Make a Fool of Yourself Friday (MFYF) - Issue #2
So it has come to my attention that in that Thai video that I recorded three weeks ago, I was indeed saying something comprehensible. Which, of course, I was thrilled to hear, but I was also just the tiniest bit disappointed. Because as much as I don’t want to say “poopoo head” instead of “hello and I like everyone,” I also want to show, using myself as an example, that it’s ok, as a language learner, to occasionally say “poopoo head” instead of “hello everyone.” People usually give each other the benefit of the doubt, and grave mistakes can be corrected with a simple human “sorry dude.”
(Or can they?)
During one of my visits to Kingfisher Lake — it’s a native Oji-Cree community in Northern Ontario where I worked as a linguist — a man approached me and asked if I’d agree to go to the local nursing home and meet his elderly dad, who wanted to shake the hand of “a real Jew from Israel.” It’s a deeply religious Anglican community, and of course, I was happy to oblige. I went to the nursing home and met his very lovely dad and we shook hands.
A few days later I saw that man again and I asked him, in Oji-Cree: “How is your dad doing?” (I don’t remember now the exact phrase that I’d used). He replied, “Oh, he’s just old.”
It was a strange response, but ok.
Later I related our conversation to my friend Agnes, also a member of the community, and she said: “What you asked him was “What’s your dad’s problem?””
Ouch.
I don’t remember if I went and talked to that man and explained the situation or if I was too embarrassed to do that.
In that spirit (I hope I didn’t discourage anyone with this very inspiring story), I decided to make “Make a Fool of Yourself Fridays” (MFYF) a (bi-weekly or monthly, I don’t know yet) tradition. I’m not going to say anything outrageous on purpose, obviously, as it is also a tool for me to improve my language skills, but it is my sincere hope that if I am saying something ridiculous in a language that you know well, you’ll get inspired to say something to someone (or at least to yourself in the mirror) in a language you’re leaning.
So, without further ado, here is me telling you about myself (because that’s what I mostly like to talk about) and offering some very deep thoughts on our current political situation here. All this hopefully in Finnish (plus you get to meet my toy ballerina elephant in the background.)1
“Good afternoon. I’m Tanya. I am a writer and a linguist. I have two kids and one dog. I live in Israel. I have lived here for four years. Before that, I lived in Canada, US, and England. I was born in Russia and moved to Israel when I was 15. Then I left 7 years later. And now I’m back here. There is a war here now, and that’s not a good thing.”2
Lest you mistake me for a fluent Finnish speaker, this was NOT unscripted. I knew most of the words already, but I still had to look some stuff up in Google Translate. And to confirm that I was saying things correctly. Because I’m a hypocrite. Even though this new tradition is called “Make a Fool of Yourself” I do everything in my power to not make a fool of myself. (But also, in case you’re wondering, that’s not considered cheating. That’s just how we learn.)
It’s ok if you got confused about the details of my geographical life trajectory. I don’t always get things straight myself.