Learning the Lingo

Before leaving for the Peace Corps I would tell all my friends "I'm going to Lesotho to speak Sesotho to the Basotho."  People would laugh for I'm sure there are a finite number of countries where the name of the people, the local language, and the name of the country all rhyme.
At that time I was doing my best to learn a little bit of Sesotho.  My family never failed to remind me how difficult it is to learn a new language and I didn't want to be behind.
At this moment I can sadly say that I am no where close to being fluent in Sesotho.  I have my excuses: I teach in English and I make it a rule to never speak to my students in Sesotho so that they have to practice their English.  And Sesotho is a very difficult language with a completely different structure from Latin based languages.  But I know enough to survive quite comfortably.  The truth is that most Basotho speak pretty decent English but to really understand it you have to learn the quirks about Lesotho English.  I wanted to share some of my favorite phrases.  And for anyone who plans on traveling to Southern Africa, these phrases work outside of Lesotho too.

Sharp: One of the first "lingo" words I learned in Lesotho.  You hear it all the time and it can be used in a variety of situations.  In a basic context it translates into "good" or "fine."  For example:
Person 1:How are you doing today?
Person 2: I'm sharp!
Or
Person 1: Here is food you ordered.
Person 2: Sharp!
I use it a lot when people are trying to sell me things.  It's rude to tell someone you don't want what they're selling so you either lie and say you don't have any money (Ha ke na chelete) or let them know that you're good (Ke sharp).

Yebo!: This is another phrase that has multiple meanings.  I've heard people use it to mean "yes" or just as a happy expression.  It's most commonly heard when kids are piled into a taxi for a school trip.  The taxi driver pumps up some House music to a decibel level where the bass begins to vibrate your body and the kids lean out of the window screaming "Yebo!"  In this context it is equivalent to an American "Woot!"

Too much: This expression is really more bad English than a real expression but I hear it all the time here.  It's used instead of "very." For example.
Person 1: It's cold today.
Person 2 (in agreement): Too much.

Now: "Now" in a Lesotho context has a different meaning that the American English "now."  For example, it's almost exam time at my school and this was a conversation my colleague and I were having:
My colleague: The Forms Cs are going to be writing their Sesotho exam now
Me: What! Their writing it today?
My colleague: No! Sometime next week.
When you say "now" in Lesotho it means sometime in the definable future.  When my host mother tells me that she's leaving for church now she means sometime before lunch.  When I tell my students I want their assignments completed now, they understand it to mean by the end of today.  Part of this has to do with Basotho's sense of time.  My colleague told me a joke once: In Lesotho there are only three hours to a day: morning, afternoon, and night.

Now now: So that brings me to the unique Southern African expression of "now now." "Now now" is equivalent to an American "now." For example:
Person 1: When will you be leaving?
Person 2: Now.
Person 1: No, I need to leave now now!

I could add a few more expressions on this list but these are my favorite.  Hope you enjoyed them!