Language Bloopers

After the last post about our language regimen and a typical day, I thought you may enjoy a few stories of mistakes we've made.

There is not just one word for "we" in Tagalog. You have distinguish between whether or not you are including the person to whom you are speaking. For example, if I want to tell my language coach that we should go to the market, I have to use one word for we. If I want to tell our helper that we are going to the market (without her), then I have to use a different. We both really struggle with this one. Our regular coaches have taken to saying good bye and leaving if we use the wrong word for we and exclude them. :)

Steve has tried to introduce me, his wife, and our kids to several new acquaintances. Instead of saying, "This is my wife", he has often said, "This is your wife" to the surprised man.

Oddly enough, I made a language blooper in English recently. They use English words for many things, but sometimes they mean something different than what they mean when we speak English. For example, Mikayla spilled something at the restaurant so I went quickly to the counter and hurriedly asked for a napkin. What I should have asked for was a "tissue". Because what the poor young guy heard was a woman (who was desperately needing something) asking, "Do you have a sanitary pad?"

The other day in language class, Steve was supposed to say, "I drank my coffee." Instead he said, "I peed my coffee."

Wala si Steve = Steve is not here. Wala na si Steve = Steve is not here anymore. Nawala si Steve = Steve got lost. Nawawala si Steve = Steve is lost. As you can guess, these kind of close sentences have caused many bloopers. One that surprised my teacher the most was when Steve was not at the house because he was living in the bukid (see previous post). Instead what I told her was that Steve was not here anymore - which really communicates that he left me for good.

This last one is not really a blooper, but it may give you an idea how intense language study is for us. Last night I sat up in the middle of the night and woke Steve, obviously distressed and disappointed that he was not helping me. I said, "I guess I will just have to go put my pants and look for them." "What?" he answered. "I lost my verbs. I don't know where they are and they are duplicating somewhere. I need to find them right now." He humored me for a while and asked several questions about where I had seen them last and where we should look first. I woke up to him laughing so hard he almost fell out of bed. Peaceful sleep is difficult if not virtually impossible right now. Pray for us - we are both running tired all the time. Could be partly culture stress, but I think a lot of it is just the strain of learning the language and the sleep we are losing in the process.

That being said, we are truly happy and rejoicing that we are finally here, doing exactly what God has called us to do and what we have been training for for so long. And we have learned to laugh at ourselves - often. Thank you for your partnership in keeping us here. We need your prayers and encouragement now more than ever!!!