Word by Word: Then the Goldfish Died

I have a love-hate relationship with language learning.

I love learning.

But I hate the not knowing. On many days, the amount of language I don’t know feels overwhelming and easily discouraging.

But as I keep learning, there are encouraging moments and laughter with my language helper, Deena.

I once prepared for a lesson by writing out sentences using vocabulary and grammar structures I wanted to learn in my new language. Here’s what I wrote down:

            When I was a child, I wanted to own a horse.

            As for my siblings, they wanted to own a dog.

            Other than a goldfish, however, we never owned any animals.      

            Then the goldfish died after two weeks.

Deena thought this was hilarious. She couldn’t stop laughing about my dream of owning a horse and the reality of having a dead fish. I hadn’t intended to be funny with these sentences. But she helped me laugh and see the humor in that lesson.

She couldn’t stop laughing about my dream of owning a horse and the reality of having a dead fish.

At the beginning of November, Deena asked me, “Are there any rituals Americans do for Thanksgiving?” I told her that we often list the things we’re thankful for.

Somehow, in a moment of brain fog, I had trouble thinking of what I’m grateful for. But Deena quickly rattled off things I often take for granted, such as good health and a warm home.

Before our next lesson, I practiced my language skills by making a list of things I’m thankful for. Next to the list, I wrote out these verses in the local language:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.  — Psalm 100:4–5

I took my list and verses to our next lesson and used it as a language exercise. When Deena saw the passage I’d written out, she responded excitedly.

“I’ve read some of the Bible,” she said. “I love Psalms and Proverbs!”

Deena is unusual. I haven’t met any other Muslims here who have read the Bible on their own. Few people show her level of receptivity toward the truth of the Gospel.

May our language lessons continue to provide more opportunities for conversations about Jesus, the source of life and the One to whom we give thanks.