Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GETTING STARTED
The easiest way to begin to get a grip on Malagasy is to build on
your knowledge of place names (you have to learn how to pronounce these in order to get
around). As often noted throughout this topic, most place names mean something so you
have only to learn these meanings and - hey presto! - you have the elements of the lan-
guage. Here are some bits of place names:
an-, am-, i-
at, the place where
arivo
thousand
be
big, plenty of
fotsy, -potsy
white
kely, keli-
small
kily
tamarind
mafana
hot
maha
which causes
mainty, mainti-
black
maintso
green
manga
blue, good, mango
maro
many
mena
red
nosy, nosi-
island
rano, -drano
water
tany, tani-
land
tsara
good
tsy, tsi-
not, none
vato, -bato
stone
vohitra, vohi-, -bohi-
hill, mountain
Thus Ambohitsara is 'the place of the good mountain':
am-bohi-tsara
.
VOCABULARY
Stressed letters or phrases are underlined.
Social phrases
English
Malagasy
Phonetic pronunciation
Hello
Manao ahoana
Mano oown
