Sranan phrasebook

Introduction It is the most used language in Suriname. The only place you will not find it used might be in the government. Sranantongo or Sranan is the mostly used language here. For many years the Dutch suppressed Sranantongo, but now it has risen to become the most spoken language in Suriname. The language became very popular after a former military leader took over the government. With such an extreme population of immigrants, many due not speak Dutch or English here, everyone is expected to know Sranantongo. There is very little written online, but if you know English, it will not be hard to learn. Suriname is a very immigrant friendly country. Many learn English from television and school also. Don't plan on learning the language from television. Quite odd here, you will not be able to learn either Dutch or Sranan from TV here. The immigrant population is so high that Dutch and Sranan together only make up about 7% of all television. 40% is Hindi television, 30% is English television, and around 20 percent is Chinese television. This makes it even harder to learn Sranan or Dutch here. Descriptions Sranantongo goes by many other names. Sranantongo may be the most common, however, you will also find these descriptoins also: 1. "Sranan Tongo" (the other form) 2. Nengre 3. Taki-Taki (but rude) 4. Surinaams 5. Sranang 6. Surinamese Sranan Phrasebook Fa waka? - What's up? Literally: how's (your) walk ( FA-WALK-A) Fa go? - How are you? Literally: how's (it) going? ( FI-GO ) e go! - it's going! (answer) ( I-GO ) Fa yu tan? - How are you? ( FI-YOU-TAN ) Ali suni bun? - (is) everything well? ( ALLY-SUNNY-BOON ) Mi lubi dati! - I love that! ( ME-LUBY-DATY ) Mi sorri! - I'm sorry! ( ME SORRY ) Omeni wan? - How much is one? (What's the price?) Mi gwa! - I'm leaving Mi go na oso - I'm going home Mi go na winkri - I'm going to the store Su-ma na yu? - Who are you? ( SUE-MA-NA-YOU ) Pe yu e go? - Where are you going? ( PAY-YOU-AH-GO ) Pe yu e de? - Where are you? ( PAY-YOU-AH-DAY ) Omany? - How much? ( O-MANY ) Yepi! - Help ( YEPY ) Pe disi presi? - Where's this place? ( PAY DEE-SEE PRACY) Soot bus mi mus teki? - What bus must I take? ( SOOT BUS ME MUZ TAKY ) Skowtu! - Police! ( SCOW-TWO ) Most Used Words Sorry, I was unsuccessful posting this chart. So I will leave the link alone: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Sranan_Swadesh_list Useful Links to Study Sranantongo A Wikitravel guide: (but little info) http://wikitravel.org/en/Sranan_phrasebook#Sources Sranan Top WordList http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Sranan_Swadesh_list Websters Sranan Online Dictionary http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Sranan-english/ Sranan Verb Usage Lookup Tool http://www.verbix.com/languages/sranantongo.shtml Most useful guide I found: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Sranan_Tongo_language Best Sranan Site - But a little too over complicated http://www.sil.org/americas/suriname/Sranan/Sranan.html Sranan info in Dutch http://users.bart.nl/~kamphuys/sranantongo/ For Practice with the Language: Wikipedia recently added a Sranantongo version of their website. http://srn.wikipedia.org/ Sources All sources from: http://www.sil.org/americas/suriname/Sranan/English/SrananEngDictIndex.html and from living in the country of Suriname for over four years. My wife is also a native born Surinamese.