Learning and practicing a language is always hard, for me I hate speaking because I know I sound like a food, and most of the time they can barely understand me anyways. The worst part however, is when they DO understand you, then think you know Bangla...Today when walking down the steps of my apt, one of my neighbors was walking up. He said to me "salam wa alecum" the Arabic greeting of which I am very familiar with from my years in Yemen. This is by best part of Bangla since well...it not really Bangla! I responded with the customary "wa aleycum as salam". My neighbor stops, turns around with a huge smile on his face and laughs. He then starts rattling off in Bangla about who knows what... I felt back when at the end of his speech I had to say "sorry, I dont understand". I think he thought from my very excellent accent (if I do say so myself) and the use of the appropriate response (most white people here usually respond with "salam wa alecum" back since they dont know its not correct), that I MUST know Bangla. I felt bad letting him down.
Another incident similar to this happened just Yesterday
when purchasing a new camera battery charger (somehow mine has disappeared
somewhere between Dubai and here…). In the midst of this conversation I managed
to get a Bangladeshi husband, a Russian sister, and a new best friend.
When I stopped by the store I greeted the man, asked him how
he was, and reminded him that I stopped by yesterday to find a charger and I
was back with my battery. I said this in pretty good Bangla and he was EXTATC.
He began asking me about my family and things, and I tried to respond.
P.S. Side to the story. In Bangladesh, if you have a nose
ring, it means you’re married. I obviously have a nose ring, and have recently
switched out my hoop for a very Bangladeshi looking gold stud. Generally I
don’t mind people on the street thinking im married, and all my co-workers know
the truth, so usually its not a problem.
Back to the shop: in the middle of the conversation the man
points to his nose where my nose ring is and say’s “where from”. In Bangla
there are no pronounds (it/him/ her) and you are just supposed to figure it out
from the context, this time I was wrong. I told him Bangladesh, thinking he was
wondering if I got my nose ring in Bangladeshi.
“Really” he said “ Bangladeshi??”
“Yes Bangladeshi”
“Not America??”
“No, Bangladesh” where would I EVER get a massive gold nose
stud the size of my thumb in AMERICA.
He then turns to the guy who had just come up beside him to
hear the commotion and says. “She has a Bangladeshi Husband!!!”
Uhh…. Woops!!!
Well by now it was too late to change my story, and I had no
skills to communicate that I had miss-understood, I was in fact single, and I
thought he meant my nose ring. So I decided to go with it.
“Where is He from? Dhaka, Gazipur, Chitingong??”
“Oh…Dhaka…”
“Any children??”
“No…married just 3 months.”
“Is he a Doctor?”
“Yes”
“Congradulations!”
This is when I realized I didn’t have enough money on me to
pay for my new charger and needed to run home. I told him I would be right back
with the cash. When I got back, one of my new roommates (who is Russian) who
had arrived the day before was there and we decided to go get her a phone as
the store was right next to my camera shop. So we set off again together. When
we got back to the shop, this guy was so excited again.
“who is this!!!”
“umm…this is my sister”
“is she married to a Bangladeshi?”
“No, not married, on holiday to see me.”
There was then a pretty long sentence in which I had no idea
what he said. I said I’m sorry I only speak a little Bangla. He laughed, said I
was a good friend, and would give me a 500taka ($6) discount on my charger
because I was so cool (that was more or less the gist of it I guess).
I guess it worked out in the end, and I don’t think I will
ever have to keep the story up, as I don’t know why I will ever need to go back
to that shop, but that is what language barriers do to you…accidently lie to
everyone you encounter. This is what I have decided though, learning languages
is tricky. There always comes a point where you know JUST enough to get you in
trouble…
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