language learning

Can we talk for just a minute about language learning? And not just learning another language, but learning another language in a country where English is widely spoken. Learning a new language is never easy. In high school we were required to take a foreign language. I took French because there was 1 French teacher and she was easy and 3 Spanish teachers, only one of which was easy. Clearly, French was the best option. And I enjoyed it too. However, there are very few things I can remember in the French language. I know some basic Spanish (like 1-10 and how are you) because it's easy to pick up in America. And when I went to Ecuador and was submersed in the language, it seemed easy to pick up. English, French, and Spanish all have similarities. They've all be relatively easy to learn, even just the basics.

Here, we're learning Hausa. Hausa is not like English... in any way, shape, or form. I take that back, it uses the same alphabet, minus 3 or 4 letters. It sounds different. Hausa uses tones... of which I cannot hear. Take for instance the word gibi. Depending on the tone it can mean the Lord's Supper or it can mean the day after tomorrow. There's a big difference in those two things. In Hausa, you roll your r's and "swallow" some of the sounds. Not to mention, as with most languages, there are different dialects. There are places that use the p sound where an f is. There are places where people use a word to mean husband that in other parts mean a married women's boyfriend. We are doing barefoot language learning - meaning, we each have a helper that comes 4 times a week and we tell them what we need to know. And even though they speak good English, sometimes it takes some time to get across what we need to learn.

We had our first assessment about 6 weeks ago, and we both passed. But sometimes it's just really hard to progress to the next level. For me, I can understand a lot more than I can speak. I understand it because I know a few words in the sentence and use context clues (there's an elementary school teacher out there smiling because I still use context clues) to figure out what they're saying. Trey is great at speaking the language, but he doesn't always understand what is being asked of him. I would say we make a pretty good team. When we were traveling the other day we stopped at a checkpoint and Trey greeted the police in Hausa. They got excited, as they always do when we speak Hausa to them, and began to ask him more questions. I relayed what the officer asked to Trey and he then responded in almost perfect Hausa. Like I said, a good team.

Language learning isn't always easy, nor is it always fun. But what is fun is seeing the response we get from people. With English so widely spoken, they don't expect ex-pats to learn Hausa. When we can greet someone, answer simple questions, and tell them we're learning Hausa and we understand "kadun-kadun" (small-small) it changes the whole mood of everyone involved in the conversation. It shows people that you care enough to talk to them in their heart language. We've been at it for about 2 months and today was our last day with our helpers for at least a month. It will be difficult to come back and jump right in where we left off. We will forget things, and that's a little frustrating. So, pray that we will retain more than we think and we'll be able to continue to learn and pick it up quickly.