Internet in the Village

Since the 90s, there are been many changes to village life.

In the 90s, people got their water from the stream, mostly through the hard labor of young girls who carried all the water in buckets on their heads. As you can imagine, this process involved quite a bit of back and forth for all the water needs of a household, including cooking and taking showers. Add to this the fact that most people in the village like to take two showers a day (because of the heat and humidity), and there is quite a volume of water needed. Clothes washing was done in the same stream (also by young girls), a bit downstream.

But since then, the village has gotten running water. The government created a reservoir for a stream running down the hill in the back of the village, and that reservoir provides free water to the entire village. The only expense a homeowner needs to make is to pay for the pipes to bring the water in. Because of this, the stream is now only used for water when the reservoir has some kind of problem (which it occasionally does). 

Most people just have a pipe run into their courtyard, where they can turn on the water to fill a bucket. But some people have running water inside the house. For example, I have a shower inside my house. I think that indoor showers are still a bit of a luxury, but now in the realm of possibility.

Another big change: in the 90s, light after dark was accomplished by the use of kerosene lamps. Now, there is electricity, which you buy and use. Many people in the village have electricity in their homes, which they mainly use for lighting at night, and to charge their cell phones and radios. It is very rare to see a kerosene lamp nowadays, but I am told people still have them around.

Yet a third big change is the presence of the internet. In this blog post, I will outline the options for internet usage in the village, and why it is important to my work.

My main uses of the internet are: (a) Whatsapp to stay in contact with my family, (b) e-mail to stay in contact with my colleagues, and (c) Gemini as a tool in fieldwork. I also occasionally watch a Youtube video at night before I go to bed. The most surprising has been the use of Gemini as a tool in fieldwork. As I have sketched in other posts, I often use Gemini to help in translation from English to French, and French to English. Since I am creating a tri-lingual dictionary, this tool is really essential, and much better than a regular French-English dictionary. I have also used Gemini to identify the French and English words for certain objects that my consultants do not know the French and English words for. 

But how do I access the internet?

First, there is a local internet provider, named “A Cesar” (a local bar that I can see from my porch). This provider will sell me a ticket for 200CFA (less than half a dollar) for the day. On my MacBook, I find the provider on the list of Wifi providers, and then type in a code. On the positive side, it is cheap and local. If I have a problem, I can just go over to the provider’s house and talk to them about it. When working, the service is pretty good. On the negative side, the service is patchy and often does not work. So it is impossible to rely on it if I am doing fieldwork. But considered as a back-up, last-resort option, it is OK.

Second, I have an Android phone (purchased in Togo) and a local Togo sim card. I can buy an internet package, which I access through my phone. The package I have been getting is called NET5000 from YAS Togo (costing 5,000 CFA). It includes 6GB of data, and lasts for 30 days. There are other packages that are more expensive. Using this service, I can also make my phone a hotspot, and hook it up to my computer, so I can use the internet on my computer.

On the positive side, this service is always available. It is much more reliable than the local internet provider. On the negative side, you need to be very careful with data, since it is easy to burn through 6GB, especially if you watch a video. You need to turn on “low data mode” on your smart phone and on your computer. And if you watch Youtube, you need to select the lowest video quality. 

Third, I have an IPhone 16, with T-Mobile service in the US. I learned that for extra money (75 dollars a month), I can buy an “International Pass” from T-Mobile. This pass allows me to use my IPhone in Togo, as I would in the US. I can even call local Togolese numbers. Even though it expensive, it is a wonderful service (IMHO).

On the upside, it is reliably available, and pretty fast. When I use the internet for fieldwork, it is mostly using my IPhone and the International Pass.

On the downside, just like my NET5000 package, the data that they give you on the International Pass tends to burn out quickly, especially if you watch videos or use social media. So it is best to stick to calls, Whatsapp and Gemini. Another very negative feature is that as of now you can only get the International Pass for at most two months. After that, the package is not available. It is really meant for short-term tourists who want to use their smart phone while travelling. It is not meant for long term use. So that means that if I come to Togo and stay for a year, I can only use the Internal Pass for the first two months.

Lastly, I have found out I can get a 4G or 5G router (with its own sim card). Then I can purchase an internet package for the router at various costs levels (similar to the NET5000 package described above), and use it with my computer. I have not yet got a router, but ultimately, I think that is what I will do when I return to Togo for the year. This will give me an experience resembling my internet usage in the US. I prefer this last option over using my smartphone as a hotspot. Apparently, using your phone as a hotspot causes it to work hard, and get hot.  This way, I can separate the use of my computer and my phone.

