As a non-native Tetum speaker I have found that as I try to communicate with my local colleagues I have started to leave out connector words when using my english with them, attempting to make the translation as easy for them to understand as possible. I have started to speak to them how they speak to me. So, instead of saying, "Good morning! I hope you are well!" It comes out as "Hello, yes. Today morning you good, no?"
I find this amusing, as this carries over to my expat friends who are completely fluent in not only English but also 6 other languages (Mafalda you know who you are). I talk to them like I am a non-native English speaker and sound like a foreigner with my diction (which gives me a false sense of coolness, I have to admit). Sometimes I even throw in a bit of Canadian accent to really shake things up. It's annoying to me that I only speak 1.75 languages (English-1; Spanish-.5; and Arabic- .25). Maybe I will get to 100% with Tetum while I am here?
I will keep practicing, even if I do call my taxi driver a 'plastic head' as I did today. Hey, at least I try. And at least we all had a good laugh.
I find this amusing, as this carries over to my expat friends who are completely fluent in not only English but also 6 other languages (Mafalda you know who you are). I talk to them like I am a non-native English speaker and sound like a foreigner with my diction (which gives me a false sense of coolness, I have to admit). Sometimes I even throw in a bit of Canadian accent to really shake things up. It's annoying to me that I only speak 1.75 languages (English-1; Spanish-.5; and Arabic- .25). Maybe I will get to 100% with Tetum while I am here?
I will keep practicing, even if I do call my taxi driver a 'plastic head' as I did today. Hey, at least I try. And at least we all had a good laugh.
This might be my favorite post yet. I can totally relate. Out of curiosity--when you called him a "plastic head" what were you trying to call him?
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