Getting ready for the village (update below))

Linguistic map. There are almost 300 languages! I'd be going to the south east, about 150 km southeast from Yaoundé.

'Articulatory phonetics'... I'll be needing this in the village!
Thank you Scott, for lending it to me!!

Well, this was today's lunch... Not bananas, it's a type of mandioca (I thnik), plus a mish-mash of veggies and other elements. Less than a euro, a real Cameroonian meal! This was in Yaoundé.

Amazingly unbelievable...

Dear friends and family,

first of all, I apologize for not putting the directions on bcc. It's my duty, but I was in a hurry and forgot. I'll try not to do that again. I really value your privacy.

Now for the news!!

I am so excited! I've got very good news. Well, as some of you know, the EG visa didn't work out, so we had to look for a plan B. These last days Scott and I have been talking to several people, and it seems there is a couple who were in contact with a pastor from a people group called sò [sɔ]. A few years ago he came to SIL and told them the need of his people group (about 20 villages, many thousands of speakers) for the Bible in their language. So far there has only been a small word list written by his uncle, a learned man, but in French orthography (not IPA), and very limited. So today we talked to this couple of SIL who know the pastor, and the man (Dave) called the pastor, who lives in Yaundé, the capital. The pastor's name is Ossimba (easy to remember), and he was at CTC in a shot!! So we all sat down on some chairs and talked: Ossimba, Dave (the contact), Scott and myself. Ossimba told us his story. He's a very learned man, a teacher of profession, and he told us (in French) "I would look at the Bible in French and read to them in So." This and other things he said were so touching.

The methodology is to start with a 1800-word list. My job would be a bit what we did with the Fa d'Ambu in the subject of "Learning a second language": with no grammar, I'd be writing down nouns, verbs, etc., in the So language in IPA, so I thank Andrew (second language) and Scott (phonetics) for giving me the needed elements to do this. :)

There is one final step before going to the village, which is about two hours away from Yaundé: about 1 hour and a half on an acceptable paved road to another city, and then about 40 minutes to the village, no guarantee about the road. Oh, the final step: To get the final approval of the Linguistics Director (something like this), but it's a formality, and it's pretty sure.

Praise the Lord!!! He has found me a way. He has provided for Ossimba, who has been praying for something like this for years. I'd tell you more (much more), but I've been invited for supper to the Smiths. I may be leaving on Friday noon to the village! Pray that things may work out. :)

God bless!
Love in Christ,

Ricard

Fotos amb el mòbil Sony Ericsson

Una de les feines que faig és escriure les paràboles en llengües guineanes. Aquí estava enmig d'escriure un verset en bube en una de les pàgines del futur llibret. El títol en castellà al final s'escriu en bube. Està allà perquè se sàpiga quina paràbola és.

One of my tasks is writing down parables in guinean languages. Here I was writing a verse in Bube in one of the pages of the future booklet. The Spanish title is finally changed by the one in Bube.

(EN below) Preparat per esperar un ratet a l'ambaixada

Al final la cosa està pendent: la porta no està tancada, però tampoc del tot oberta per anar a GE. L'ambaixador va ser molt amable i tot va anar bé. Ara bé: per qüestions bur(r)ocràtiques, la cosa pot ser que tardi més, i ja estem pensant en un plan B.

Ready to wait a while at the ambassy

Things aren't definite yet: the door isn't closed, but not wide open either to go to EG. The ambassador was very kind and everything went swift. Nevertheless, due to bureaucracy, things may be slow, and we are starting to work on plan B.

Lodging at CTC (Read the update below!)

Cameroon update - Notícies fresques del Camerun - Lo último en Camerún

Un home amb qui vaig parlar en un mercat improvisat de carrer. Parla la llengua matakwan, de la regió de l'extrem nord (es diu així) del Camerun. "Hola" es diu "mbalai", i "adéu" és "iziga".

A man I met at the market. He spoke a language called Matakwan, spoken in the "Estrême Nord" region of Cameroon. "Hi" is "mbalai", and "good-bye" is "iziga".

El "Grand marché" de Yaundé. 5 pisos que van pujant progressivament!
The "Grand marché" (big market) in Yaundé.



Huge moth!
Quina arna més enorme!

CASTELLANO (ENGLISH BELOW)


Queridos amigos y familia:

He pensado escribir las últimas noticias en este blog porque es casi imposible colgar imágenes o vídeos en el feisbu. Espero que esta carta os encuentre a todos bien.

Ahora mismo son pasadas las 10 de la noche en Camerún y en la Europa continental. Ahora mismo, como esta mañana, está lloviendo, lo cual es muy raro dado que estamos en la época seca del año. En un sentido ya va bien, puesto que el polvo se ha asentado y le ha dado un respiro a mis pulmones (jeje), ya que he estado tosiendo bastante estos días debido a un resfriado que exporté de España.

