things_learned_from_zidisha epitome of incomprehensibility In the process of translating a loan application from a fabric-dyer in Burkina Faso, I learned that the product used in softening fabric for dyeing isn't what Google Translate suggested as a translation for "la soude" - sodium hydroxide - (too strong), or baking soda (too weak), but sodium carbonate. So the next time I need to soften some cotton cloth before dyeing it, I'm gonna march right into that store and demand my sodium carbonate. Not bicarbonate. Not hydroxide. Carbonate. Get the right sodium compound, and you'll go far! (I'm lazily borrowing a raze-made template for my blathe title, meme-ishly... but ineluctable modality of the visible means never having to say you're sorry... right?) 141129 ... raze templates are meant to be borrowed, says i! 141129 ... e_o_i Tangentially, as I write this, it's 1:11 AM in Dédougou, Burkina Faso, and it's 25 C there, with a clear night sky. Google maps, can't you just tell me how far it is from Bobo-Dioulasso? THANK you. 141207 ... e_o_i "Asante sana" means "thank you very much" in Swahili. 141207 ... e_o_i Pigs have different amounts of heads, depending on the year. They're good at marketing. Animals are fed in a workshop situation until their coefficients are stabilized. ...Okay, this is more fun_with_google_translate. A livestock farmer from Burkina Faso wrote a long loan application, so I turned to Google Translate to help. Good gravy. Note that it was in very good French to begin with. Not all borrowers are this literate, and I don't feel right laughing at people whose parents couldn't even afford high school, but this, ahem, butchery is all Google's fault: We are seeking help to expand and improve the framework breeding, treat existing pigs by animal health and also their power over a period of three months. We are convinced that financial support we will repay the credit because we could sell 2-3 pigs between 25.000f and 35.000f and we could amortize any credit. I started the activity as follows: purchase and fattening pigs for marketing. Then I buy pigs among ordinary farmers. Pigs are fattened for a certain time with his food like maize, millet etc. and the remains of restaurants. For security, the pigs are in a pen built where they are fed and often receive veterinary products. Marketing process: Sales of pigs are carried out in Koudougou in the enclosure where buyers come to choose the animal they prefer. Production capacity due to limited resources I have no fixed period for purchases. They are no fixed numbers of pigs heads for the year. Thus it happens that exceeds ten heads. Statistics have shown that pigs purchased 5,000F and well nourished can be sold for between 25.000f and 35.000f in four (4) or five (5) months depending on the period. We believe we can significantly improve our business with financial assistance to enable us to achieve a very good result in the coming years. The hog market is vast and promising to BURKINA FASO. Many business opportunities exist. A study by the Ministry of Animal Resources has shown that the demand grew exponentially, and farmers can not meet demand, while demand is stronger. There are regular buyers who come from other regions sought pigs which installs a high demand in my area of ​​activity all things that drive the industry. The animals will be fed in a workshop situation until stabilization coefficient gain needed weight during the period of breeding and at the end of this situation will intervene marketing. The hog market situation is such that competition is not strong, but there may actually small problems if pigs are found at the same time on the market. We all put into works to provide good healthy pigs walls and proper weight to the buyer. It will not be adopted a specific policy for the marketing of pigs. We conform to the market price. Purchases are made at an average price of 5,000F sold and will be four (4) to five (5) months to 30.000f on average. There will be no promotion to do because the demand is very high in the city of Koudougou. Because the demand is still very strong buyers are always looking pigs. So sales will be made on site. We are convinced that such a system we could dampen our credit and take charge of the other pigs. This is a profitable business because the need merely to improve day by day. We practice this activity for four years back but farming family status. Our option is to strengthen our business because we are overwhelmed by applicants. The hog market is vast and promising to BURKINA FASO. Many business opportunities exist. Because the demand is still very strong buyers are always looking pigs. The animals will be fed in a workshop situation until stabilization coefficient gain needed weight during the period of breeding and at the end of this situation will intervene marketing and firing process to its end and there will therefore the entries respective consecutive gains for the provision of revenue for our benefit but also and especially for the repayment deadlines. 150225 ... e_o_i When you translate something, a box pops up that says "Thank you" in one of a few languages. I couldn't figure out jërëjëf - I was guessing Finnish, Estonian, or Icelandic - but it's Wolof, a language spoken in Senegal. (The J is a Y sound. I guessed that correctly.) So I looked up Wolof on Wikipedia and it turns out the English word "yum" might have come from the Wolof word "nyam." But... might. Linguistic guessing is notoriously tricky, and things from different languages can sound the same. (Once I got excited about the name Puja being both an Indian-from-India and Inuit name, but it's probably pure coincidence. The languages would've only been related thousands of years ago.) Also, Wolof has a word that, according to the translation guide, has the same sound as "fuck" in English. It's "fukk" and it means "ten," so it's probably used a lot. In French the closest word is "phoque," meaning "seal," which has a slightly different vowel sound (somewhere in between the short u and the short o) not to mention the schwa sound all the ending-with-e French words are supposed to have (though you usually take it off in speech). Urban Dictionary says "phoque" is used by "giggling ten-year-olds" in French class (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=phoque) so there's the Wolof connection. 150716 what's it to you? who go blather from