Uses of the Kpelegbe Dictionary

 Why am I investing so much time and effort in a Kpelegbe dictionary? 

Ghanaian versus Togolese Ewe (publication version, JWAL)

Ghanaian versus Togolese Ewe

Abstract

Based on a survey of some Ghanaian and Togolese dialects of Ewe, this paper shows that there are features that distinguish dialects of Ewe spoken in Ghana from dialects of Ewe spoken in Togo. These features include lexical items, syntactic constructions, pragmatic uses of certain expressions and a hand gesture. Because of these systematic differences, Ewe dialects spoken in Ghana are collectively referred to as Ghanaian Ewe, and those in Togo are collectively referred to as Togolese Ewe.

Keywords: Ewe, dialect, Ghana, Togo

Nugɔmekuku totoɖeme To ŋuɖoɖo siwo Eʋegbedola aɖewo na tso Eʋegbe kɔtagbe siwo le Ghana kple Togo ŋuti dzi la, nugɔmekuku sia ɖee fia be dzesidede aɖewo li si fia be vovototo le Ghana Eʋegbe kple Togo Eʋegbe dome. Dzesidede siawo kuɖe nyawo, nyagbetutuɖowo, nyagbɔgblɔ aɖewo zazã kple asiʋaʋã ƒomevi aɖe ŋu. Le vovototo siawo ta la, woyɔa Eʋe kɔtagbe siwo katã le Ghana ƒoƒui be Ghana Eʋegbe, eye woyɔa esiwo katã le Togo ƒoƒui be Togo Eʋegbe. 

Nyatiwo: Eʋe, kɔtagbe, Ghana, Togo

Magic Words for Language Learning

I have discovered a magical phrase that increases my ability to learn Ewe in the field by at least 100%. It took me years to discover these magic words, so pay attention.

In Togo, the assumption that Togolese make in starting a conversation with a white person (yovo) is that the conversation will be in French. They do not really have the idea of a white person speaking Ewe (or Gengbe), perhaps because not many white people do so. If they approach you, the conversation automatically goes to French.

Magic words: “I don’t speak French” (said in Ewe)

Actually, I do speak French, and my French is pretty good, albeit with a very strong west African accent, since I learned to speak French in Togo as a Peace Corps volunteer. I remember when I was in graduate school, the other graduate students would make fun of me. Obviously, I knew how to speak French (even better than they did) but I had a thick accent. So for them, with their ultra-narrow world views, it seemed funny.

But in Togo, I simply refuse all French, except maybe the occasional “bonjour”. Anything past that leads to “Nyemedona Frasegbe o” (I don’t speak French). Then comes the blank stare for a moment, while the person processes this bizarre and unexpected information. Occasionally, there are follow up questions or comments. Here are some I have gotten:

“You are lying.”

“Then, what do you speak?”

“Where are you from?”

“How many years have you been in Togo?”

Once we get past the bewildered stares and clarificational comments, we can start to talk. 

I have learned so much in this way, including the fact that many people in Togo do not speak Ewe all that well, but are forced to try. This happens especially for people from the north who have recently come to the south. They all speak Ewe to some degree or the other, but not all of them are fluent speakers. I am now witness to this great variation in linguistic ability.

I have also learned quite a bit of Gengbe in this way. Anybody in southern Togo will usually speak Gengbe. It is the lingua franca of southern Togo. I do not really speak Gengbe, but by forcing these conversations I am learning more and more.

Would these magic words work for other people in other countries? 

I think that if I had been courageous enough, they could have helped me with Setswana in Botswana, where I faced a similar problem. People automatically assumed that I did not know any Setswana and would speak English. In retrospect, I could have tried “I do not speak English” (Ga ke itse Sekgoa.) That would have been a much harder sell in Botswana. Also, I have less confidence in my Setswana than I do in my Ewe. So it would have been harder to manage. But I should have tried.

The Weakest Link (Kpelegbe Fieldwork)

On Tuesday, disaster struck. 

The day started auspiciously enough. I had the brilliant idea to use my iPhone 16 to record some videos in the field. I had already recorded the audio of some songs from one of my groups, so my plan was to rerecord these same songs as video using my iPhone. Since I have no stand for the phone, I just propped the phone up on some books on my desk, yielding a kind of upper body shot of the two ladies in the group. I tried to get the phone as close as possible to the mouth of the singer in order to increase the sound quality. Once we shot the video on the iPhone, I sent it to my Mac using Airdrop, and played it back. It was beautiful. A really nice video. I got excited about the prospect of high-quality videos made with my iPhone. My mind starting racing.

