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| Guest photographer our daughter- photo of our street |
- “Yes and no-- they speak a different dialect of the same language we learned before.”
-“What does that mean exactly?”
It was at this point in this common conversation with people back home that we had to speculate. We weren’t sure. How different were these dialects? We knew we had trouble understanding Clove dialect while we were on Volcano Island but we never really examined the dialects. We didn’t know how much work it would be. We’d have to come and find out.
I approach a duka (small shop) near our house. “Hey, how are you?”, I say in the Clove dialect to the small group out front. They immediately smile at the sound of a white person greeting them this way and respond to test whether I know anything more of their language. I pass the test! “Oh look, a white person knowing our language!” They begin to ask me more questions, but this is where I have to slow them down. “I lived in the capital so I know the Volcano dialect,” I tell them in Volcano dialect, “but I am studying Clove dialect. I live close by,” which I say in Clove dialect.
It is at this point in what has been a common conversation this past week, that Clove Islanders respond differently. Some are very encouraging-- “Oh, we can understand you, it is all one language.” “Look you already know the Clove dialect,” they exclaim from hearing my few greetings and two short sentences. A few have had Volcano Island connections. “I’m originally from Volcano Island.” “My father is from there so I speak Volcano dialect too.” Then others seem perfectly crestfallen at the mention of the Volcano dialect. “Oh, I don’t know that language at all.”
So what is the truth? The truth seems to be that a lot of the most common language-- greetings, numbers, basic phrases, most common verbs are different. The verb conjugations are also different, though sometimes recognizable. But the vast part of the vocabulary and verb roots are the same. The simple past looks to be almost exactly the same.
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| Our daughter snaps a photo of Tom |
Practically this has meant that we don’t feel like we are starting over. We can already converse (albeit in a choppy fashion) and communicate-- and we’ve only been here a week! We trust that as the weeks go on language learning will continue to provide both its victories and challenges because the thing about language learning is that it never stops. You never finish-- you either stagnate, lose it or keep moving forward. It is a truth that we have been learning for several years as we worked to learn local language in Chad, then Volcano Island, then in France and now on Clove Island. Bring on language learning!
PRAYERS ANSWERED
The Father has answered many of our prayers this week. We were able to find a fridge and a stove. Tom was able to get our service visas (and he was warmly received by the immigration staff.) We are definitely starting to settle in and find the good local shops. Our daughter has remained healthy. We continue to be warmly received and are discovering informal language teachers every day. We’ve run into and connected with some old friends and have been making new friends too. Our landlords continue to bless us. When we had a plumbing problem this week they had it fixed promptly--the next day! (That is not the norm for the islands.)
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Peter has been suffering from diarrhea for a few days now. Pray for his healing. Our language learning begins in earnest now that we are a bit more settled. Pray for good motivation. Pray that we find the right language partners and the right local friends to be informal language partners. Pray for our kids as they seem to be struggling a bit in adjusting to Clove Island life and especially not having any other kids around like them (they are still little shy of the mass of island kids on our street). Pray that we could find a good pre-school in which to enroll Grace.
