Pronouns, the dog's bollocks
When you get on to personal pronouns, you know you’ve made it. What else is there left to do in life?
Nga tra-pa min - I am not a monk
I am still at the stuttering and false start stage, which means it takes several minutes to emit even the simplest of phrases. The listener or the attention-feigner can meanwhile do several household chores, make a cup of tea and still be back in time to hear the end of it.
"I never said you were."
"I was what?"
"A monk"
Tibetans have several ways of expressing the idea of "being", explained Ngawang.
"But why, why?" exclaimed one class member, woefully.
The news of different ways to express "to be" so distressed Marisol that her classmates had to hold her down to stop her anxiety attack turning nasty.
"Why oh why?" she wailed.
A co-student spoke softly into her ear as the others held her fast.
"Take a de-e-e-e-ep breath. In-ha-a-a-a-le. Ex-ha-a-a-a-le. In-ha-a-a-a-le. Ex-ha-a-a-a-le. Let everything flow by. Let yourself flow with the current. Imagine there are millions of ways of saying ‘I am’, which are floating downstream with you. Greet those ways and flow with them."
************************
If you show a monolingual English speaker a picture of a dog and ask what it is, he or she will say "it’s a dog". Although a language teacher may say "c’est un chien", "das ist ein Hund!!!" or "es un perro!", deep down a dog will always be a dog and the real word will be "dog", and not khyi as Ngawang was leading us to believe yesterday.
Nevertheless, they do say (and it’s being shouted from the rooftops) that metalinguistic awareness leads to acceptance, tolerance and empathy. Perhaps the antidote to potentially devastating expressions of aggression is therefore language learning.
Presidents of the USA should therefore know at least four languages, other than their mother tongue, before taking up office. I’d assign Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and perhaps a couple of Kalahari clicking languages to George Bush (his surname does cry out for them). Bin Laden or would-be terrists could also be taught a thing or two by forced Korean, Bavarian German, Basque or Scouse classes.
"How say Allah hu ak-bar in Scouse?"
***********************
But back to Tibetan. Ngawang then rocked the boat a bit by giving some examples that gave me the existential wobbles.
Nga khye-rang ma re pha? - I’m not you, am I?
Khong nga ma re pha? – S/he’s not me, is s/he?
"Stop it, stop it!" I pleaded while the others fanned me with their notes.
"Take a deep breath. In-ha-a-a-a-le. Ex-ha-a-a-a-le. In-ha-a-a-a-le. Ex-ha-a-a-a-le," said the voice softly in my ear.
**************************
Later, I told Wifey the story.
"I don’t understand," she said. "You’re not the slightest bit empathetic! There's no way you'd get yourself mixed up with someone else!"
"But Nga nga ma re pha? (I am me, aren't I?)" I asked anxiously.
When you get on to personal pronouns, you know you’ve made it. What else is there left to do in life?
Nga tra-pa min - I am not a monk
I am still at the stuttering and false start stage, which means it takes several minutes to emit even the simplest of phrases. The listener or the attention-feigner can meanwhile do several household chores, make a cup of tea and still be back in time to hear the end of it.
"I never said you were."
"I was what?"
"A monk"
Tibetans have several ways of expressing the idea of "being", explained Ngawang.
"But why, why?" exclaimed one class member, woefully.
The news of different ways to express "to be" so distressed Marisol that her classmates had to hold her down to stop her anxiety attack turning nasty.
"Why oh why?" she wailed.
A co-student spoke softly into her ear as the others held her fast.
"Take a de-e-e-e-ep breath. In-ha-a-a-a-le. Ex-ha-a-a-a-le. In-ha-a-a-a-le. Ex-ha-a-a-a-le. Let everything flow by. Let yourself flow with the current. Imagine there are millions of ways of saying ‘I am’, which are floating downstream with you. Greet those ways and flow with them."
************************
If you show a monolingual English speaker a picture of a dog and ask what it is, he or she will say "it’s a dog". Although a language teacher may say "c’est un chien", "das ist ein Hund!!!" or "es un perro!", deep down a dog will always be a dog and the real word will be "dog", and not khyi as Ngawang was leading us to believe yesterday.
Nevertheless, they do say (and it’s being shouted from the rooftops) that metalinguistic awareness leads to acceptance, tolerance and empathy. Perhaps the antidote to potentially devastating expressions of aggression is therefore language learning.
Presidents of the USA should therefore know at least four languages, other than their mother tongue, before taking up office. I’d assign Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and perhaps a couple of Kalahari clicking languages to George Bush (his surname does cry out for them). Bin Laden or would-be terrists could also be taught a thing or two by forced Korean, Bavarian German, Basque or Scouse classes.
"How say Allah hu ak-bar in Scouse?"
***********************
But back to Tibetan. Ngawang then rocked the boat a bit by giving some examples that gave me the existential wobbles.
Nga khye-rang ma re pha? - I’m not you, am I?
Khong nga ma re pha? – S/he’s not me, is s/he?
"Stop it, stop it!" I pleaded while the others fanned me with their notes.
"Take a deep breath. In-ha-a-a-a-le. Ex-ha-a-a-a-le. In-ha-a-a-a-le. Ex-ha-a-a-a-le," said the voice softly in my ear.
**************************
Later, I told Wifey the story.
"I don’t understand," she said. "You’re not the slightest bit empathetic! There's no way you'd get yourself mixed up with someone else!"
"But Nga nga ma re pha? (I am me, aren't I?)" I asked anxiously.
posted by Bob at 12:58 pm
3 Comments:
I have nothing much to add, but thought you'd like to know someone's reading.
I was amazed to discover how much of my schoolboy French remained with me, in Tunisia last week.
It's good to know someone's out there.
Do they still speak a lot of French in Tunisia?
Oui
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