Run that by me again, please.
Howdy everybody. This week we are going to play
‘I wish I knew what they were saying’;
a fun filled glimpse into the life of a new missionary to PNG. We’ll get to the *why* in a little bit, but here is how we’ll play:
- You will be provided with a few scenarios from our experience (along with actual tok pisin conversations). These are situations that we have observed first-hand in the last several weeks as we have helped a new couple get started in their study of PNG culture and tok pisin.
- You should try to imagine yourself actually in the situation facing a real person.
- You should attempt an appropriate response in tok pisin (wait a minute, you don’t know tok pisin, you can try to read your favorite response out loud then)
- You should then laugh uproariously (it really is more difficult than it seems sometimes)
- You should then make your spouse try to play (let them know you are laughing _with_ them rather than _at_ them)
Photo: Elizabeth helping a new orientee get comfortable conversing in the village setting.
Shall we start? Good:
#1: You are walking down the road with a friend when another acquaintance hails you from the roadside: ‘Hei, poro, bai mi bungim yu long haus long sadadei.’ Do you respond…:
a. ‘Matiu, yu mas spak liklik. Noken bungim mi long haus. Yu save pinis, haus bilong mi I stap longwe tumas.’
b. ‘Em I gutpela. Bai mi mumuim wanpela pig, na yumi kaikai long dispela taim.’
c. ‘A, poro, amamas long bungim yu long sadadei. Tasol mi gat sampela wok I stap. Sapos mi fri sampela narapela taim, bai yumi ken sindaun, stori.’
d. ‘My name is (your name), I am new here and don’t have a clue what you just said. Can you tell me in English?’
#2 It is your third week in PNG. You are out visiting a village and you have just been invited to sit down on a mat in an open-sided structure with a thatched roof. An older man leans close to you and earnestly says: ‘Sapos yu laik lanim tok pisin hariap, yumas wokim haus long ples, ya. Sapos yu kam wanpela taim tasol, yu no inap long klia gut long tok pisin.’ You look at him, and respond:
a. ‘Papa, ating ol binatang ya, ol bai kaikaim mipela tumas. Save bilong mi mas kamap long sampela narapela rot.’
b. ‘Yes, mi laikim wanpela banana.’
c. ‘Tenk yu tru, mi laikim dispela tingting. Yu gat liak long wokim olsem long wanem taim stret?’
d. ‘My name is (your name), I am new here and don’t have a clue what you just said. Can you tell me in English?’
#3 It is your second week in PNG, you have just met a man who has the reddest mouth that you have ever seen – it looks like he has been sucking on a red pen and somehow it has exploded in his mouth. He hands you a small greenish nut about double the size of an acorn, and says; ‘Yu mas traim dispela P.K. bilong PNG wantaim kambang na daka.’ You hold the nut curiously and say:
a. ‘Em I wanpela liklik coconas, a?’
b. ‘Mi save pinis, swit biling em I no wankain long P.K., mi les.’
c. ‘My name is (your name), I am new here and don’t have a clue what you just said. Can you tell me in English?’
d. ‘My name is (your name), I am new here and not sure how I feel about that but my wife would like to try it.
STOP!
Were you tempted to just skip over the tok pisin portions of this email? What would you do if you were really in situations like these and really had no clue what was going on? We soon may be. You can be praying for us as we look ahead to learning the Pal language. In truth, learning a language is hard work. It means stepping out of our comfort zone, into a whole other way of thinking. It means making lots of mistakes. It means wearing a blank stare regularly as your friends try to communicate with you. It means months and months of barely discernable progress. Did we mention: please be praying?
So…want to know what the conversations were really about? We’ll include an English translation in the postscript for those who are truly curious.
Here are some other things that you can be praying for this week:
· Plans need to come together for a supply shack at our shuttle point (80 km away from the center here). We need a secure place to keep our supplies as they wait for the once every two to three month helicopter shuttles into Pal.
· Readiness for the move-in…January 20th.
· Wisdom as we work with our partners.
· Meetings with potential third couple for the Pal work coming up in two weeks (and over Christmas). Pray for God’s direction in this area.
· Another new missionary family is coming to Madang on the 11th of December. We’ll be heavily involved in orienting them to PNG.
· Family time – needs to be carefully guarded as we look ahead to the urgent work ahead.
Thanks so very much for your care for us. We miss you, but are confident that we are here for a good purpose.
The Claasens.
Postscript: English translations of conversations:
#1: You are walking down the road with a friend when another acquaintance hails you from the roadside: ‘Hei, poro, bai mi bungim yu long haus long sadadei. Hey buddy, I’m coming over Saturday.’ Do you respond…:
a. ‘Matiu, yu mas spak liklik. Noken bungim mi long haus. Yu save pinis, haus bilong mi I stap longwe tumas.’ Matthew, you must be off your head, you know my house is too far away to meet at.
b. ‘Em I gutpela. Bai mi mumuim wanpela pig, na yumi kaikai long dispela taim.’ That sounds good. I’ll cook a pig and we can eat it then.
c. ‘A, poro, amamas long bungim yu long sadadei. Tasol mi gat sampela wok I stap. Sapos mi fri sampela narapela taim, bai yumi ken sindaun, stori.’ Oh, friend, I’d love to, but I have to work. Sometime, when I am free we can hang out.
d. ‘My name is (your name), I am new here and don’t have a clue what you just said. Can you tell me in English?’
#2 It is your third week in PNG. You are out visiting a village and you have just been invited to sit down on a mat in an open-sided structure with a thatched roof. An older man leans close to you and earnestly says: ‘Sapos yu laik lanim tok pisin hariap, yumas wokim haus long ples, ya. Sapos yu kam wanpela taim tasol, yu no inap long klia gut long tok pisin.’ If you really want to learn Talk Pigin, you need to build a house here. If you only come once, you’ll never learn it. You look at him, and respond:
a. ‘Papa, ating ol binatang ya, ol bai kaikaim mipela tumas. Save bilong mi mas kamap long sampela narapela rot.’ Father, I think the bugs would eat me alive. I’ll need to find another way to learn tok pisin.
b. ‘Yes, mi laikim wanpela banana.’ Sure, I’d like a banana.
c. ‘Tenk yu tru, mi laikim dispela tingting. Yu gat liak long wokim olsem long wanem taim stret?’ I love your idea, when do we start?
d. ‘My name is (your name), I am new here and don’t have a clue what you just said. Can you tell me in English?’
#3 It is your second week in PNG, you have just met a man who has the reddest mouth that you have ever seen – it looks like he has been sucking on a red pen and somehow it has exploded in his mouth. He hands you a small greenish nut about double the size of an acorn, and says; ‘Yu mas traim dispela P.K. bilong PNG wantaim kambang na daka.’ You really need to try this PNG style gum with some crushed coral and some seed pods. You hold the nut curiously and say:
a. ‘Em I wanpela liklik coconas, a?’ My, what a little coconut.
b. ‘Mi save pinis, swit biling em I no wankain long P.K., mi les.’ I have tried that stuff before, I know it doesn’t taste like gum, I’m just really not wanting to eat it again.
c. ‘My name is (your name), I am new here and don’t have a clue what you just said. Can you tell me in English?’
d. ‘My name is (your name), I am new here and not sure how I feel about that but my wife would like to try it.
Posted via email from PNG Time
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