Learn Fengati

Part 6 : Hello, how are you, goodbye

First, you must know the paralinguistic tradition to salute someone (which means the way you say hello like you'd shake a hand or wave it at someone).

Two Fengati people would bow towards each other, both hands on their torso. The older or more highly ranked the guy, the lower you head must get. Although, in front of the Emperor/Empress, people don't bow ; they sit on their knees like in a Muslim prayer, which is also how Fengati people pray.

There are hundreds of ways to say hello, but the most common one, which isn't familiar or impolite, is "zëlat". Example :

Jon : Zëlat, sto Jon. Cao xkê (who) stê ?

The other guy : Zëlat, sto [whoever the devil].

And both bow, obviously. Now here's how one says goodbye : "vihe-vihe". Nobody knows what the devil that actually means, but who cares ?! Also, if you like the person you're saying goodbye to, you can say "wavav" instead, or after the rest : "vihe-vihe ut (and) wavav".

Then let's see how to say equivalents for "how are you". First, in Fengati, one wouldn't say "how are you", but rather, "are you happy" or "what is beautiful". "Cwan" is the contraction of "Cao" and "nan". "Nan/nani/nano..." means "what", and "cao" is placed anywhere in a sentence if it's a question that can't be answered with "yes" (ja) and "no" (nên) :

What is beautiful ? = Cwan sta bal ?

Are you happy ? = Cu stê wilel ?

Here's an example, a dialog :

Jon : Zëlat. Xkê stê cao ?

Allaf : Zëlat, sto Allaf. Xacê (cao+xkê) stê ?

Jon : Sto Jon. Cwan sta bal ?

Now, Allaf could answer "everything" if he's very fine, "nothing" if he's not happy, "the gods" if he feels kinda sad, or "you" if he's happy to see John, and tons of other things.

Jon : Sto Jon. Cwan sta bal ?

Allaf : Tutlef (everything) ! Cu stê wilel ?

Jon : Ja, sto wilel.

And then, to say goodbye :

Allaf : Vihe-vihe !

Jon : Wavav.

The next chapter will focus on word extensions and word versions.