For our 3rd semester Culture-Language Acquisition Practicum, I play the part of a native, named Kinosi, from Papua New Guinea. Kinosi speaks broken English and is able communicate with the students taking this class. But at times it is not easy to understand what he is trying to say. One day Kinosi was describing how to make powdered lime from "cram sell."
The student asked, "What is cram sell?"
Kinosi replied, "Dat is Engris (English). Dat is your talk. It is not my talk."
The student said, "Oh, you mean clam shell?"
Kinosi replied, "Yes! Dat is what I said! Cram sell!"
It is easy to misunderstand someone such as Kinosi who has learned English as a second language. They have a tendency to bring the sounds of their first language over into their pronunciation of English.
Missionaries learning another language also have a tendency to use the sounds of English in their pronunciation of a second language. For instance, the Spanish [ñ] can be confusing for English speakers. At times English speakers will substitute an English [n] for the Spanish [ñ] which can bring great delight to the Spanish speaker. To wish someone a "happy birthday" in Spanish you could say "feliz cumpleaños." But when a missionary greeted his Spanish speaking friend with, "feliz cumpleanos" (which means happy rectum) he was met with raucous laughter. While there is a toilet paper commercial which says, "enjoy the go," I don't think that "happy rectum" would mean quite the same thing.
We begin teaching our 1st semester students phonetics in a few weeks. Please pray for us as we try to explain how to pronounce the Spanish [ñ] and other fun sounds.
Bob
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He Brought Me Here
-Andrew Murray
First He brought me here; it is by His will I am in this strait place; in that fact I will rest. Next, He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace to behave as His child. Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the grace He means to bestow. Last, in His good time He can bring me out again—how and when He knows. Let me say I am here: (1) by God's appointment. (2) In His keeping. (3) Under His training. (4) For His time.
