Burkina Phrasebook
French, English, Moore, Dioula, Bambara and Fulfulde

Burkina Phrasebook
French, English, Moore, Dioula, Bambara and Fulfulde

This book is intended to assist English speakers who are visiting Burkina Faso and other west African countries where French, Bambara, Jula, and Mòoré are spoken. It is not intended to be an exhaustive study of the languages, but serve as an introduction and overview.

The Burkina Phrasebook contains over 500 parallel sentences in English, French, Bambara, Mòoré, and Jula arranged by topic. Each language also has a section on pronunciation focusing on how the words are pronounced from an American speaker's standpoint.

French

French is the principal language of administrative, political and judicial institutions, public services, and the press. It is the only language for laws, administration and courts. The “African French” is rapidly diverging from the French spoken in France however, even more so than the divergence of British and American English.

Mòoré

The Mòoré language (also known as Mossi, Mooré, Moré, Moshi, Moore or More) is one of two official regional languages of Burkina Faso, closely related to the Dagbani language spoken in northern Ghana. It is the language of the Mossi people, the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso and is spoken by approximately 5 million people in Burkina, plus another 60,000+ in Benin, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, and Ghana. The New Testament was published in 1995. The Bible is available in Mòoré, but I have found no dictionary beyond some small word lists which are severly outdated.
Other names for the Mòoré language include Jaan, Joore, Mole, Mooré, Moose, Moshi, Mossi, Ouagadougou, Saremdé, Taolendé, Timbou, Yaadré, Yaan, Yaande, Yam, Yan, Yana, Yanga, and Zaore.

Jula
This language is also known as Dioula, Dioula Véhiculaire, Diula, Djula, Dyoula, Dyula, Jula Kong, Kong Jula, and Tagboussikan.

Population
1,000,000 in Burkina Faso (Gunnemark and Kenrick 1985). Up to 3,000,000 L2 speakers (2012 V. Vydrine). Population total all countries: 2,550,000.
Not taught in government schools. Radio programs. Films. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 1993–1997.

Bambara

Alternate names Bamanakan, Beledugu, Ganadugu, San, Segou, Sikasso, Somono, Standard Bambara, Wasu-lunkakan (Maninkakan, Eastern, Wassulu, Wassulunka, Wassulunke, Wasulu, Wasuu). Many local dialects. The main division is standard Bambara, influenced heavily by Eastern Maninkakan [emk], and rural dialects. Bamanankan dialects are spoken in varying degrees by 80% of the Mali population. In Mali, Wasulunkakan is shared by both Bamanankan and Eastern Maninkakan, but in Guinea it is only a dialect of Eastern Maninkakan.
Bambara and Jula are considered dialects of Mandekan (Manding), but from my initial observations there are sufficient differences between the two to cause real confusion to an outsider. Bambara is used as a trade language in the northern and northwestern part of Burkina Faso and Jula is widely used in the southwest. The same pronunciation rules and sentence structure should apply to both languages.
Some of the differences between Bambara and Jula lie in variation in pronunciation. For example, the word 'five' is duuru in Bambara and loolu in Jula.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Table of Contents
Sources Used
An Introduction to Burkina Faso
The Languages of Burkina Faso
A Guide to French Pronunciation
A Guide to Mòoré Pronunciation
Greetings
Introductions
Accommodations
Basics
Money
Travel
Congratulations
Conversation
Questions
Shopping
Food
Medical
Emergency
Days of The Week
Numbers
Time
Months of the Year
Witness
The Lord's Prayer
John 3:16
Burkina Proverbs