Money

written Wednesday, 2 April 2007

Money

 

I finally learned how money works here.  I had learned before that when speaking in local languages such as Wolof or Mandinka, that the numbers don't correspond to money amounts.   For example, the word that means "twenty" means a different amount if you're talking about money.  Up til now, what the "money number" was was a complete mystery to me.  

 

So here's how it works: it's all based on the "dasato", the five-franc coin, (which is worth about one cent in American money).   Five francs is called "one dasato"; twenty-five francs is called "5 dasatos"; one hundred francs is "twenty dasatos"; and so on.  

 

Seems simple - just multiply everything times five.  It gets a little more confusing though, because people don't always say "dasatos".   So if you're trying to buy something, and you ask how much it costs, the vendor might say "five".  But that doesn't mean five francs.   That would be too easy.  It means five dasatos, which equals twenty-five francs.

 

Just when I was starting to get a little faster at being able to figure out what number it is when someone says "tan saaba nin kilin", they throw in this whole monkey wrench of multiplying money times five.   I am going to have to get better at math.  But I guess it keeps life interesting.