Language Difficulties

Okay, so the title of this post is a little misleading. It's not that I have been having problems communicating with Haitians, that has actually been going pretty well. A lot of Creole that I had forgotten has come back, and I have already learned so much more in the last two months. I think after another 20 years, I might be close to fluent (maybe a slight exaggeration).

The first real language difficulty came last Sunday. Jennifer and I and the kids were at the airport waiting for my mom, and there were a bunch of UN guys standing nearby in full body armor, with assault rifles looking very intimidating. So I told Wilson to go up and try to shake their hands. And so he did. They were, of course, very nice to him, shook his hand, smiled at him, and then Christa, Hannah, and Jett all followed suit. So I finally decided to walk over to them and find out where they were from, how they were doing, etc.

I started trying to communicate with a guy whose name was something like Andres, but I'm sure I butchered the spelling. I asked them where he was from. Actually, I didn't ask him. I pointed to the patch on his shoulder, which was the Brazilian flag. I said "Brazil?" He said "Wi." I tried to speak to him in Creole, but got nowhere fast. He said, "Franse?" wondering if I spoke French. Of course, I speak about as much French as I do Aramaic. So i said, "no I don't speak French," in Creole. Then I said something I wish I could have taken back immediately after it left my mouth. You ever do that, say something and then immediately think, "Doh, I'm an idiot!" Well, I told him, "I don't speak Spanish."

Well, immediately he gave this quizzical look, and I suddenly realized how big of an idiot I really am. I should have known better. I had a friend growing up whose dad was from Brazil. I know Spanish is not spoken in Brazil. And yet, because he looked Hispanic/South American, this dumb American blurted out, "I don't speak Spanish." He could have looked at me and just as well said, "And I don't speak Aramaic."

Actually he didn't say that, instead he raised his assault rifle, told me Americans are dumb and should be shot, and cursed me in Portuguese. Okay, he didn't do any of that either, but it would have made a better ending to the story. We finished our "conversation," and went our separate ways, me telling Jennifer how dumb I can be and I'm sure him telling his friends how dumb I am.

My second case of language difficulties has been going on periodically this week. You see, I'm preaching at the church in Balan on Sunday. I'll be preaching in Creole, which will be a lot of fun, I think. I've done it several times before at a church in Cap-Haitian, but never in Balan. What has been difficult, is preparing my sermon.

Okay, I had six semesters of Greek in Bible College. I am by no means an expert, but I at least have an appreciation for what the verse originally said, before being translated. Now in the front of the Creole Bible, it states that it was translated from the original Greek and Hebrew texts. I'm not so sure. In fact, I would bet money, it was not. It sounds like more of a translation of a paraphrase, sometimes strikingly familiar to "The Living Bible." Not the new version either, which is actually pretty good, the original.

I'm preaching on the Beatitudes. The problem is that I of course want to be true to the text, the Greek text that is. That is going to be difficult. For example, instead of "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness..." the Creole Bible says, "Blessings for those who desire to live the way God wants..." And instead of "Blessed are the pure in heart..." the Creole Bible says, "Blessings for people who do not have evil thoughts in their heads..." That's an entirely different body part!

I know not everything can be easily translated into Creole, as there are no words for certain things/feelings/ideas. Like the word "funny." There's no word for "funny." That is tragic.

I guess I'll just have to resort to praying that God will speak through me, a broken vessel. He'll use my broken Creole to tell people about his perfect love. That's what I've been praying anyway.

Until next time,
Eric