Learning another language definitely has its challenges. Some things don't make sense at all. Things get lost in translation and I have no idea why they use the words they use. Other times, though, you just gotta laugh...
(We drive over a speed bump - which are everywhere, by the way.)
My friend asks, "What do you call those in English?"
Me: "That thing we just went over? Speed bumps. What do you call them?"
"Polisi tidur."
"Wait... polisi tidur... as in 'police sleep'? Like the police are sleeping and have the speed bumps do their job for them?"
"Hahaha yep. Do you know what we call the little spots on your arms?"
"You mean, freckles?"
"Yeah, those! But we don't call them freckles. We call them tahi lalat. It means fly poop."
I wonder if we can adopt those phrases in the States. Speed bumps are called "police sleep" and freckles "fly poop."
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Thursday, November 17, 2011
"Cobalah sebelum Anda menguasainya" - Murder it before you master it
Fact 1: This city has three KFCs, three Starbucks, two McDonalds, and two Pizza Huts. There is no lack of Western food here. However, just cause we have plethora of options, we don't eat it a lot. After a bad language or culture day, though, some chicken nuggets and fries sound amazing.
Fact 2: McDonalds delivers. Straight to your house. Pretty awesome.
Fact 3: The first time we called for delivery, my sweet housemate ordered for us, only to discover that the worker spoke perfect English. Oh, how lovely! The dear people at McDs make sure their employees speak English for the poor foreigners who just want a taste of home! Wonderful.
So, earlier this week, after a particularly long language day, some McDs sounded amazing. My housemate was gone, but no worries - the people at McDs speak English!
Fact 4: Not all McDonalds employees speak English.
The girl I talked to spoke exactly zero English. Zip. Nil. Nada. The 15-minute long conversation consisted primarily of her speaking really fast gibberish and me saying, "I'm sorry, I'm learning the language, but I don't speak well yet" and "Please, slower?" It was an adventure.
What I meant to order:
Lesson learned: Always have what you want to say written out and translated beforehand in case they don't speak English (because, chances are, they don't).
Fact 2: McDonalds delivers. Straight to your house. Pretty awesome.
Fact 3: The first time we called for delivery, my sweet housemate ordered for us, only to discover that the worker spoke perfect English. Oh, how lovely! The dear people at McDs make sure their employees speak English for the poor foreigners who just want a taste of home! Wonderful.
So, earlier this week, after a particularly long language day, some McDs sounded amazing. My housemate was gone, but no worries - the people at McDs speak English!
Fact 4: Not all McDonalds employees speak English.
The girl I talked to spoke exactly zero English. Zip. Nil. Nada. The 15-minute long conversation consisted primarily of her speaking really fast gibberish and me saying, "I'm sorry, I'm learning the language, but I don't speak well yet" and "Please, slower?" It was an adventure.
What I meant to order:
- One order of chicken nuggets
- One cheeseburger,
- Two orders of french fries, and
- One coke.
- One order of chicken nuggets,
- One cheeseburger,
- Three orders of french fries,
- Two cokes,
- One two-piece fried chicken meal, and
- Two "free" teas, thrown in probably because they felt so bad for me.
Lesson learned: Always have what you want to say written out and translated beforehand in case they don't speak English (because, chances are, they don't).
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Language school day 1: "Ah, bay, chay, day..."
Little else is more humbling than having to relearn the alphabet.
Day one of language school is officially over. Even though our lesson was only two hours long, we learned a TON of stuff. Okay, maybe "learn" is not the right word. There are a lot of new words floating around in my brain. Whether or not I've learned them is another issue.
The other part of our schooling is spending two hours out in the community trying to use what we learned. I can see how this is extremely beneficial for language learning. However, for an introvert, this is also very uncomfortable, for lack of better words. I like to have everything perfect before I try it out. So, here I am, carrying around my little cheat sheet, walking through the market that's two blocks down from our house, and all these people are staring at me, and I just want to hide. Morgan, on the other hand, is thrilled to be able to speak to the people, even if we do only know three phrases, and is walking fearlessly up to people right and left. I do a little pep talk to gather enough courage to walk up to an ibu, or older woman, on the side of the street. By the time I stumble through my second phrase, a small crowd has gathered to listen to the buleh, and they're all laughing at me, who knows why exactly.
After a couple attempts, we enter a local department store and walk up to the friendly workers who are hanging around. Talking to people who smile at you and don't gather crowds is a lot easier. After a while, the people whom Morgan has already talked to spot me wandering and run up, stand in front of me, and smile, waiting for me to practice my horrible language skills. Thank you, Morgan, for making the rest of my day a hundred times easier.
Despite being absolutely exhausting and challenging, in more ways than one, today was a very successful day. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel at the end of the week, but I'm just taking it day by day. Perlahan-lahan - Slowly, step by step.
"G-d is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency at all times, you may abound in every good work." 2 Cor. 9:8
Day one of language school is officially over. Even though our lesson was only two hours long, we learned a TON of stuff. Okay, maybe "learn" is not the right word. There are a lot of new words floating around in my brain. Whether or not I've learned them is another issue.
The other part of our schooling is spending two hours out in the community trying to use what we learned. I can see how this is extremely beneficial for language learning. However, for an introvert, this is also very uncomfortable, for lack of better words. I like to have everything perfect before I try it out. So, here I am, carrying around my little cheat sheet, walking through the market that's two blocks down from our house, and all these people are staring at me, and I just want to hide. Morgan, on the other hand, is thrilled to be able to speak to the people, even if we do only know three phrases, and is walking fearlessly up to people right and left. I do a little pep talk to gather enough courage to walk up to an ibu, or older woman, on the side of the street. By the time I stumble through my second phrase, a small crowd has gathered to listen to the buleh, and they're all laughing at me, who knows why exactly.
After a couple attempts, we enter a local department store and walk up to the friendly workers who are hanging around. Talking to people who smile at you and don't gather crowds is a lot easier. After a while, the people whom Morgan has already talked to spot me wandering and run up, stand in front of me, and smile, waiting for me to practice my horrible language skills. Thank you, Morgan, for making the rest of my day a hundred times easier.
Despite being absolutely exhausting and challenging, in more ways than one, today was a very successful day. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel at the end of the week, but I'm just taking it day by day. Perlahan-lahan - Slowly, step by step.
"G-d is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency at all times, you may abound in every good work." 2 Cor. 9:8
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)