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Tony Touch
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Subject: Travels around west africa!
Posted: 8 Feb 2005 12:42 am
Hi Mark,
I just read an account of your trips around Ghana, Senegal, The Gambia, Mali etc... Made for an interesting read. Even though subjectivity is at the heart of any travelling experience. I was shocked by your naivety in comments regarding how language affected your enjoyment of Senegal/Gambia etc... I thought that was the buzz of going to different lands - so that things are different. Or do we want the Costa del Sol in Elmina?
Getting hassled by hawkers, sellers on our travels is the great paradox of modern life. We get hassled because they want our money, and they (West Africans) get ignored/discriminated against in Europe, because generally we feel they are our inferiors. Their countries are poorer, less development, etc...
Anyway, above all, keep on writing, 4 discourse is the new oil,
Tony
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Mark Moxon
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Subject: Language and hawkers
Posted: 8 Feb 2005 10:46 am
Hi Tony.
I'm glad you've found my site interesting, and thanks for taking the time to post.
I'm a little surprised that you're shocked by "my naivety" regarding different languages, because I think the points I'm making in my Senegalese and Gambian articles on the subject are spot on. Here's a quick summary of what I'm trying to say.
My Senegalese article, 'The Language Barrier', is an observation of something that's fairly rare: a country where the ligua franca amoung tourists is French. On most of my travels, I've found that English is the default common language between travellers, not French; places I haven't been, like South America, could well be different, but my point in this article isn't about the locals and their language, but the tourists and *their* language. There aren't many countries where the majority of the tourists speak French, and I think it's an interesting observation that in Senegal, they do. I'm not sure it's naive; it might be obvious once you've mentioned it, but that's different.
My Gambian article on Banjul, and most of my writing about heading to Ghana, are really about the palpable relief of slipping back into a country where, for the first time in ages, you can communicate on a level that simply isn't possible in a second language (well, a second language at my skill level, anyway). I'm not sure what's wrong with saying this: I've no problem with speaking French in Francophone countries and I don't have a go at the fact that they don't speak English (how rude would that be!), but it is an undeniable fact that life gets easier when you can communicate.
I'd also argue that when you can communicate better, that's when you can really start to dig into a culture. When there's a language barrier it makes it harder to get the real buzz of experiencing different cultures, which is communication. When there's a language barrier, travelling can sometimes feel more like observation than interaction; this is not to say that there isn't still a huge fascination to be found when you can't communicate, and every traveller knows how great it is to manage to communicate either in sign language or in a few snippets of the local language, but I think the language barrier can sometimes be just that. I do all I can to overcome it - I studied French very hard before I left, and spoke it as much as possible - but my articles talk about a real experience of travelling through the language barrier, and I don't think they're naive, I think they're honest.
I agree that one of the buzzes of travelling is in experiencing things that are different, but I would temper that by saying that it's harder to actually experience the cultural differences when they are shrouded in a lack of communication. If you see something and have no idea what it means, then how much more rewarding is it if you can ask someone for an explanation? I'd say it was a lot more rewarding, and this has nothing to do with turning Elmina into the Costa del Sol (particularly as they already speak excellent English in Elmina 😀).
It's the same with hawkers. I understand why they hassle me, and I accept it. But it doesn't mean I have to like it, which is why I write about how much it annoys me. It does annoy me, and knowing the reason why it happens makes it understandable, but no less unpleasant or irritating.
Anyway, thanks for posting, and happy travels!
Best wishes,
Mark
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