March 24, 2023
I think I must make more mistakes in a language than is humanly thought possible!
My most recent ones involve the video about running water the kids recently made. When I was filming them run across the yard with buckets of water, the workers began gathering to watch in amusement.
I tried explaining it to them in broken Chichewa with a few English words thrown in. We were creating a video for grandparents and friends back in America about running water.
Then I thought, maybe they don’t refer to indoor plumbing as “running water”, so I said in America we call water in homes “running water.”
It seemed like all was understood, but I decided just to ask Brother Shadrick about it. And he asked me, “Did you really say RUNNING WATER?”
When I replied that I had, he told me that refers to flooding.🙈
So basically it looked like we were making fun of the flooding of houses! Thankfully I could have him clarify things for me.
Then today I said, “Sammy is helping daddy take off his boots.”
But I didn’t know the word for boots. Frequently they just say an English word in a Chichewa way. So, I took a chance and said it.
The word I said sounded like their word for worms. Sammy is helping daddy take out worms. 🤦🏼♀️ This time it was just with Shadrick. (He was thinking I was referring to the worms that get under your skin.) Haha
I have overheard him telling some people in the village that I’m struggling some with Chichewa, but that I’m getting there little by little. 😆
(Lydia teaching Only how to quilt.🥰)
fromtheheartofmrsmissionary.com 