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.

InshAllah

Pakistani Dinner Night

Mere pati, meri dost, aur main

InshAllah 


Several months ago when I was just beginning to learn Hindi I was messaging one of my friends in Pakistan and she told me 'InshAllah' referring to learning Urdu. I asked her what it meant and she said that

"InshAllah means if God wants you to then you will do this easily"

And though I would not say that this past year of learning Hindi was easy (and I honestly wouldn't say that I have learned it yet). It was full of challenges and stepping outside of my comfort zone but it is certainly seeming clear that God does want me to learn and practice this beautiful language.

Read more about InshAllah. 

They All Speak a Different Language

Felicia Follum
Washed in Blood – Henna
Mixed Media

I have friends from all over India here in the us. One night I was hanging out with about 10 Hindi speaking friends. They were all speaking different dialects, had different accents, and some may have even been speaking Urdu and i would have never known. 

This to me is absolutely fascinating. ugh though I am not quite sure how it will impact my learning. Maybe it will make me more diverse or just confuse...but In reality, I will just accept it as a lot of fun.

I guess my current plan is to keep learning all that I can (and at times filter out what is the most important and the general idea). 

My current tip (to myself) in regard to spelling is to learn from one good resource mainly and take everything else with a grain of salt.  sticking with one source will also help me learn the alphabet and transliterations better... Shyad, I will add more sources/spellings as I become more comfortable.

Since I began this post I have encountered one big problem with the one source strategy but will get to that in a future blog post.

Text Kar Rahi Hindi Mei Da Bomb hai

Here are a couple more examples of the translation confusion I mentioned in my previous post. This time they all appeared in texts. First of all...fo' real tho, anyone wanting to learn a new language?!? Texting is the 'da bomb digity' because you can take your time and think and it reinforces a lot of little details and I'm sure there are a lot of other good reasons...

Flowers in the Hotel lobby, Khajaraho, India

...and I will begin by mentioning some of those benefits. If you are a nerd, like me 1) you can take notes and have flash cards from your text conversations which is great because 2) you can remember the conversation since it was real (you can remember 'ohhh yeah so-and-so said thus-and-such when this-and-or-that happened,' rather than 'I wrote it for a class one day and who cares') and 3) you can impress your friends when you finally do get it right. 4) It's also nice when you are chatting in the middle of the night since India is a 12 hour** time difference. 5) Also since it's a text you will probably have the chance to say something similar in another conversation later on and your other friends will be impressed and you don't even have to tell them that someone else taught or helped you.

The down side is that speaking well...main Hindi nahin bolti hoon. I don't speak Hindi.

Anyways, back to the first conversation and point of this blog post example, why is texting bahut pagal hai?

"Thik hai. Aap jab khayenge tab jayenge...chai ke time try karenge...thode din me better ho jayega."

Translation: "alright is. you when say then go...lets try again during chai...little days is will become."

Still lost? That's Hindi for ya! 

As you can see the translation is a bit like "Yoda talk" as the friend texting it to me said.

But it gets worse or maybe a bit more humorous...Indians texting in English is sometimes just as confusing.

Here is a quick translation cheat sheet for Indian English texting...

vl  = will, I will, I'll
dy = they (which is similar to 'dem' in Patois/Patwa)
d   = the
v   = we
v   = w
t, d etc = add an a at the end
Other vowels may also be left out
q = kyu = why
gnsd = good night sweet dreams

and one in Hinid
m tik h = main thik hoon = I am fine

Ok, so I am kinda poking fun. But in all reality, these shorthands have made a lot of sense and actually helped me understand a bit about the culture and language...and have led to some funny conversations 'ower vine' in my art studio as well.

As far as understanding the meaning of what seems to me words strung together in a nonsensical order goes, people keep telling me "it will come" and I'm sure it will...mugar kab?!?! But when?!?!

***the time difference may be 12 and a half hours and I can never remember if it is behind or ahead...though I am pretty sure the details don't make much difference for the point of this blog post. 

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.