First unofficial language session

There is a house across the street from us and best we can tell, two sisters live there with their children.  We haven’t seen any men, so we’re guessing there aren’t any that live there.  The women’s names are Zulaikah (Zoo ly kah) and Samsiyah (Sahm see yah).  Between them there are 5 children and the first night we came here they all came to our gate to welcome us!  They were so friendly and kind.  Every day as I walk outside my front door, I see one of them outside their house and they wave and say “hallo!”, which is their version of “hello”!  We have used our limited phrases in Bahasa Indonesian (their language) to greet them each day and are learning their names. 

 

Today we waved the kids over to play on the porch with Jack and brought out 2 puzzles to play with.  Soon we were learning what all the things were on the puzzles. I would say “apa ini?”  What’s that?  And they would reply with the Indonesian answer. I would right it down and the oldest girl would look to see that I spelled it right.  Often I would write down a “k” for a “g” or a “p” for a “b” or a “t” for a “d” as they sound very similar in their language.  She gently corrected me and we moved on.  By the time we finished a half an hour later there were about 10 children on our porch and the 2 women.  It was so fun to learn the numbers 1-10, several animal’s names, colors and parts of the face.  Not that I’ll remember them tomorrow, but thus begins the process of learning this language. 

 

Even though we use the same alphabet, the letters don’t always sound the same.  For example whenever a “c” is found in a word, it is a “ch” sound.  The reason I have a hard time telling the difference between the letters mentioned above is that they don’t aspirate them.  In English we say the sound for “t” and let air out afterward.  They cut of the air from leaving their mouth when they say it so it can sound like a “d”.  Does that make sense?  Well if it doesn’t then welcome to our world!

 

One more reason we need your prayers as we begin this process.  Thanks for partnering with us through prayer!

 

Bethany