Struggling with Language

10/19/07

Languages have always fascinated me. I have never really been good at them, but like Sisyphus futilely pushing the round rock up the hill only to have it roll back again, I try to learn language after language. In high school, it was French and Latin. At the university, I managed to pass scientific competencies in French and Russian. In our travels, I dabbled in speaking Spanish, German, Dutch, Botswanan, Turkish, Italian, Russian, and French. Language books and tapes filled my book shelf. Now I am faced withy my biggest language challenge.

It is possible to be successful in the Samoan Peace Corps without knowing anything, but the basic phrases of Hello, Goodbye, Please, and Thank You. Many Samoans speak fluent English. English is the language of Apia and high school students have all their lessons in English throughout the country. If you live in a rural village, like Iva, the level of English drops off quickly. You are faced with the fact that you are not going to communicate effectively with the locals until your Samoan greatly improves.

Peace Corps language training is considered the best in the world. Essentially in eight weeks they bring you to a level of survival proficiency before they release you into the wild. This allows you to live at the lowest level on Maslow’s pyramid of needs. For many Peace Corps, they leave training at a much higher proficiency level and are able to carry on a lengthy conversation. I salute and envy them.

There are three types of Samoan spoken: Oratory, “T”, and “K”. Oratory is a very formalized spoken at Matai councils. Most Samoans don’t understand it. “T” is the type we are taught and is the language usually spoken in church and the language of print. “T” is what the early English Missionaries developed as they tried to transform an oral, unwritten language into a written one. This made it possible to translate the Bible and easier for them to speak. “T” represents how educated, middle class Samoans speak. “K” is the everyday spoken language and closest to the unwritten Samoan. “K” is the Cockney of Samoa and is the way to speak in the village.

Here is how a conversation for me goes in Iva where everyone speaks “K”. After the initial greetings which I understand, I try to catch a few familiar sounding words in “K” (where the “K” sound is substituted for the “T” sound in “T”). I convert the “K” word to a “T” sounding word. I translate the “T” word into English. From that one word or short phrase, I try to imagine the full context of the conversation. I then try the reverse response, thinking of an English word which I know in “T” and converting it to “K”. By that time, the speaker has already gone on to another subject. Rather than looking like an ass, I usually do the time tested response which is to smile and nod in agreement, like I understand what is said. The Samoan is amazed that even though I can hardly speak Samoan, I fully comprehend what he is saying. Of course, the reverse also happens when I speak in English.

The fun really starts when you are trying to do your Peace Corps job of developing the village by turning the village’s wants and needs into proposals actual results (More about projects later). One shouldn’t despair over the conflicts between nations, but should be thankful we are still able to walk on this earth. A lot gets Lost in Translation.

I give the mayor of my village, on whose compound we live, tremendous accolades. His English and my Samoan are on a par. We both struggle to convey our thoughts about the future of the village as he navigates the tricky waters of change and village politics while I navigate the waters of NGO’s , governmental agencies, and Western concepts. He has given me a list of the 10 different ways Samoans commonly say, “Where are you going?” He has taken one of our Samoan-English dictionaries in a futile effort to teach me more Samoan, but also to understand my English written proposals for which he wants the other village leaders to sign-off. It is a serious Tango we dance.