Languages

Four weeks have come and gone and so has my formal study of the Kriolu language. Today we began our Portuguese training. Let me say a few things… First, I love speaking Kriolu. It is a beautifully simple language. For example, in Kriolu if someone wants to say, “I like apples” they’d simply say “N gosta manson” and if they don’t like apples, they’d say “N ka gosta manson.” There are NO plural words and if I wanted to make any sentence past tense, I just add the word, “onti or pasada,” which simply indicate the day or time, so “yesterday… or in the past…” otherwise the sentence is EXACTLY the same. If you want to make a sentence future tense, you simply add the word “ta.” Nothing else changes, you simply say “n ta bai skola” (I’m going to go to school). It’s amazingly simplistic, and I love it! Okay, back to the point. Second, Portuguese is a difficult language. They use sounds that we never use in English. They have letters that sound French and some that sound Spanish. They have vowel sounds like in English, that when combined make an entirely different sound. They have consonants that change pronunciation when they are in certain places in the word. For example, the word “sesta” (fifth) is pronounced saishta. The first s is normal and the second is pronounced like an “sh,” the “e” is pronounced like a hard “a”! WOW! Okay, I have studied Spanish for many years and in Spanish, every letter is pronounced the same every time. This makes, at least, the pronunciation easy! Unfortunately, Portuguese is like English in that it changes every time you turn around! BOOOO.

Needless to say, I HAVE to learn to speak Portuguese because I will be working at the University and Portuguese is the official language of the country. SO, in any governmental facility (schools, ministries, etc) everyone speaks Portuguese. Also, Kriolu is not a written language. There is no common dictionary or common alphabet for Kriolu. This means that everything about the Kriolu language is oral and aural. This is because since colonization, Portuguese has been the formal language for the country. Everything published in the country is written in Portuguese and only Portuguese (not Kriolu) is taught to school children. So basically you have a nation where no one actually speaks the national language and no one actually reads the mother tongue. It’s a strange thing. Needless to say, all of the manuals I have received from the college have been in Portuguese, so I’ll be speaking Portuguese at work and Kriolu everywhere else! Luckily, the Peace Corps will pay a tutor $10 an hour for 48 hours so that we can better learn Portuguese after our training.

Well, I guess that’s about it from here. I am excited to learn Portuguese, but thing are getting confusing as I try to learn two languages at once! They don’t make it easy on you here in the Peace Corps. I think it really is a tough process, but no one has dropped out of our group yet! That’s pretty amazing, usually several people do at this point. The Portuguese might just put some people over the edge!!!!! I heard a lot of complaining today for sure! I’m outta here. I hope I get to post these blogs really soon. Miss you all. Write me soon and often. Txau, ti logu (I don’t know what they say in Portuguese yet, so next time I’ll figure that out!).