The Mystery and Mastery of Language

Communication is the key to relationships.  In thinking about communication it is generally assumed that the spoken word is the most common way to relate.  But what spoken word?  Is it Arabic…..is it Swedish…is it English?   After spending three months in Palestine I have appreciated hearing so many different languages.  Each person is communicating in the language they have learned.    As an English speaking person with a handful of Arabic phrases at my disposal I have somehow been able to convey what I am trying to express.  I have found the people of Palestine to be very helpful in figuring out what I’m talking about.  Oftentimes it will involve many other ways to get the point across such as drawing a picture, using hand gestures or pointing out something that is similar.

In Tulkarm I have shared a flat with 3 other people.  We are all from different parts of the world and I am the only one of my team who learned English as my primary language.   When we communicate as a team it is a requirement of EAPPI that we communicate in English   The primary language for my teammates is not English although they have all studied English as a second language.  It takes more concentration for them to communicate in English.  One of my teammates told me she gets worn out trying to speak English all the time.  Besides their native language of either Norwegian, Swedish or German, they also know other languages besides English.  They are also more advanced in their understanding and usage of Arabic. 

I don’t always understand what my teammates are talking about as their dialect sounds different to me.  Likewise, they don’t always understand me and certainly don’t get the slang phrases I use so often. 

Susanne and Esther (Switzerland)

For example, I told my roommate, Esther, that I hoped she’d get 40 winks of sleep last night.  “what’s 40 winks?”  she asked.  In all of this I have become the official “English Language Expert.”  They rely on me for assistance in spelling, sentence structure and conveying ideas.   My English professor from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN (Dr. Prausnitz) would be proud of the distinction I have achieved.  I smile at all of this because I often have said that I am the world’s worst speller.

Continuing on the 40 wink theme, we were reading a story in our conversation group at the Tulkarm Refugee camp.  Each of us in the group was reading a page at a time of a fairytale book. 

Conversation Group Member Explaining Picture

There was a comment made by the man in the story about not being able to sleep very well.  He said:  “I didn’t get a wink of sleep all night.”  Then we all talked about what “wink” means and that evolved into what “blink” means.  We’ve done a variety of activities in our conversation classes to make it enjoyable for everyone.   We had fun one day when we took an old cowboy hat that had been hanging up in our yard from a previous group. 

Playing Word Game in Conversation Group at Kafr al Labad

We wrote down a list of words and made them big enough to set on top the rim of the hat.  The person wearing the hat was unable to see the word but he had to figure out what it was.   We divided up into two groups and gave each group the option of asking one question that might assist in arriving at what the word actually was. 

Each person had an opportunity to wear the hat to give each group an opportunity to score a point.   A simple game such as this is a simple learning experience in which each one feels a sense of participation and belonging.  Learning a language also has to do with confidence building and being willing to try to pronounce words and phrases.  The group also shared the Arabic words related to the English words and this was very helpful to us.

On another  beautiful spring day at the youth resource center in Kufr-al-Labad we decided to conduct the conversation group outside.    Our contact person for the resource center (Ameen) suggested that everyone look in the area near the center to find something meaningful to talk about.  We all scattered around the area looking for various things to illustrate.  Then we gathered again and put what we had found in the middle of where we were sitting.  

Then we each went around describing the object we had found and why we had chosen that particular piece.  It was a very moving experience for me to listen to how members of the group described soil, flower, rocks, olive trees, etc.  I remember one person holding up an olive branch and saying:  “our olive trees are more valuable than any amount of gold.”

Susanne