Learning Twi and Ga in Accra

You can live in Accra entirely in English. It is the official language, it is the language of government, business, schooling and signage, and everyone you deal with in an office will speak it.

You will nonetheless be treated differently the moment you greet someone in Twi. Not politely differently — genuinely differently. Prices change. Directions get better. People relax.

Which language

Twi (Akan) is the most widely spoken language in Accra and in Ghana generally. Asante Twi and Akuapem Twi are the main varieties; they are mutually intelligible. If you learn one Ghanaian language, learn this one.

Ga is the indigenous language of Accra. The Ga people are the original inhabitants of the city — Jamestown, Ussher Town, Osu, Teshie, Nungua, La. Ga carries real weight in old Accra, and speaking a little of it in those neighbourhoods lands very well.

Ewe is spoken across the Volta Region and widely in Accra.

Hausa is the lingua franca of the zongo communities — Nima, Mamobi, Newtown — and across much of the Sahel.

Pidgin is not a separate language so much as the informal register that crosses all of them. Ghanaian Pidgin English is what you will hear among friends, on campus and on the street.

Twi to start with

Twi is tonal, and it has vowels English does not: ɛ (like the e in “bed”) and ɔ (like the aw in “law”). The spellings below use them.

Greetings

Greetings matter enormously in Ghana. Walking into a room, a shop or an office without greeting is genuinely rude, in a way that is easy to do accidentally.

Useful

Numbers

baako (1), mmienu (2), mmiɛnsa (3), nnan (4), nnum (5), nsia (6), nson (7), nwɔtwe (8), nkron (9), du (10)

Ga to start with

Ghanaian Pidgin and slang

You will hear all of these constantly.

Chale — friend, mate. The most useful word in Ghana. Opens a sentence, closes a sentence, fills a pause. Chale, the traffic today!

Charley wote — the rubber flip-flops everyone wears.

Ei! — surprise, delight, outrage. Extremely versatile.

Herh! — a warning, or disbelief.

Wahala — trouble, hassle. From Hausa, used across West Africa.

Chop — to eat, or to spend. Chop money is the household money given for food.

Dey be — it is good. The waakye dey be.

Aban — the government, the state. Often said with a sigh.

Obroni — a white or foreign person. Usually neutral or affectionate, not an insult. Children will shout it.

Obibini — a Black person.

Sika — money.

Trotro, mate, okada, dumsor — see the glossary.

Names by day of birth

Akan people traditionally receive a name based on the day of the week they were born, and many Ghanaians use it alongside their given name. Kofi Annan was born on a Friday. Kwame Nkrumah, a Saturday.

Learning yours is a small thing that people enjoy enormously. Look up the day you were born.

How to actually learn

Greet everybody. The security man, the trader, the trotro mate. Twenty greetings a day is twenty repetitions, and greetings are the highest-value phrases in the language.

Learn from the person who sells you breakfast. People are generous with this and will correct you cheerfully.

Ghanaian radio and music. Highlife, hiplife, and Twi-language stations.

Formal classes exist at the University of Ghana at Legon, at private language schools in Accra, and online through several Twi-teaching channels and apps.

Accept being laughed at. Warmly, mostly. Your tones will be wrong and the correction will come with a smile. Keep going — the goodwill you get for trying vastly exceeds the embarrassment.