Welcome to speed learning English your podcast for smarter and more professional English. My name is Sandy hi Richard how are you finding you. I'm fine and I'm really interested to hear some more information about Ghana last time when we spoke, you were talking about the country itself and some historical aspects and the landscape and now I was wondering if I wanted to travel to Ghana as a tourist. What places should be on my sightseeing list or what attractions can you recommend and so it really depends what kind of tourist you are few future issues. Looking forward to see the countryside nature and the thing to do for that aspect. And if you're more interested in history there aspects for that and if you're more interested in just leisure time there aspects for that. I will try to put all three things in one and give you a bigger picture of my country and sell it best to you. So first let's begin with the countryside in nature. So if you travel into the middle part of Ghana one big city. I would suggest for tourists, said and it just translates into under certain tree in that tree's name is, and so it's under commercial so quasi-under, so commencing them in direct and in any language and that you will have beautiful most beautiful sights of nature. You can see in West Africa yet rainforest and imagine the least sick green and you just hear the breeze of what we will and is not semen but it's something really comforting. It's comforter so I don't know how to describe it very well. It's it's it's sticky at the same time because you're rainforest you feel at the beginning you feel that you can't be brief, very well, but after let's say 15 to 20 minutes somebody records recklessly and adapt to the situation and and and you are able to use it to to to to feel well and that in that situation because normally if you're tourist from Europe you're not used to these temperatures to these that she is down to is whether type cities, weather phenomena, so you just have to take time to get used to it and in, say you have an I would say that this is the heritage center help heritage or historical center of modern-day Ghana because of the continent was is the capital of the shunt land and that you have a lot of history, a lot of history, pre-colonial history and also postcolonial history. They will meet, is the capital of the starting lineup for Accra was as the capital of Ghana itself. Also, the capital of the shunt land then or so and prayer is if you ever want to if you want me to give you a short history of occurrence and is is is part of land that is was set and was was was inhabited by settlers from Nigeria, present-day Nigeria and they came from Nigeria because of instability at that time. Some how would you say that the date that the historical numbers are not really right because it was a movement wasn't at one moment that a lot of people move from present-day Nigeria and westwards to modern-day Ghana, but they were from regimen that is called a chronic cities across and that's very nice in the South next to the ocean release of the ocean turn Ocean City and then the colonial people made this time, the capital of the Gold Coast, but in words in the land in the hinterland and the rainforest ask Marcy and, as is the capital of the Ashanti's which is a term just means that because of war because they formed a union state in order to fight other people on the coast. And yes, for therefore is the capital of the Ashanti land in your 20s are more or less that the majority representatives of the account and the account is just an ethnicity like the Germans or the Dutch and that subgroups like the sex and he said there are procedures as in Germany, but just so Ashanti is the capital of the outcome or the Ashanti notice and across just the administrative capital of modern-day okay so get here. Do you mean meatless and tahini, and you will learn a lot of culture culture of the account. People how how we cope with stress how we eat our calendar. That is, miraculously, has 40 days because we don't do when they are wet wet when they were writing their calendars. They didn't have that income. The number zero and and that the new calendar was then introduced by the Europeans which reduce the month to 30 days instead of our normal 40 days that we had before. Okay, that's one aspect one from aspect that's an amazing letter. That's does this change the date, but to me as of yet. So we have no no. So for example if you we have from cultural festivals and one is equity there that's fine enough. It's always on Sunday, and it's for every 40 days so every new month. There is one equity day so we we didn't change our festivals in our cultural rights to to the 30 days: that we stick these festivals and historic events or events to their 40 days: there is also another another interesting thing that is permanent probably as far as I know exclusively in Ghana that you also are named after the day of the week that you were born. For example coffee and not the former you and the secretary was born on a Friday because his name was coffee… Something about that. Yes, this is also something that to his will and will encounter when they visit Ghana. So after they you all always you will hear the unions say father, which means I'm welcome and we are very when it comes to hospitality. I believe we are among the best or one of the tops on this planet and the second thing you will hear is they will ask you for your date of birth and normally for Western years. That sounds really, especially if you're a woman you would like to give out your age, but the idea behind this to understand the dates you up so if it's a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and so forth. Then you will be given the name election name so be the accounts we name our children after the day's airborne. So for example if your partner Monday will be called a Jew for men and four for example, if you're born in a Tuesday will be named partner for men and or suffered at the feet of the women is and if you wanted choosing your female you will be called Abner so they will ask you for the date of your birth and they will give you an account name and then they will always call you with your