To the left is a flashcard for our Mongolian class. This one shows "daughter-in-law" which is pronounced "beer" (I kid you not!).Below is an array of flashcards we are presently memorizing.
Today in Mongolian Language Class, I made a funny blunder. We were to write sentences with our new words last night as homework. I wrote a sentence correctly, but when I spoke it in class, it came out wrong.
Here's the vocabulary list:
nohur = dog
nohor = husband (why does this language have these two words sound so much the same?!)
togthla = to play
toothlick = to push
My assignment was to use the word "never". I wrote "I never my husband push." That's the word order in Mongolian--another reason why I would rather memorize a stack of words than try to put them into a sentence or a question! After speaking the sentence, our language teacher looked at me and said, questioningly, "You never play with your dog?" She doesn't know that I really don't like dogs much, so I'm sure she's thinking, "If you have a dog, wouldn't you play with him sometimes?" I said, "Is that what I just said?" She replied, "Yes." I told her what I thought I'd said. She looked at my paper...I had spelled it all correctly, I just didn't pronounce it correctly. We all had a good laugh with that.
How many times in life do we THINK we're doing the right thing, and then later we find out we were WAY OFF? That's where we need wisdom: "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:5
3 comments:
This post gave me a headache just to read it, so I can't imagine how you feel! Thanks so much for sharing a bit of your language class! Press on!!!!
Mongolian sounds about as confusing as English! Keep plugging along, and be sympathetic toward English students when they're trying to sort out:
The farm produced produce.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
The nohor's nohur toothhlick-ed the toothpick. Aaaarrrggghh!
Sometimes I take a nap after language class. Thankfully, I don't get headaches, just "wiped out" after three hours of new stuff and applying the "old" stuff. But, it's coming together...little by little!
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