Language Learning

Language school is always an interesting experience...
Today, I was reprimanded for reading a sentence too cheerfully. Upon further inspection, I realized that the sentence I had just read translates to say, "A person has been killed." My teacher spent the next five minutes of our class time explaining to all of us exactly why this is actually NOT a good thing...just in case any of us were confused about that.
The same teacher, Moses, also went on to tell us about hunting hippos...how more often than not, the hippo kills the person rather than the other way around. He explained that when he was fifteen, he witnessed this very thing. Then, he went on to tell us that actually, after a person has been cut in half by a hippo, as long as the person is still in the water, he or she can still talk! However, when the person has been removed from the water, he or she immediately dies. Of course, we were all skeptical and questioned the validity of this statement. Moses was unmoved and firmly told us that, while the talking rarely makes sense, this is actually true. He kept repeating, "I have witnessed the very thing!" So, by the end of the class, Moses had taught us how to say "Why do you talk like the person who has been cut in half by a hippo?" which is actually a common phrase in Dinka to indicate a person who is not making sense.
We also learned several key phrases like, "Don't talk in the way snakes move. Speak clearly!" and "You must take a bath!" And we also learned the meaning of the name of our town...Rumbek. In fact, Rumbek means "the thick forest (bush) where Bek was." Bek was actually a person. Who knew?
Anyway, language school is good. I have learned so much more than the little language I now possess. Learning a language is such a great way to learn a culture. For instance, the Dinka language uses the same word for the colors blue and green, it does not really have a word for yellow, purple, or pink, and the word for orange is nearly identical to the word for red. However, there are probably twenty different words for the colors of cows. There is ayen, amer, yar, akur, majok, makol, mabor...and the list goes on. Learning the language not only helps us communicate, but it helps us understand. So while I joke about the language and my teachers sometimes, I am so thankful that we get to learn this! It's amazing!