Language Barrier.

Prepare yourself, conservatives, this blog contains a medical term of anatomy. Just want you prepared.


Learning a new language is hard.

Learning Thai is VERY hard.

Thai is tonal.

This means, that one word can have many meanings based on the tones you say them in. It's quite difficult, but it's fun. I love languages, but I do not excel in learning them. For instance...

When I lived in Thailand for the summer in 2010, I had a Thai language instructor. She was phenomenal. She spoke English very well, and we would practice by me speaking in Thai to her and her speaking in English to me. Practice makes perfect, they said. Give it a try! They said. Oh dear.

I had been studying my Thai for weeks, perfecting my basic skills. I used them daily on the women I spoke to in the markets, friends at the organization I worked at, people in my neighborhood when I walked/drove home. I tried to have "little chats" with everyone. Most of the time they'd smile and nod looking at me with 'Crazy white girl think she speak my language" faces. It was encouraging and intimidating, but I wanted to let them know I was willing to try! Also, I couldn't get anywhere or do anything without it.

One day I was walking to work, it was a humid day out, and as I was wiping the cascades of sweat coming out of my face, I noticed a group (herd, ensemble, school?) of water buffalo (chattle, bovine, hoof-ed creatures) coming at a rather fast pace down the street. The neighborhood where I lived did not have wide streets where one could easily step out of the way for a congregation of cows to meet up with a perspiring Caucasian. Luckily, I was able to sidestep on a small street to my left and watch the beasts pass by, with a cantering old man behind them, trying to keep up and smoke his cigarette all at the same time.

This was a life-changing moment for me.

I'm going to tell everyone. In Thai.

Before the work day ended, I had told five or six people. The lady who sold me pork, the woman who'd made my coffee, the man who'd taken me home, as many Thai people as I could. This would be my practice before telling my teacher this amazing story that probably happens to everyone every day in Chiang Mai.

When my Thai teacher sat down for the afternoon, she asked me to tell her what had happened that day in Thai. I told her, proudly. She was trying to smile, but I could see some cringing, as if every time I said water buffalo her face became more construed.

Me- "What is it? I thought it was a great story!"

Poor teacher- "Well, you speak good. But you're trying to say "----" which mean, water buffalo. But the word you say, "-----", uh.....mean, uh...."

Me- "WHAT?!?!"

Poor teacher- "A pen? Is?"

Me- "What? Like a writing utensil?" (I was udderly confused......cow jokes.)

Poor teacher- "Like a man...."

Oh no.....oh dear Lord, I'm so sorry for what I've exposed this woman to. Or what she thinks I'VE been exposed to.

Me- "NO! NO NO NO. That's not what I meant!"

Poor teacher, still not getting my drift- "So, you tell me. You walk down street and four or five...are running at you...."

Me- "I get that! Got it. But no, no, that did not happen. Not even one time. I'm so sorry."

OH MY SWEET MOSES. I told so many people that story. No wonder I got horrified smiles from the locals. What in the world? They must've thought I was drunk!

"Why didn't anyone tell me???? I told so many people that! I'm embarassed, I'm so sorry!"

"Kendra, they were glad you try to speak to them. It's ok."

Well then, "A" for effort and "I" for inappropriate!

I won't forget that day. I went back and apologized to everyone, but my teacher was right. Every one of them said they were happy I was trying to speak Thai anyway, no matter the mistake I made.

I'm not going to live the Christian life perfectly. I am a human, I have faults, many of them, and I will fall, and I will make mistakes. But I want to look back on my life and see that I applied effort, that I did my best, that I did more than my best! I'm going to see some embarassing moments, where I tried to do right, to exude Christ, and I failed miserably. But we are commanded to be a light in a dark world, a world that needs more than what they've got, and in the end, they'll be thankful that we tried.

Don't sit and expect the world to come to you, to speak your language. You have to make the effort, you have to leave your element, and you have to tell your story. Just make sure it's the right one.