But the place I am working is noisy. There is a lot of background noise, including motorcycles on their way to the market, and people talking in the street. The regular west African village scene. As a result, the sound quality of the video was not a great as I wanted it to be. It was not bad, but not great. Just a tiny bit murky with lots of background noise. So I started thinking that maybe I could use the Zoom H4n as an audio-interface to the iPhone. The Zoom has excellent sound quality and I could place it closer to the singers. But to do that, I needed to have AA batteries for the Zoom H4n, which I did not have.

Another brilliant idea: use the rechargeable green batteries from my radio. They are charged. They are AA size. So it makes sense that I can just insert them into the Zoom H4n, and they would work as usual. I inserted them, and tried setting up the audio-interface. But at that exact moment, I started smelling plastic burning. I quickly removed the rechargeable batteries. When I tested the Zoom H4n to see if it was affected, I found it had been totally fried. It did not work anymore. Apparently the rechargeable batteries were not meant to be used in other appliances, only in the radio for which they were designed. My stupidity overwhelmed me. 

My whole research project for the summer depends on that Zoom H4n. I am writing a dictionary of Kpelegbe, and one of the central activities is to record the new words with different speakers. Those recordings are essential, both as a record of the work, and as tool in transcription. So without a recorded, the work comes to a halt.

The consultants were sitting in front of me waiting for instructions. My relatives were nearby worried about what had just happened. I was a shocked. But I did not panic or lose my temper. Since being on Wegovy, my whole personality has been sanded down a bit. I just sat there looking at the inoperable Zoom H4n, feeling a bit nauseated.

Luckily, I had brought along an extra recorder, the Zoom H4Essential. I had tried to get a second Zoom H4n before leaving the US, but they are no longer being produced. They have been replaced by the Zoom H5n (on the higher side) and the Zoom H4Essential (on the lower side). The problem was that I had not bothered to set it up and make sure it was working before leaving the US, so I needed to tinker with it for about an hour to set it up and get it to work the way I wanted. For example, when I recorded onto Praat using the Zoom H4Essential, I could barely hear the output. So I consulted with Gemini to finally figure out that I needed to set the output in the computer settings to use the computer speakers, not the mic speakers. This issue has never come up with the Zoom H4n. I am not really that comfortable with the Zoom H4Essential. 

Finally, I got the system working and we were able to do some recording of words before the end of the session. In spite of the disaster, we had a fairly good session, recording the three beautiful videos and recording some words, with only a hour of wasted time. 

My next step is to see if I can get a Zoom H4n or Zoom H5n replacement in Lome. I kind of doubt it, but you never know. More and more people are doing recording at home and producing social media content, so they might be sold. The place to go is called Dekon, which is close to asigame (big market) in downtown Lome. I have already gotten the Whatsapp numbers of the major electronics shops (via Gemini), and I will now contact them to see if the Zoom series is available.

The reason I call this post “the weakest link” is that fieldwork is like a chain. And if the chain breaks somewhere, the game is over. Your whole project is only a strong as the weakest link the chain. Concretely this means that in doing fieldwork you need to have back-up equipment for all the essential components, because any one of them could go out in the field leaving you totally stranded. Even though I don’t really like it, the back-up Zoom H4Essential basically saved my whole project. 

Now, if the backup also fails, I am really in trouble. I guess my last resort would be to try to use my iPhone 16 as a audio recorder. I am suspicious about that, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. 

Here are some of the lessons I learned from this experience:

1. Think through chain of work from A to Z, and identify the weakest links.

2. Be careful. Don’t do anything stupid with valuable electronic equipment.

3. Bring along backup equipment for all essential components of the research (e.g, recorders, computer chargers, etc.).

4. Set up all the equipment (e.g., recorders) and software (e.g., FLEx, ELAN) before leaving the US.

5. Test all equipment twice (including cables, chargers, etc.) before leaving US.

6. Bring along backup batteries for all relevant equipment.

7. Identify possible sources for equipment replacements in-country.

Low-Carb in West Africa: A Paradox?

The other night I was sitting around at night with my sister-in-law and my consultant. I had just listed to the Radio Lome news broadcast, so it was around 7:15pm. My sister-in-law prepared a meal of corn porridge (pate in French, akple in Ewe) for everybody. Given my Wegovy regime, I am not usually hungry at night, so I did not eat any. But everybody else had a huge plate of corn porridge with some sauce on the side. I estimated that the plates had three or four heaping cups of corn porridge.

Capturing a Lexical Item (Kpelegbe)

In this blog post, I walk through the steps that I have been following in capturing lexical items for the Kpelegbe dictionary.