Mina glossary

Mina (or Guin) is the language of the Guin-Mina people. Related to ewe, it is spoken by several hundred thousand people along Togo's southern coast, from Aneho to Lome, and in Guin communities across the border in Ghana. Mina is a tonal language: the pitch at which a syllable is pronounced changes the word's meaning. It is also a language of oral tradition, where speech is an art and proverbs are living wisdom.

This glossary gathers nearly 90 words that will help you greet, thank, order, navigate and understand the conversations around you. Pronouncing a few words of Mina, even clumsily, is always met with a smile. It's a way of saying: I'm not just passing through, I want to meet you.

A few pronunciation notes

• <strong>e</strong> is pronounced like the 'e' in 'bed'
• <strong>o</strong> is pronounced like the 'o' in 'port'
• <strong>gb</strong> is a unique sound, produced by expelling air from both lips
• <strong>kp</strong> is pronounced by clicking both lips simultaneously
• <strong>ny</strong> is pronounced like the 'ny' in 'canyon'
• <strong>dz</strong> is pronounced like a voiced 'dz', close to the English 'j'