Do You Mind Not Knowing What is Going On?

Show card for my Art in India exhibition.

A Nepali Indian friend asked if it bothers me ”when people just speak in Hindi?” She continued, “I think it would drive me nuts if everyone around me was talking and I couldn’t understand.” This is a good question…

The simple answer is “no, it has not bothered me yet.” I really enjoy observing and using these times to learn and listen. Every time I have wanted to understand more or need clarification I always ask.

So why does it not bother me? Haha probably because I am a bit socially awkward to begin with. I don’t mind observing nor do I mind that isolated feeling while in a large group, in fact I really enjoy it. I love people but am fairly introverted. That “alone in a crowd feel” can be incredibly nice…though I don’t really feel alone with my Indian friends. Most of the time I can pick up enough….though the times I am lost are nice too. Sometimes I just don’t talk even when I do know what’s going on. I suppose it’s less awkward to have the language “barrier” as an excuse.

The most important reason I don’t mind is the answer to the question “what is the best way to learn a language?” To go to the country…unfortunately I tend to do things backwards. I go to the country then a month after returning home decide to commit to learning the language. Spending time with people speaking the language you are trying to learn is really the only way to pick up a language…

The other friend in the car joined in and stated “they don’t do it on purpose, it’s just habit.” We continued the discussion for a bit longer (and by we I mean I continued to ponder over the question in my head…I will share my ponderings in future posts.)

I nodded in agreement as we continued to sing along to Bollywood music and drove off.

To Me Hindi Gibberish Is

Poster from a Train Station in India

Mujhe hindi gibberish hai.
To me Hindi gibberish is.

This sentence is pretty simple to translate when written; however, when people talk, translating fast enough to make sense out of Hindi is too much difficult different at different times (**Wink*Wink** at Indian English). I do of course love the challenge and I get excited when I pick up entire phrases or even portions of a conversation. Maybe this excitement is a little more than normal but I hide it well with a facade of shyness.

The other night I went out with mere dosten after playing cricket (ohh yes, I will write a post on cricket). It was great...and as you know I am used to not knowing what is going on all the time and simply listening and trying to figure things out. This outing drove me absolutely bonkers and was a lot of fun. It was fun because I could tell when they were talking (and more importantly what they were saying) about the girls that a couple of the guys liked. ahh mere hindusthani dosten bahut cute hai (aww My Indian friends are too cute).

The confusing part of the conversation came when the guys switched back and fourth between topics. "veh bahut moushkil hai." You mean to say "he/she/it/that/the big difficult is" is what? "she is hard?" No, you have a problem? no ...ugh...wait...the PhD is hard...who? Where did that come from?

Main Hindi aur hindusthani log nahin samajti hoon (Literally "I Hindi and Indian people no understand am existing"). See what I mean. Gibberish is!

As you can see Hindi learning pagal hai...Learning Hindi is crazy...aur bahut thoda thoda fun!

If this isn't confusing enough just wait till I tell you about texting in my next post. 

If I trick people into thinking I am Indian...

Can you tell? Either way, I absolutely love this photo. 

...maybe they will speak Hindi with me…

At the the Diwali Night celebration at least one guy thought that I was Indian. Not gonna lie, I pulled it off well (see above).

I know he thought I was Indian because he just started speaking Hindi to me. I was not ready with a Hindi response but was able to respond in English (which is a frustrating but common theme these days), but then I was excited he spoke Hindi to me and I got shy and just walked away…

hmmm maybe I if I work on my social skills a bit, people will talk to me in Hindi ;)

Small Group Goal

In a previous blog post I stated that, “Speaking for me is the hard part. It’s scary and intimidating. I don’t want to be laughed at in front of a large group”

If my goal is to speak and I’m scared to speak in front of a large group of people, maybe a solution is to try speaking in small groups or with just one other person and the save listening for large groups…or consume large amounts of wine...or maybe create a YouTube video with my YouTube friend Anil Mahato.

This month my goal is to use Hindi :) Even if it is just a few phrases here and there. Next month I hope to have a SMART goal...You know? Specific. Measurable. Attainable...