addition to, excessively
pagayer – paddle
paille – straw
Peau de cabris – goatskin
perche – perch
plaqué – plated
Quémander – beg
rassurer – apease, reassure
Remue-ménage – bustle
renifler – snort
rire à gorge déployée – Laughing out loud
Rôtir – roast
S’eclipser – slip away, vanish
S’élancer – soar
S’envoler – fly away, vanish, launch
se démèner – scramble, struggling
Se précipiter – rush/speed up
Selette – spotlight, hot seat
sentier – path, pathway, trail
Somnoler – drowse
Souligner – highlight, emphasize
soupirer – signed, huff
sursauter – startle, jump
tendre – stretch
tiède, eau tiédasse – lukewarm
Titubant – staggering
tracasser – worry, bother
Trotteur – walker, trotter
The words may be not completely relevant to their sense but they can give at least an idea about what’s going on in the text.
Amusika 