Saturday, January 23, 2010

I Don't Speak Hindi :(

I was born in the United States.  However, my parents were born in India.  So, in most respects, I'm Indian.  (I should insert a footnote here, but I won't bore you with details.) 

Why does this matter?  Well, I've become the go-to guy for everyones' Indian return visits.  Which is totally cool with me.  The only bummer is that I can't speak any Indian languages.  So yes, I'm a bad Indian. 

Several weeks ago, I met one Indian man who speaks Hindi, Punjabi and Spanish.  We had a Bible study.  I stumbled through a prayer in Spanish and conducted the study in mostly English with the help of a sister who translated.  Thanks, Pamela!

Last night I had the privilege of meeting some lovely Indian families.  It took about 2 hours to get to their home.  I spoke to them mostly in English (with some terrible Spanish thrown in).  On one Bible study, I spoke in English, Pamela translated to Spanish and then one young boy translated into Punjabi.  It was difficult!  But they really appreciate the study and cooked us a great dinner!  Complete with Poori! 

Today I got to meet another Indian family.  And yes, they spoke English!  We got to have a lovely conversation and I look forward to speaking with them again.

1 comment:

  1. That's awesome!! I'm goin to be honest, I lost track of your blog..hehehe. Pretty cool that you even have the opportunity to think about speaking Hindi. I'm actually learning a bit of it. O.k. well since your meeting all these Indian speaking people, maybe you should learn a few words and sentences. Same with your Spanish--Terrible spanish better than no spanish at all!! At least you'll feel like you learned some while your in Argentina.

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