Nett, Pohnpei
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
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Re-Learning the Pohnpeian Language
“I anahne
pwureng esehla lokaia en Pohnpei,” (I need to re-learn how to speak
Pohnpeian) is often said early in conversations that I have with
Pohnpeians in their indigenous language. WeI have decided to
spend a good portion of our time in these early months back here on the
island of Pohnpei re-learning the language. Although I was near fluent
in Pohnpeian twelve years ago, learning to speak Polish, Portuguese,
Spanish and Yao on our journeys has made me realize that I am getting
older, and because of this, am having a more difficult time cataloguing
each of these languages in my mind. In saying that it’s only been two
weeks back in Pohnpei and it seems to all be coming back to us quickly.
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Every other
day, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we have been driving to
Nan Pohnmal where our friend Joyce lives and re-learning the language
from her and her niece, Stephanie, both of whom were in our youth group
many years ago. We are having a blast re-learning the Pohnpeian language
and get to have fellowship with our dear friends at the same time. We
are filling up our notebooks with the notes that we are taking on the
language. My thoughts are that we will be speaking near fluently again
within the first six months back in Pohnpei.
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We are in turn taking what we are learning from Joyce and Stephanie, and
teaching our children how to read, write and speak Pohnpeian as well.
Our children have had the wonderful opportunity to learn and speak
different languages depending on what countries we have lived in
throughout their childhood. They continue to fill up their language
learning notebooks and even get to illustrate what they are learning to
make it more fun. Almost all of our kid’s classmates are Micronesian, so
they get to try out what they are learning here at home with them. It
is amazing how quickly our children adjust to new cultures. At least
this time, our plans are to stay here indefinitely, which means that our
kids will be able to stay the course in learning and using Pohnpeian
here in Micronesia. As missionaries, we place a high value on learning
to communicate with the indigenous population in their heart language.
Soon our whole family will be fluent Pohnpeian speakers.
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Christian Young
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