About three weeks ago, I finally got the Bangla lesson I'd been waiting for. Although my lesson did not come from the person I expected it from...
One morning I woke up and the house was pretty much empty. I went downstairs to request breakfast and get some tea. At the table were Muslima (the maid), Nazma (the helper maid), and Rafiq (the guard). Usually I ask for breakfast and then go back upstairs and wait for it. Today, Muslima told me to stay at the table downstairs, so I did. Apparently Muslima doesn't like playing charades as much as I do, because she began teaching me Bangla. I ran into one of the offices to grab pen and paper. I was so excited I was finally going to be able to communicate with people here!
I love Muslima. The first thing she taught me was "Ami mas monksha keina" which means- I don't eat fish or meat. She then proceeded to teach me to say the things I would eat- rice, bread, dal and egg... To which I replied "Ami deem na!" I don't like egg!!! Muslima started laughing and asked "no egg?" I was able to communicate to her that I didn't mind having an egg for breakfast everyday but that I no longer wanted them at lunch and dinner too. She understood and somehow this whole thing worked out amazingly for me because when she stopped making me so many eggs, she started giving me bananas!!! I love bananas and we had all been wanting more fruit. Angela and Nazmeen were a little pissed off when I started getting bananas and they didn't, but they quickly figured out where the bananas were hidden and helped themselves
I have consistently only been served one egg per day since that day! In addition to food things Muslima taught me how to say I need something which is different depending if you need a thing or a person. She helped me with directions to guide my rickshaw drivers and common prices for rickshaws so now I can go places on my own, no problem!
Since then a couple of the girls in dance class (the three sisters who helped us get ready for our performances) have continued the lessons. They have taught me "Tome Kamon Achu?" How are you? "ami valo achi" I am fine. "Tomar nam key?" What's your name? and "Ami tomake valobashi" I love you!
As the youngest of the three girls, Lima (approx 13-14) was helping me with Bangla, she took my phone to type in the words (apparently I was doing it too slowly and she couldn't handle it anymore) as she was trying to type one of the letters in she kept skipping past it (this is an old school phone where each key has three letters and you have to go through all the letters to get the one you want). About the third time she had missed the letter she wanted she said "oh shit!" and I totally lost it. I was laughing so hard. Here is this girl who barely knows any English but she can swear perfectly in the language and even used it in the right context. It was hilarious. I was laughing and she started laughing and her sister was laughing while the third sister was dancing with some of the other girls. A couple of the teachers looked at us and with no clue what had happened, they started laughing at us laughing. I thought she was such a smart girl. I mean after all, everyone knows swearing doesn't count when it's done in another language. She had the problem of having a native speaker of the language she chose to swear in sitting with her.
When it was my turn to dance I got up went through my routine and when I returned to my seat Lima was scowling on the bench. I asked what was wrong and she wouldn't tell me. Her older sister Poly informed me that she had been slapped by one of the teachers! Now I was livid. I had given workshops on alternatives to corporal punishment in South Africa. I couldn't believe that here in this dance class that students pay to come to and have fun, corporal punishment would be an issue. I never got a full translation of what happened but all I can gather is, one of the teachers came over to find out what was so funny and when she told him what she had said he slapped her. He explained to her that shit is a very bad word in America and she should not be talking like that.
I went home and spoke with my colleagues to try to find out if this was a common occurrence in Bangladesh. I wanted to find out more about cultural norms before I got on my high horse and started lecturing about right and wrong. After explaining the whole story to them they agreed that the punishment seemed harsh for the behaviour, especially since I was not offended about the language AT ALL.
I composed a letter and had one of my colleagues translate it to Bangla for me. I gave it to the master teacher the next evening. The letter basically told him what had happened and explained that I did not feel the punishment was appropriate and in fact that I though this girl was very smart for swearing in such great context. I went to explain that I also did not want the young teacher to be punished (as that would just encourage the cycle) but rather that I just wished our master teacher would understand and explain to his apprentices why hitting these students is wrong. He read the letter, smiled and thanked me and I saw him speaking with the culprit later that evening. Hopefully it won't happen again, but I'm afraid it just won't happen while Angela and I are there.
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| Dahl and Ruti- no egg! |
I have consistently only been served one egg per day since that day! In addition to food things Muslima taught me how to say I need something which is different depending if you need a thing or a person. She helped me with directions to guide my rickshaw drivers and common prices for rickshaws so now I can go places on my own, no problem!
Since then a couple of the girls in dance class (the three sisters who helped us get ready for our performances) have continued the lessons. They have taught me "Tome Kamon Achu?" How are you? "ami valo achi" I am fine. "Tomar nam key?" What's your name? and "Ami tomake valobashi" I love you!
As the youngest of the three girls, Lima (approx 13-14) was helping me with Bangla, she took my phone to type in the words (apparently I was doing it too slowly and she couldn't handle it anymore) as she was trying to type one of the letters in she kept skipping past it (this is an old school phone where each key has three letters and you have to go through all the letters to get the one you want). About the third time she had missed the letter she wanted she said "oh shit!" and I totally lost it. I was laughing so hard. Here is this girl who barely knows any English but she can swear perfectly in the language and even used it in the right context. It was hilarious. I was laughing and she started laughing and her sister was laughing while the third sister was dancing with some of the other girls. A couple of the teachers looked at us and with no clue what had happened, they started laughing at us laughing. I thought she was such a smart girl. I mean after all, everyone knows swearing doesn't count when it's done in another language. She had the problem of having a native speaker of the language she chose to swear in sitting with her.
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| Lima- the potty mouth! How could you hit this pretty face? |
I went home and spoke with my colleagues to try to find out if this was a common occurrence in Bangladesh. I wanted to find out more about cultural norms before I got on my high horse and started lecturing about right and wrong. After explaining the whole story to them they agreed that the punishment seemed harsh for the behaviour, especially since I was not offended about the language AT ALL.
I composed a letter and had one of my colleagues translate it to Bangla for me. I gave it to the master teacher the next evening. The letter basically told him what had happened and explained that I did not feel the punishment was appropriate and in fact that I though this girl was very smart for swearing in such great context. I went to explain that I also did not want the young teacher to be punished (as that would just encourage the cycle) but rather that I just wished our master teacher would understand and explain to his apprentices why hitting these students is wrong. He read the letter, smiled and thanked me and I saw him speaking with the culprit later that evening. Hopefully it won't happen again, but I'm afraid it just won't happen while Angela and I are there.
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