October 5, 2008

Allison's lessons in language

I've had to add new understanding of English words to my daily vocabulary:
  • Cabin = Office (for example at work: "Where is your cabin?"  My answer is no longer "The North Shore" it is "225")
  • Revert = Reply
  • Do the needful = Do what's required, Make it so
  • Tell me = "Hello, how may I help you?" when answering the phone
  • What are your doubts? = What questions do you have?

I asked my driver to teach me how to say "Good Morning" in Hindi.  I could tell by his fondly amused expression that I wasn't pronoucing it correctly.  I asked a co-worker how to say it.  She asked me what I'd been taught.  To me it sounded phonetically like "asa lama lego" so that's what I said to her.  She replied my driver had taught me Persian.  I really don't think he did.  I think it was my pronunciation was so abysmally bad that it just sounded that way.  More lessons needed for me!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well Done! It's great to see Americans who take the initiate to get out into the world and experience the beauty and diversity of culture on offer. We look forward to following your adventure in the months ahead.
Roger and Janet Graham
Johannesburg, South Africa