coming just to make you more, feel more at the end of an and do you have a special relation to other people who, on which which they were you born so I was born on Monday so and I mailed so because it just in the last regular. Therefore, you will be at work. Yes I mean and if you say and yeah there's always incidents where you say well I'm also incredulous and the other presence is also pressure so there's a bond that sense if you meet somebody if you are maybe a call you Julia and you meet another Julia in that sense, that would be or if your courts learn and commit another swing that sense that bond and I thought I found that it's more with the surname in Germany like my name is Frank or my name is Frank to our will and the this is the has a deeper connection because you think you might be related to the all work couple of corners. I don't know Austria okay and so so the 40 day calendar and the the names after the name of the week but that's only like a second name nobody works would name his child. Only after the day of the week with him. So normally precolonial times and you would have the name of the week. Then you will be named after an ancestor. This has passed on. For example, you will given the name of your grandfather and grandmother or your uncle. And then you would also have a and and that's that's really is and then you would have. That's really difficult to describe for your opinion isn't European logic to understand because am. You will then be given at an excellent and identifying name if that is something that I could put it that way because MDs don't restructure our society into clients and nowadays the work plan has different meaning than it actually the actual meaning is just a bigger family so that the family is such because we are very family oriented and then it's not really a family. It's really a group of people. It's really that a group of people. So in the account we have. We have 12 clients and you can never know if we are roughly 20 million people in present-day Ghana and and so you understand control you are by 20 million that is that that claim would be allotted so is not why the family in that sense. But then that can with it and you would then identify it and let Clem an actual sentence is what they can call for just an example: Germany — that would be the shaman but nowadays a lot of people ignore that and that's really am something that people were we interested in culture or have national sentiments used at end of try to propagate that modern-day okay so the name seems to be very important in Ghana so that the symbol or the, the meaning of the name and also if you mentioned before in another podcast episode. Family is very important and now it seems like you have your your real family, which is the same blood. Then you've got like clan family belonging to the same clan and even the day of the week family like every Friday and all the Fridays are like a big family. All Mondays are like a big family, your dreams, that's virtually the Family and then you're also the downside of it is that you will also have the ethnicity families are in a pluralistic country. As Ghana is today and then have these these names used as dividers so we can identify somebody by the name. For example, if you called and then everybody would know that you're from and what from the air with ethnicity and if your core requirement, nobody will know that you are example and back to the names. If you, for example, today is Monday and I would I'm in an account and an incredible to in the olden days I would have to do perform some rituals that had to perform some special birthing to to cleanse my soul and on Monday because it was born in a Monday okay so then that's something that you choose will learn but then again, if you come to the South especially cry. You will have a lot of nightlife a lot of party and crackers more or less becoming the New York of West Africa. That's not what I term that some savvy marketing and marketing move of my of my government to call after this that the West African New York and to the city that never sleeps, but more and more each really is becoming a New York of that sense because we have a lot of people from other parts of west Africa and Jerry and Jim Lee Côte d'Ivoire two will be mean and and Cameroon and even South Africans and more each of children's Americans really love people and if you go outside Indians of so-and-so for the party and nightlife is really the developing rapidly. So if you're looking for fun to have dreams and meet people casually watching a football soccer and I'm just enjoying life just sitting there and maybe if you don't want to believe That African experience. You have a location that you would ask yourself you really leave the continent of Europe or in traffic. It's really adaptable or really just are designed for European and North American consumers. So in that sense and if you're looking for nightlife across this the city to be. To be honest with you and especially in these times of corporate and whether code numbers are very low so you can enjoy life that we weren't looking for nightlife. It's it's really a crime and so proud of my country and that's in the detergent of the two sexes so rapidly developing and developing the right way yet. It's incredible whenever I listen to you talking about Ghana you can really feel at first I felt the heat and the humidity in the wind. The climate and then I felt this this welcoming character of the people and now I just felt this party atmosphere so Richard, thank you very much for sharing all these information experiences without but I have to go to Ghana now so yeah you and you know I believe once outsides in the arts is open again and I will be allowed to travel again. I believe that the elements will drop the price to two to attain more market share that all the packages that they lost so if you're looking for the next destination to look to Greece to look to Spain to and smile and I believe when you come back he was smiling more. This was a good finish for today. Thank you very much and determine yes again. It was a pleasure talking to you and getting all this information. Thank you very much Richard and his friends. I