Learn a little Konkani before your next Goa Trip

Are you visiting Goa for the first time or are you a regular traveller to Goa who wants to converse with the locals? Here are a few words and phrases in Konkani that will make your visit more interesting as well as helpful in daily interactions.

Konkani People

Local Konkani

About Konkani

 

Konkani is the official language of Goa and sounds similar to Marathi. It is written in both the devnagri and the roman script and has many dialects. Almost all Goans except for those in the very remote areas speak both English and Hindi along with Konkani. Thus  you must learn a few common expressions and greetings.  This will endear you to the Goans for making the effort and for trying to understand their culture.

 

Greetings in Konkani

 

Start with greetings, say Deu boro dis dium to wish someone good morning.  This literally translates to ‘may Goa give you a good day’. In the same vein is ‘deu bori raat dium’ which means ‘good night’. Konkani is a very sweet and polite language and wishes that God will grant you something good when you say ‘deu borem korum’ for ‘thank you’. Want to say how are you, say ‘tum koso asa’ to a male and ‘tum koshem (pronounced koh-shay) asa’  to a female.

 

Food related Konkani words

Goa is well known for its seafood, and trying out your Konkani at a beach shack may be fun. ‘Maka tik naka’ would ensure that your rechedo fish is not too spicy. ‘Sakor naka’ means you don’t want sugar and ‘borof naka’ would mean that you don’t want ice in your drink and ‘oodak zai’ will get you some water. Do complement your chef with ‘jevon borem’ (pronounced boh-rey) to let him or her know how much you enjoyed your food.

 

General Konkani expressions

 

What ‘kitem’, why ‘kiteak’, where ‘khuim’ and how much ‘kitley’ will cover most questions with a little sign language. Besides thus ‘voi’ for yes, ‘na’ for no and ‘borem’ for good will also be very useful. Of course,  the most important words are ‘maka zai’ for I want and ‘maka naka’ for I don’t want.

 

These few words will definitely give your holiday to Goa a local flavour. The staff of Goa Casitas will also be pleased to teach you more common phrases and expressions in Konkani. You will surely have fun using them with the local people you interact with. You will end up being taught more words and phrases to add to your list.