Estos días estoy en Yaundé, la capital, y estoy esperando el visado para irme a Guinea Ecuatorial. Mañana Scott irá por enésima vez a la embajada para conseguir una cita con el embajador para que otros dos y yo obtengamos el visado. Por esto, ahora estoy en un estado de espera. Si nos dan el visado, nos vamos el martes. Si no, nos quedaremos un par de días para pensar el plan B, que sería quedarme en Camerún.

Mientras tanto, no pierdo el tiempo. Estoy traduciendo un libro de alfabetización escrito en francés (para hablantes del tunen) al castellano (para hablantes del bakoko), ya que el tunen está en una región de habla francesa, y el bakoko en una región de habla española. Es decir, las explicaciones están en la lengua mayoritaria, y los ejercicios y aplicaciones se tienen que hacer en la minoritaria.

También he estado yendo al centro de Yaundé para estar más en contacto con el espectro más real de la vida camerunesa. Recientemente compré una camisa al estilo local, lo cual ha suscitado más de una mirada curiosa, y más de una persona me ha parado en la calle para darme la mano y charlar conmigo un rato, con lo cual he aprendido a dar la mano al estilo camerunés. Ayer sábado fui al centro con una camiseta del Barça, un equipo muy popular en Camerún, al haber estado Eto’o en él.

Y aparte de esto, estoy pasando parábolas en lengua Bobe (GE) al ordenador, en una plantilla de Word Publisher, para convertirlas en libritos para que la gente lea. Algunas de esas parábolas son el sembrador, el hijo pródigo, el hombre que acumulaba riquezas, etc.

Y esto es básicamente lo que he estado haciendo estos días. Os agradecería que orarais por lo siguiente:

-Que el embajador de GE nos dé luz verde.
-Por seguridad durante el viaje (es peligroso conducir por estas tierras)
-Por un mejor conocimiento de la cultura y las personas.
-Por salud espiritual, ya que “no tenemos lucha contra sangre ni carne, sino contra principados, contra potestades, contra los gobernadores de las tinieblas de este siglo, contra huestes espirituales de maldad en las regiones celestes”, y por fe, para “apagar todos los dardos de fuego del maligno”.
-Por los medios necesarios para cubrir todo el viaje.

Os agradezco mucho que hayáis estado leyendo, y se agradecen las oraciones. ¡Son muy necesarias! Muchas gracias por vuestro apoyo.

¡Un abrazo bien fuerte!
En Cristo,
Ricard



ENGLISH

Dear friends and family,

I've decided to write my updates on this blog because it's almost impossible to put pictures up on Fakebook or videos on YouTube. I hope this letter finds you in good health and happiness.

Right now it's a quarter past 7 pm in Cameroon and continental Europe. This morning it has rained, which is pretty strange as we are in the dry season. But it was nice because this made the harmattan dust settle, so my lungs are getting some vacation (I had been coughing lately also because of a cold I had been dragging from Spain). So after an anti-cold pill last night, I'm feeling much better. :)

These days I'm staying at Yaoundé, the capital, and am waiting to go to Equatorial Guinea (EG). On Monday, Scott will try to talk to the ambassador after trying to do so three times. There are two others that are coming along to EG for linguistic research. So my status right now is "waiting" for a visa. If they grant me the visa, we’ll go on Tuesday. If my visa is turned down, we’ll stay at CTC in Yaoundé a couple of days to come up with a plan B for Cameroon.

I’m not idle, nevertheless. :-) I’ve been translating a French transitional primer for Tunen into Spanish, to adapt it to Bakoko. It may sound confusing (it was to me at first), but a transitional primer means a primer for people who already can read a majority language (e.g. Spanish or French) to learn to read in their own minority language (e.g. Tunen or Bakoko). So the explanations are in the majority language. Each lesson is about a specific letter or group of letters that are different in that minority language, including 4 or 5 different exercises that will help practice what has just been learned. For example, an exercise can be “translate these Spanish words into Bakoko”, and the words in Bakoko will happen to have the letters the student has to practice. That’s why it isn’t just about “translating” the primer: it’s adapting it into another language! All the exercises will have to change, as the words in Spanish can’t be the same, as in Bakoko they will be written differently. As the purpose is to practice the new letters of that particular lesson, the Spanish words have to match the Bakoko equivalents in the exercise!

I’ve also been going down to the center of Yaoundé to be closer to real Cameroonian life. I’ve had the chance of talking to lots of people and learning a lot about their culture. I recently bought an African shirt and wore it at the street in the center, and it was so interesting to see the reactions! More than one passer-by stopped to chat with me, and I even learned to shake hands the Cameroonian way! In principle you shake hands the normal way, but while you let go you snap your fingers.

And apart from this, I’ve also been typing parables in a language called Bobe from EG. I passed them into a template on Word Publisher, and they will soon become booklets for people to read. Some parables I’m typing are about the rich man who accumulated riches, the prodigal son, etc.

That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing these last days. I would appreciate your prayers for the following:

- That the EG ambassador may grant me the visa to get into EG.

