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Asante and the middle belt: Twi

In Kumasi, across the Ashanti Region and in the markets of almost every big town, the language is Twi, the Asante form of Akan. It is also the language you will hear most on Accra's trotros, and the closest thing Ghana has to a second national language. Learn your greetings in Twi first and you can use them almost anywhere in the south.

• Ɛte sɛn? (roughly "eh-teh-sen"): How are you? The question that opens every conversation.
• Me ho yɛ: I am fine. Often answered simply with Ɛyɛ, "it's good".
• Medaase: Thank you.
• Akwaaba: Welcome. You will hear it before you have left the airport.

Say "Ɛte sɛn?" to a trader in Kejetia market and watch what happens. The price may not drop, but the conversation changes. You are no longer just a customer passing through.

More on the language: Akan: Twi, Fante and the forest kingdoms. The city: Kumasi.

Cape Coast and the coast: Fante

Drive west from Accra and by Winneba the language has shifted. On the Central Region coast, in Cape Coast, Elmina, Anomabu and the fishing towns between them, people speak Fante. It is Akan too, and Fante and Twi speakers understand each other, but the sounds are different, and people notice when you get it right.

• Ɛte dɛn?: How are you? in Fante. Where Asante says sɛn, Fante says dɛn.
• Me ho yɛ: I am fine.
• Medaase: Thank you.

I have been corrected on this more than once, at home as well as on the road. Using the Asante form in Cape Coast is not a disaster, but using the Fante one shows you know where you are. For the many diaspora visitors who come for the castles, that small difference says: I came for Cape Coast, not just for the dungeons.

The town: Cape Coast. The castles: Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle.

Old Accra: Ga

Accra was a Ga town long before it was a capital. Today you will hear more Twi than Ga on most Accra streets, but in Jamestown, Ussher Town, Osu, La, Teshie and Nungua, Ga is still the language of the old families, the fishermen and the chiefs. Speak Ga in Jamestown and you are treated very differently from the tourist with a camera.

• Te oyɔɔ tɛŋŋ?: How are you?
• Ojogbaŋŋ: Fine, well.
• Oyiwaladonn: Thank you.
• Blofonyo: what Ga speakers call a white person or foreigner.

More: Ga and Dangme, the languages of the Accra plains, Accra and Homowo.

The Volta: Ewe

East of the Volta River, in Ho, Hohoe, Keta and the hills around Amedzofe and Wli, the language is Ewe. It is spoken on both sides of the border with Togo, and it is a world of its own, with different sounds, different greetings and a different history.

• Woezɔ: Welcome.
• Akpe: Thank you.
• Yevu: what Ewe speakers call a white person or foreigner.

An "akpe" after a meal in Ho goes a long way.

More: Ewe and the escape from Notsé, Ho and Hogbetsotso.

The north: Dagbani, and Frafra up in Bolga

North of the forest, everything changes again. In Tamale and across Dagbon, the language is Dagbani. There the word for a white person is nasara, and God is Naawuni. In every zongo, north and south, you will also hear Hausa, the trading language that arrived with the kola caravans.

Go further, up to Bolgatanga, Paga and Navrongo, and you are in Frafra country, where people speak Gurene. Here the word that follows a white visitor down the road is not obroni but Solomia. You will hear it from the children first, usually with a grin. You will also hear Naba, the word for a chief, which in the Frafra area also means God.

In the Upper East, a visitor who has bothered to learn even one word is rare. That is exactly why it works.

More: Mole-Dagbani languages, Kasem and the Grusi languages, Tamale, Bolgatanga and Frafra names and their meanings.