Lost In Translation

My Simpson group and I, being muzungus or white people who speak primarily English, are quite frequently needing translators in Africa. However, verbal speech is only one way to communicate.

The first day I was here someone asked me how I was doing in KyniaRwandan and I responded by saying thanks when I meant to say that I was good. They responded by laughing, and I was confused so I just laughed as well.

This week our Simpson Group is working with schools and teaching them music that is both KyniaRwandan and English. Halfway through our class, we all go outside for recess and attempt to play and communicate with the children without knowing more than, "Hello how are you?" and "I'm good thank you."

We try to communicate through facial expressions how to play certain games like Frisbee and American football, but sometimes this doesn't always work so well. There are hundreds of children pushing and shoving trying to get to the two Frisbees that we provided. They both broke in less than 30 seconds. As Ben Beck said, the Directer of Conservation of the Great Ape Trust, "This is a great metaphor for how big the problems here are and how little resources we have to make a difference."

When all else fails at recess we simply begin singing the few Rwandan songs that we have leaned and dancing to them. Usually they join in or sometimes they giggle at out pronunciation. It's so difficult for Rwandans to learn English and English speakers to learn Rwandan because our tongues move much differently and have built up different muscles. That is what I learned at school this week!

After recess some older girls stopped me who knew fairly good English. They proceeded to ask me how old I was. When I said that I was 20 she asked me how many chickens I had. I was very confused and assumed that this was just another question she knew how to ask me in English. I told her I had too many at home to count. They both died laughing.

Again I was very confused, but have grown use to being laughed at when speaking to Rwandans because something is generally lost in Translation. Come to find out.....she was actually asking me how many children I had.

Instances like this happen time and time again, which is a great part of the experience here. I enjoy attempting to learn their difficult language and empathize when they try to learn ours.