Gracias a Dios!
By Caleb Miller, Refugee Empowerment Director
I’ve always loved learning. Since childhood, I’ve been a big reader. I liked going to school, unless the homework started to pile up too high, and I’ve always been interested in trying new things or going to new places. So when I joined Mission Adelante back in April, I was excited at the prospect of working with people from all over the world and the learning opportunities this would bring.
Over the course of seven months or so, there have been plenty of touchpoints with other cultures. Food, culture, body language, traditions, you name it. These are all ways that we teach each other about who we are and where we come from. But how we most tangibly communicate these things on a daily basis through language. On a weekly basis, I text (with the help of Google Translate) in Spanish, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, and Dari – maybe even some Tigrinya or Hahka Chin thrown in there as well. I grew up around other languages, having lived in the Czech Republic for most of my childhood, where I played on a Czech hockey team and attended international schools. I studied German throughout high school and college. I love languages, and I consider myself pretty decent at picking them up.
As you can probably imagine, Google Translate can only do so much. It’s almost a daily occurrence for one of our staff to receive a message from one of our clients that either makes no sense or is translated so clunkily that we can’t help but laugh. And I’m absolutely positive that this happens on the other side as well, leaving our clients more confused than ever about what exactly these crazy Americans are trying to say. But over time, there are some words that become familiar and recognizable to us from these other languages, and I’d like to share a few words I’ve learned with you today along with my best attempts at their pronunciations:
Thank you:
Kinyarwanda, mainly spoken in Rwanda - “Murakoze” (mu-ra-KOH-zeh)
Dari, Afghanistan - “Tashakor” (tash-a-KOR)
Thank you, bye!:
Spanish - “Gracias adios!”
For a while after I would hear this phrase, I was confused because our clients would say “gracias adios” and then not go anywhere. I was unsure if they had a similar culture to Midwesterners, where goodbyes often rebound back into other conversations that require further attempts at goodbyes once the new topic is fully discussed. Eventually I found out that I’d been mishearing the phrase all along.
Thanks to God:
Spanish - “Gracias a Dios!”
Makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it?
Good bye:
Dari - “Khoda hafez” (HODO-fez)
This also means “may God protect you.”
Yep, ok, alright, sure, gotcha:
Dari - “Bale” (BA-le)
Spanish - “Vale” (VA-le)
Kinyarwanda - “Ego” (EH-go)
It’s kind of cool how Afghans and Spanish speakers have an almost identical sounding word with the same exact meaning despite living on opposite sides of the world and in vastly different contexts.
Cool, fabulous, amazing:
Spanish - “Chevere” (SHEH-ve-re)
Basically this is what this word means →😎
I look forward to this list of words expanding as we welcome more new individuals and families into our city and our community. I’m sure the learning will continue in equal measure to the laughs I receive when I incorrectly pronounce these words in front of my clients. Though there may be language barriers, there are so many other ways to meaningfully communicate. And I’ve come to find that even knowing one or two words in someone else’s language can break down barriers. A multilingual author I like once talked about how when he spoke in someone else’s language, he found that they began to see him as “one of them.” I love this idea that learning from each other brings unity and connection. Thank you for living this out by following or being a part of our organization and I look forward to continuing to learn together!
This is our time!
This is our time! Help us build out our new Refugee Welcome Center. Donate here: www.missionadelante.org/give