- For safety during the trip (driving around here can be pretty dangerous).

- For better knowledge of the culture and love for the people.

- For spiritual health, as “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”, and for faith, “to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked".

- For the means needed to cover the whole trip.

Thank you so much for reading this update, and for your daily prayers. They are really needed, and I appreciate them. Thank you so much for your support!

In Christ,

Ricard

PS If you want to leave a message, click on the "anonymus" option if you aren't on Blogger. Remember to include your first name!!

Dear Stina...

You got there! Congratulations, and I hope you enjoyed the ride... Since you must be so exhausted, I think an evening in a restaurant of your own choice in Seville would do us good!! As a good-bye treat for both of us since I'm going far far away... Start looking around! ;-) I'm taking you out, baby.

Lots of love (and lots and lots)
from
your
Ricard
-

Això ja s'acaba! :D

ENGLISH (Català a baix!)

Dear family and friends,

Since a few have asked me what my future plans are (normally plans are future, aren't they?), here it goes: a short sum-up.

There's less than 2 weeks to go for the end of the masters. Both Marie (alias) and me have got a bit of masteritis, so it'll be nice to go back home. But she'll be back in Seville and I'll be back in Caldes... Waaaaahh!! (snif...) Her father is coming to pick her up while Marc is picking me up.

We both plan on going back to work. Marie (for you who don't know it, she got her undergraduate at Moody Bible Institute in Linguistics), will look for a teaching job in Seville, probably English. I've already got a job giving English classes in the morning in July, but I'll try and teach more hours during the day to make it worthwhile. I have one more trimester to go (September-December) to end my studies in Translation. So, if all goes well, by the end of the year I'll be a Licenciado :P


And next year, I'd like to go somewhere to get in touch with a Bible translation project and experience a whole different culture, in order to have some experience for when in the future I really plan on seriously getting involved in a project.

And that's all. Oh, no, I forgot to say I'm saving to go to the US with Marie in December for her sister's wedding in Michigan.

Please pray for both her and me, that our relationship may be based on the Lord, and that we may be attentive to His call. That we may profit of the time we'll be apart from each other these next months to deepen in the relationship and grow in the Lord. And I have to say, we will be seeing each other once or twice a month, given that Ryanair prices aren't that expensive!

Thanks for reading!
Greetings from Marie
Ricard


CATALÀ

Estimada família i amics:

Com diu el títol, això ja s'acaba! Ja no queden més de dues setmanes perquè s'acabi el curs. I com que molts m'aneu preguntant què faré, etc, ho provaré de resumir aquí.

Acabo el dia 26 de juny, i el Marc em ve a buscar el 27. Crec que és el 27 mateix quan ens donen el diploma del màster. O sigui que suposo que seré a casa el 28 o el 29.

La Marie Daniels (àlies) se'n va a Sevilla, i allà buscarà feina possiblement donant classes d'anglès o alguna altra cosa. Aquests pròxims mesos no ens veurem tant com durant el màster, ni molt menys! :( Aquí ens veiem cada dia, però allà serà un o dos cops el mes, i cremar el telèfon la resta del temps. Però almenys és bastant segur que ens veurem a finals de juliol i principi d'agost, uns quants dies! :) Estem tristois que ens haguem de separar ara per ara, però ja començàvem a tenir masteritis!

.

Quant a mi, al poble, el juliol ja tinc una possibilitat de donar classes d'anglès dues hores al dia de 9 a 11, a un nen que sap anglès d'haver viatjat amb els pares que treballaven a l'estranger. I com que seran al poble per les vacances, no volen que el nen perdi la pràctica. I apart d'això, també buscaré altres classes, i poguer així estalviar per coses com anar als Estats Units amb la Marie, si Déu vol, pel casament de la seva germana el desembre.

I llavors, acabaré el que em queda de la llicenciatura de Traducció i Interpretació, no res més que un parell d'assignatures per completar el mínim d'assignatures optatives i de lliure elecció per demanar el títol. Però les troncals i obligatòries ja fa temps que estan acabades. :)

L'any que ve ja està més lluny, però espero possiblement fer una sortida a algun lloc on estiguin fent un projecte bíblic, en una altra cultura, potser un parell de mesos. Objectiu: estar immers en una cultura diferent i observar de prop un projecte bíblic per tenir experiència en el futur. Encara estic pregant per això.

Bé, més o menys era això. Ah, el resum: estiu, treballar. setembre-desembre, acabar la llicenciatura, i també treballar. L'any que ve, abans de l'estiu (espero), sortida cultural i de projecte.

I per últim, us demanem que esteu intercedint per nosaltres en oració, perquè poguem trobar feina i estalviar, i també, sobretot, per la nostra relació. Que el Senyor ens beneeixi aquest temps en què estarem separats per poguer madurar la relació, i per poder créixer en el Senyor.

UNA ABRAÇADA A TOTS!! :)
Records de la Marie!!

Ricard