Añe’e mishimi guaranime

Guarani, the indigenous language of Paraguay, is hard.  Very hard.  It involves sounds that do not exist in English, nor Spanish for that matter and it’s an oral language so very few people know how to write or read it.  Paraguay is bilingual with most people in the cities preferring to speak Spanish and in the campo Guarani.  The majority of people in my community only speak Guarani and understand some Spanish but are not comfortable speaking it.  Therefore, it is basically essential that I learn at least some Guarani.  I’m definitely still more comfortable in Spanish because it is so similar to English and I “studied” it in college (Thanks Monica, for writing all my papers).  But I’m trying to speak more Guarani with people because they just love it.  They think it’s very cool that an American is speaking their indigenous language.  And it is pretty cool!  Learning a third language in a second language although is very difficult.  And it’s led to some difficult situations where I think I’m saying one thing and get an answer that doesn’t make any sense.  Lost in translation….

Señora: My cow is pregnant and will have her baby in two months.

Me: Oh how cool! What do you have to do when she is giving birth?

Señora: Cheese.

Señora: Have you talked with your mom in the states recently?

Me: Not recently, it’s summer there so she is on vacation.

Señora: Oh that’s too bad.  How about your mom? Have you talked with her?

Me: Ummmmmm, no.

Me: What a pretty photo! How long ago did you take that?

Señora: 5 mil Guaranies (their money)

Señora: Can I put my cheese in your fridge? Mine broke.

Me: Of course! Is anyone coming by to fix it?

Señora: 2 kilograms.

Señora: It’s going to rain tomorrow.

Me: Oh really? Where did you hear that?

Señora: Inside.

Me: This food is so good! How did you make it?

Señora: Quickly, very quickly.

Me: Oh, what ingredients?

Señora: It doesn’t have any.

Señora: The bananas are really cheap right now.

Me: Oh awesome, how much are they per kilogram?

Señora: The apples are kind of expensive though.

Me: Oh, how much are the bananas?

Señora: Around 7

And this is the life.  I’m trying to put it into practice but as you saw, things get confusing pretty quickly.  And when I switch back to Spanish (definitely not fluent in that either) I think it just makes the situation trickier.  Wish me luck!