Today a native Ukrainian asked me how many Russian words I know. It was merely something that he was interested in and he was probably just trying to make conversation, but I had difficulty not taking it personally. It isn't as though I can count the number of words in my vocabulary on one hand, but sometimes it feels that way. It was a quantitative question, which is normally my forte, but I could not estimate how many words I know (maybe the nerd in me will make a list and start keeping track). My response was: "Not enough." As I thought about it I began to wonder if I will ever feel that I can answer that question differently.
I also began to wonder why a part of me took that question personally. It is very difficult for me to say that my primary responsibility is language. I would classify myself as a "doer" and it doesn't really seem like I am doing anything. I just can't classify learning a language as service, which is what I came here to do. In the communicating I have done with former service workers, there has been one common theme in all of their testamony... spend a lot of time learning the language, it goes a long way. I have heard this over and over again, but for some reason their wisdom just won't sink in. Oftentimes I lack patience.
At my third language lesson I struggled with reading one simple paragraph out loud and putting the emphasis on the right syllable. I started getting really frustrated because it felt like I just wasn't getting it. I had read it before and it was supposed to be easy this time. My teacher, Marina, encouraged me to take a step back and focus on what I already know. Maybe I am stupid and she was just patronizing me but I realized that I am actually learning things. I was able to successfully buy a mechanical pencil and 0.7mm lead at the store today. Now I know that sounds pretty minimal, but it was not in sight and I requested both items without even wasting too many words. I won't be giving any eloquent sermons anytime soon, but I am still pretty proud.
The market is very intimidating and sometimes the salespeople seem to lack proper training in customer service. The phrase "the customer is always right" must be a foreign thing. Here they seem to think "The (American) customer is always mentally ill." However, the people at DCU are very helpful. A couple people have gone to the market with us at different times and many have offered to do the same in the future. I realize that we won't learn as much as we would on our own, but at least we won't be so intimidated and shy with a little support. We will continue to work on it and I am sure our repitoire of language miscommunications will continue to grow. I'll keep you posted and that will help to keep me humble.
Dave
