Language barriers

It's true that the official language in Ghana is English, but that is really more for political and educational purposes. I will say though that I have been fine getting around with English because everyone does indeed know it, just some more than others. I was just so taken back at how little Ghaniains use English between each other on a regular basis. Around the university area and in town I'll usually here Twi, Ga, Ewe, and Pigeon English being spoken. The only one I can really recognize is Twi and sometimes Pigeon. It gives off such a weird vibe when I hear something I don't understand and I see the people talking staring at me. But I've gotten that feeling before at home when it looks like Hispanics are talking about me nearby. Really should have taken Spanish. Oh well. I've been enjoying my Twi class though. It has been very helpful. I'm still learning but I can communicate every now and then when a local initiates a conversation in Twi. The usual "how are you?" "good and you?" "pretty good" sounds like "Wo ho te sεn?"  "Me ho yε. Na wo nso ε?"  "Me nso me ho yε."  With phrases like this people can generally understand the American accent, but for more in depth conversations a small error in pronunciation could change the whole meaning of a sentence because Twi is a tonal language unlike English which is positional.

So I was thinking how hard could class be if the language is English? In two of my classes I understand about half the things the professors say sometimes because of the Ghaniain accent and the poor acoustics of the lecture hall. Luckily the material in the classes isn't that hard. I'm just gonna have to read a lot more than rely on lecture notes. I find it really funny when people ask me to slow down when I'm talking. In the US we usually talk a little bit slower in the south, but here my slurred accent has confused so many Ghaniains. But I've started to adjust and develop a slower and more articulate speech when talking to Africans. All in all most locals have been very patient with all of us international students on language problems and sometimes they give out some good pointers.