A couple weeks ago, a neighbor cut
down one of the coconut trees behind our house. As we stood there watching,
Evangeline commented, “Papa Sofian fall down tree.” Evangeline was retelling what had
happened. No, the man did not fall down
from the tree, but rather fell the tree with his chainsaw.
I marveled at Evangeline’s
comment. First it was amusing to take it
literally, but I also understood the meaning she intended. It amazed me how my two year could take the
words she already knew and put them together to attempt to communicate
something new. She was grammatically wrong,
but we all understood her, and as she is learning to communicate, it really
didn’t matter.
I reflected on how this is very similar to where I am in language study. I have a foundational vocabulary in the Barat
language, but when constructing sentences I sound much like Evangeline, using
the wrong words though similar in meaning.
I also do not conjugate verbs properly resulting in much confusion as to
who is doing it or is it being done to them.
The worst is the verb eat; I speak and mix up whether someone is eating
or being eaten.
When we first moved to this
country we attended a course to learn the national language. It was all laid out for us, we just had to
arrive and study. Now studying the Barat language, though
we have a great curriculum, we have to find our own tutors, often people that
have never taught before, arrange our own activities, and pursue
practicing.
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| Helping a neighbor cook as I study the process. |
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| Rocking a neighbor's baby as I study. |
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| Studying the voting process. |
Our curriculum is similar to the
language learning we all do as children.
The first of four levels or phases consists of listening and pointing to
objects when they are said, much like the “Where’s your nose” game we all play
with children. That is followed by trying
to speak. We answer the “What is this?” question with the objects previously studied. The second phase adds the construction of
sentences and the description of life activities around us. This is where I, Erin, find myself
currently. John, on the other hand, has
made it through the third level of interviewing people for their life stories and
retelling them. Now he is working hard
on the fourth level. He has interviewed
people on a variety of topics and retold many of these as persuasive type
essays. Please think of us both as we
continue to learn language and culture.
We hope to be evaluated in August on our abilities.
As I watch my children learn both
English and the other languages spoken around them, I have been humbled and at
times encouraged. Children as they learn
language listen, mimic, and try to speak, even if sounding foolish. They don’t care. Their goal of communicating is so much more
important than sounding foolish that they try, they mimic, and they use what
they have heard and learned. If only I could care less about how I sound and whether I'm right or not.
