Language Learning

Learning language by immersion is proving to be one of the most valuable experiences I could have chosen. I make tons of mistakes, but the more I talk with people the more I see how much they appreciate the fact that I try. My mess-ups bring lots of laughter, and it's a good thing I have learned to laugh at myself so I can join in when people crack up at my bad Albanian!

Every language has lots of words that are easy to mix up. In Albanian, the words for "boy" (pronounced "choon") and "dog" (pronounced "chun") sound very similar. So of course it was quite humorous when I mistakenly referred to some boys as "dogs" instead.



I find myself more comfortable with using whatever language I have. I practiced asking people for directions to the post office in the middle of the city, even though I know exactly where it is, in order to become more comfortable asking those particular questions and trying to understand the answers. It ended up being a very rewarding experience, when many of them told me, "You have only been here 2 and 1/2 months? You speak Albanian so well!" Those types of reactions are typical when I speak with strangers who have never heard me speak before, and it is a great reminder for me when I feel like I'm getting nowhere, that I am indeed making progress in language acquisition.

Living in an Albanian household for two months has been absolutely invaluable for language acquisition. While I am learning to understand them better, they have learned to understand me better, too... much like parents understands their young toddler, even though the toddler's speech is made up of lots of partial words and incomplete sentences. I can understand the father of my household better now, who has a very thick northern dialect that's known for being very difficult to understand, even for other Albanians. Throughout my time with the family, whenever the father speaks with me I struggle as hard as I can to make sense of what he says, often only to result in a confused stare from me... to which he responds by speaking louder, moving closer to my face... until the women have to yell at him over his his own voice. I finally realized yesterday that what they are saying every time goes something like, "Why do you think you need to talk so loudly to her?! She's not deaf! She can't understand you, so speaking so loudly in her face isn't gonna help!"

I wonder why it is that when someone doesn't understand, we automatically feel the need to raise our voices? I do the same thing, in fact, when I try to speak in extremely toddler-ish Albanian, get the blank stare, and then say the same thing that makes no sense, simply making it more obvious that I speak like a baby. I approached a security guard outside a bank in town wanting to go in. He leaned forward a little toward me and responded with a long, pronounced, "MBOO-LUR" - "IT'S CLOSED." Okay dude, chill out, I'm not deaf. 

It was especially rewarding for me a couple days ago when the mother of my household asked me more details about why I came to Albania, and I got to share about my hopes to see lives here changed by Jesus. She gave me some of the most affirming words I've received (and understood!) from an Albanian and put into perspective for me the priority of language acquisition and cultural understanding in mission: "You have learned so much! But it's because you want to learn to communicate with people. You don't just want to know words. You want to know how people live and why they do or say the things they do, because you won't know how to help them otherwise." (NOT a literal translation... more of an impression.) A wise woman, whom I hope to understand better and better as time passes.

It was extremely awkward when I first started out, but now that people know I want to learn Albanian they are very eager to help me. I often pass people in the street that I don't even know. (Most people in the neighborhood know who I am, even though I don't know them!) They give me the typical  "What's up? How's it going?" greeting - "Ch-kemi? Si ye kaloni?" and I am reminded why I love these people's friendliness.