Language learning is both a major joy and a major challenge for me. It has been mentioned to me several times over the course of my life that it takes more than a thousand mistakes to be a competent speaker in a new language, and I now believe that with my whole heart now that I am in the dredges of grammar and syntax that makes sense sometimes.
Throughout this process, God has humbled me in a way that I have not expected. I have the honor to be in a class with my flatmate under the tutelage of a spectacularly gifted teacher. Now three months in, we are able to laugh with and at each other as we make mistakes, and our teacher encourages us, saying that mistakes cause us to increase our vocabulary (maybe in ways that make us identify a coarser version of the language). Making mistakes, though hard and a stab at my pride have helped me learn better and stretch to be more humble inside and outside of the classroom, and to be okay with making mistakes as well. Praise God for the gift of a teacher that doesn’t flinch when I accidently curse at her, or when I accidently call her husband a woman.
Below are some of the funnier mistakes that I have made in class. I can now count myself closer to becoming a fluent speaker because of them!
1. “seif/Seif” (a harder, deeper “s” sound): sword/summer
2. “Ana andi farah (frekh), farah (frekh), farah (frekh) fi qalbi.”: I’ve got the joy (chicken), joy (chicken), joy (chicken) down in my heart.
3. “uTa/iTa”: cat/chips or pieces
4. “ingeezi/ingleezi”: Hurry up/english (language)
5. “rigli maksura/rigli magnuna w mabsuta”: broken leg/crazy happy leg
6. “garrab/garab”: try (vb)/flea
7. “ysibnee/ysalee”: I curse you/I pray
8. “tokhina/takhina”: shoot us/fat
9. “ehlekee/aliki”: go on fire/with me