A Lesson in Words and Culture

Today we drove into town to attend a meeting in one of the communities that Dave and Debby are doing development training in. We had to drive through a busy market, and naturally received a lot of stares and waves simultaneously.

As we drove through a tight spot between a large truck and a building, people came up to our windows and spoke to us. Though English is being taught in all the schools as of last week, many people still don't speak English (not even a simple hello is understood by many). I did learn, however, that if people do know English, they often simply know the following three phrases:

"Hello."

"Good morning."

"Give me money."

At first I thought the third phrase was too direct and commanding. I figured at least they would learn a more polite way to say it, such as, "Please can I have some money?" or "Do you have any money for me?"

But, this afternoon we had our first language lesson, and we learned that there is no word for "please" in their language. When someone wants something, they say, "Ndashaka..." which means "I want..."

As we traveled around, we saw a lot of little children follow us or stare at us through the windows. Many waved at us, and since Michael and I didn't even know how to say hello, we would simply smile and wave back. Debby saw me waving to the children and informed me that waving by touching my fingers to my palm as we often do in the States, actually means "come here." So, this whole time I thought I had been waving hello, I was actually confusing them by telling them to "come here."

I can only wonder what else I'm doing that can be misinterpreted.